For over half a century, the Ralph S. Alberts Company has been one of America’s most resourceful, full-service, multifaceted custom molders. Their departments and capabilities include CNC Machining, Custom Molding, Foam Molding, FRP Molding, Hand Casting, Injection Molding and Roto-Casting. Over 50% of their gross business involves manufacturing seating and padding devices for the amusement industry.

IMC has been working with Ralph S. Alberts Company for several years, but more frequently in the past two years in order to transform their business processes through lean and continuous improvement.

Situation

Due to the variation and large volume of amusement parks, rides and themes, Ralph S. Alberts has manufactured over 3,000+ tools to satisfy the needs of that industry over time. It is much more cost-effective to keep and store the tools for future reuse than it is to create a new one. Hence the significant number of tools.

These tools were stored randomly on solid wooden racks and on the floor in a low overhead mezzanine area, adjacent to the primary production area with limited space. There was no standard method for storing or finding a tool, rather each tool was stored where they could find space on the self-constructed wooden shelves.

In addition to being randomly stored, there was no comprehensive list of inventory. Specifications for all of the tools were not recorded in one central location, nor did the individual tools have any unique identifiers. There was a complete lack of organization, and the process for finding any given tool was completely manual.

Since the quantity of tools is significant, and there was no organization system in place, it took multiple employees, together, up to an hour to find the tool they needed. Sometimes, when they finally found the tool they needed, it was damaged, as a result of the ad hoc storage.

In addition to the primary concern of tool storage and organization, the mezzanine area in which the tools were located was poorly lighted, mostly as a result of the wooden shelves blocking the light.

Seth Alberts, the third generation owner, recognized the company could be more efficient in their tool storage and organization. Each summer, the company set a goal to reorganize and inventory the tooling mezzanine, but due to the demands of everyday business, they never made much progress. An overhaul was needed. Seth did not want to expand their facility, but rather explore options for maximizing their current storage space. In addition to maximizing their current storage space, they wanted to evaluate their current ERP system for possible scanning and location technologies that could help centralize the specifications and location of each tool.

Solution

IMC served as the systems integrator for this project. Since IMC and Ralph S. Alberts Company have been working together for several years, IMC understands the bigger picture of the company – where they’ve been, where they’re going, trends, what works and what doesn’t.

The first step was to complete a comprehensive inventory of all existing tools. This inventory resulted in a complex spreadsheet that included the weight, dimensions and information pertaining to the OEM, park customer, ride name and any other relevant information. Each tool was also assigned a unique identifier. While it is cost-effective to keep the tools that haven’t been used in several years, they could be separated and stored in sea crates, the first step toward maximizing their current space.

The second step was to address the logistics, with the help of their current ERP system, EstiTrack. IMC contracted Gil Vierra of Business Imperatives Consulting Group, LLC, (BICG) to lead cataloging, defining the best system and evaluating EstiTrack’s capabilities as it relates to a more efficient tool storage and organization.

Once Gil had narrowed down the information and categorized what was needed for the shelves, he worked with Seth and Bill DeHaan of APEX Storage, Inc. to research and design the physical shelving. Once the ideal shelving was determined and built, Gil managed the installation process with the help of Melissa Timco, director of operations and sales, and Jason Francis, production coordinator, from Ralph S. Albert Company to ensure tool availability. The company shut down for one week, as employees removed old shelving, installed new lights and the new shelving. Once the shelving was installed, identifiers were added to each of the shelves, and tools were sorted and organized into their new location.

The project was completed in eight months, with a total expense of just under $50,000.

Results

An investment of just under $50,000 likely saved the company upwards of $500,000.

The process of identifying and locating tools, which had previously taken multiple individuals up to an hour, was reduced to taking one person a matter of minutes. As a result, they have been able to schedule work more efficiently, which has enabled them to reduce lead times, in some cases by two weeks. The reduction in time and labor connected to the increased efficiency will also allow them to increase their overall net profit margins.

Furthermore, by maximizing their current space, they eliminated the need for a building expansion to accommodate their growing number of tools.

In summary, their notable results to date include:

• Increase storage capacity by 125%
• Eliminated the need for building expansion
• Reduced tool find and retrieve process from one hour to minutes
• Reduced time and labor costs
• Created two new Tooling Librarian positions
• Reduced lead time (by up to two weeks)

In addition to the dramatic improvement to their tooling inventory and organization, many employees were inspired and empowered as a result of helping with this project. Through the process, employees learned ways to improve their own workspaces, and are more conscious of the difference maximizing space and organization can make. With the help of IMC, the culture at Ralph S. Alberts was improved.

“We believe this will be a step towards decreasing our COGS, increasing our sales and ultimately maximizing our margins,” said Seth. “These larger margins will allow us to invest in similar projects in the future, so we can carry on in our journey of continuous improvement. We want to thank IMC for all of their efforts in helping us accomplish our goals.”

SITUATION

FOXPRO is a small but growing Lewistown, PA based manufacturer of digital game calls, decoys and accessories used in predator hunting.  They are the Worldwide Leader in sales of goods within the predator industry.

The company’s internal operations and external contacts with customers, partners and vendors were significantly hampered by FOXPRO’s 3Mbit DSL Internet service, which was divided into three channels of 1Mbit DLS each. The limited connection was unable to keep up with the company’s information technology needs and when it became saturated, operations came to a standstill.

Employees frequently complained they were unable to perform routine job duties and had to wait until other company functions requiring Internet traffic had been accomplished and sufficient bandwidth became available.

Likewise, customers faced lengthy waits to place orders and have credit card information processed, resulting in dropped calls, aborted online transactions and lost business. Customers who succeeded in placing orders but who later called to check the status of their orders also faced exceptionally long waits as FOXPRO attempted to access the external portals of its shipping partner to determine the status and location of packages.

In addition, an integral component of the company’s customer service and marketing efforts involves the uploading of very large data files containing video and audio of animal calls. The company frequently experienced problems when attempting to upload these files to YouTube and other social media sites or send them to customers. Due to insufficient bandwidth, these attempted data exchanges would often crash or take tens of minutes to succeed.

FOXPRO also has an onsite studio in which the company produces a television show for the Outdoor Channel. The company’s poor Internet connection affected FOXPRO’s ability to download and evaluate clips of audio and video content for potential use on the show and limited the company’s ability to view portions of its own program content.

Finally, the company’s online banking functions — a significant component of FOXPRO’s accounting processes – often required the company to reduce its Internet traffic manually to accommodate these transactions.

SOLUTION

Determined to overcome the obstacle that was stymieing its business, FOXPRO sought information and resources that could resolve the company’s bandwidth woes. The company contacted The Mifflin County Industrial Development Corporation (MCIDC) for help and also searched on its own to identify an Internet service provider that could install and deliver the upgraded data connection needed to replace the company’s insufficient 3Mbit DSL line.

Once aware of FOXPRO’s issues with its Internet service, MDIDC’s Rob Postal contacted SEDA-COG and Comcast to determine what solutions may be available to help the company obtain a broadband connection. Unfortunately, Comcast said it was unable to provide the fiber optic line the company needed. FOXPRO’s requests for proposals from several other Internet providers resulted in only one company, Nittany Media, indicating it was able to install and deliver the level of service improvement FOXPRO required. Unfortunately, the $25K, 1Gbit burstable fiber optic solution was cost prohibitive.

SEDA-COG and MCDIC then reached out to other Partnership for Regional Economic Performance (PREP) organizations, including the Innovative Manufacturers Center (IMC) and PennTAP for help. PennTAP provided an Internet assessment of FOXPRO’s situation and IMC Business Advisor Dana Gordon used the results of the assessment to develop and submit a Broadband Technical Assistance Mini Grant Program application to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) requesting funds to help offset the cost of the improvement.

DCED approved IMC’s grant application on behalf of FOXPRO and provided the company with more than $9,000 toward the effort. IMC also committed $2000 in project funds.

In the fall of 2015, Nittany Media successfully installed and began providing service for an 11,585 foot-long, 1Gbit fiber optic line, which is burstable to 1000 Mbps, for FOXPRO.

RESULTS

As a result of the increased bandwidth:

• FOXPRO’s IT department no longer receives complaints about employees being unable to do their jobs due to lack of Internet access and employee productivity has increased.
• The company has experienced a decrease in the number of lost calls – calls employees previously had not been able to answer quickly enough before customers grew weary of waiting and ended their calls.
• The improved voice and data connection will allow FOXPRO to move forward with plans to implement an automated voice-services system for customer calls that will help the company reduce costs.
• FOXPRO is now able to provide faster online credit card approvals for customers, thereby significantly reducing lost and aborted transactions.
• The company can now download and preview short clips of video content rather than having to wait for the download of much larger, complete files and is able to share more of its video on YouTube and other social media sites.
• The company has been able to retain and begin to grow its customer base. FOXPRO anticipates a modest annual increase in sales of $140K and estimates retained sales of $500,000.
• In the next 12 months, the company projects a cost savings of $50,000, the retention of two jobs and the creation of two additional positions.
• FOXPRO’s online banking functions, access to external servers and interactions with its shipping partner are no longer held hostage to insufficient bandwidth.

“In general, everyone has increased their personal productivity,” said Nathan Smith, FOXPRO’s Director of Information Technology. “We no longer get complaints about the internet speed.”

Due to the success of this project, IMC has replicated this model for another small company in an adjacent county and is actively searching for companies that have a need for the same solution.

Milton Steel, a Milton, PA-based subsidiary of Acrow Bridge, Milton Steel manufactures modular Acrow bridges and other fabricated structural steel products.

SITUATION

Like many small and mid-sized manufacturers, Milton Steel understood its market well and produced high-quality products, but the company recognized a need to enhance its ability to improve its operations quickly enough to maintain a competitive edge in a rapidly changing global economy.

Milton Steel’s Manufacturing Engineer, John Scholl, attended IMC’s training in Lean Manufacturing and became certified as a Lean Practitioner. Enthusiastic about the Lean tools and practices he learned from the training, John was excited to combine this knowledge with his engineering and manufacturing background and begin working with the Milton Steel team to implement improvements at the company’s facility.

The company contacted IMC for help in developing its use of Lean Manufacturing and Continuous Improvement practices and in identifying a starting point within the company to engage a small number of key stakeholders. IMC met with company leaders. After touring part of the plant and following a discussion of the company’s current practices and objectives, IMC and Milton Steel leaders decided to begin with a focused 5S effort in the company’s Transom area.

SOLUTION

IMC provided all-employee training in Lean Manufacturing principles and practices, and, along with Milton Steel’s president, Chris Holcombe, explained to employees the need for and benefits of the company’s plan to begin a Lean journey.  At John’s leading, IMC also provided basic 5S training to a core group of Milton Steel employees, including supervisors, and the team decided on a basic action plan. IMC then provided the team with a collection of 5S tools, along with additional consulting services, to help the company implement the 5S initiative.

The team went through the company’s entire Transom area to identify the seven wastes and to begin applying the Lean tools the members had learned.

RESULTS

Through its pilot program in the Transom area, Milton Steel was able to identify and eliminate waste and make significant improvements. The company:

• Increased the efficiency of its Transom division by 20 percent
• Eliminated significant waste and unnecessary movement of employees, including 600 feet of walking, by relocating tools and items employees need and placing them at the ends of the Transom
• Decreased the amount of Work in Progress (WIP), resulting in less material handling, less cash being invested in inventory and more “Just-in-Time” deliveries
• Increased the company’s bridge sales, as the company became more competitive in its ability to fabricate and deliver bridges in a shorter amount of time
• Implemented Standard Work in its Transom area
• Implemented the A3 project management tool to track problems and contributing causes as well as identified solutions and outcomes

After the excellent results it experienced with its pilot program in Lean/CI, Milton Steel has now implemented 5S throughout more areas of its facility including a robotic cell that produces small components for the company’s bridges. The Lean team improved workflow in this area by adding bins and tables so employees would have easy access to parts and would no longer need to bend to reach items they need, improving the ergonomics of this unit.

In addition to the examples noted above of decreasing steps and restructuring work areas so tools and parts are elevated to standing level to eliminate unnecessary bending and stooping, another issue identified during the Lean process was the heaviness of a steel tool that has now been replaced with a much lighter, aluminum version. As a result of Milton Steel’s Lean initiatives, employees are now able to accomplish more work with less effort, resulting in enhanced employee morale and safer and more efficient operations.

“Milton Steel’s Lean/CI efforts have been a big hit with employees, who have been excited to offer their critical knowledge and expertise in continually identifying ways in which to improve the company’s work environment and flow.”  John Scholl, Milton Steel Company

Located in Central Pennsylvania, Custom Container Solutions manufactures custom, roll-off steel containers in a variety of sizes and configurations for use in the waste, construction, demolition, scrap, recycling, and oil and gas industries. The company’s customers include municipalities as well as individual businesses. The current owners pruchased the small business, formaly known as Stoltzfus Steel Manufacturing, in 2011. CCS ships containers to any location in the Eastern and Midwestern United States.

SITUATION

CCS initially came to IMC in 2012 in search of help with implementing a continuous imprvement initiative that would reduce costs, improve efficiency, increase the company’s productivity and profitability, and improve workplace safety. At the time, the company, which had been in existence for 26 years and had experienced a growth cycle for the previous two years, was operating at capacity, producing four units a day and having to turn away business. Most processes were performed manually with little automation. The company had dedicated hardworking staff and was operating 11 hours a day with a single shift.

IMC worked with CCS to understand their needs and objectives and connected the company with a LEAN/Continuous Improvement resource who worked closely with CCS personnel to achieve multiple operational improvements, including:

• A process redesign that included an improved facility layout for efficient product flow
• Purchase and installation of an overhead crane system
• Achievement of standardized work
• Improved workplace safety
• An increase in production from four to roughly eight units per day

According to CCS Managing Member, Todd Vonderheid, these dramatic outcomes positioned the company to seek to expand its product offerings to include more customized items tailored to specific industry segments, and the company is now considering adding a second shift to significantly increase ROI.

CCS wanted to begin work on an entirely new product: an intermodal container designed for marine, truck and rail transportation. The new venture required the company to become an approved manufacturer and receive third-party certification from the International Convention for Safe Containers (the Safe Container Certificate and Plate).

CCS again approached IMC for assistance. Although the company had many processes and procedures in place, these measures lacked definition and documentation. To achieve its goals, CCS needed to develop a Quality Management System that would a) allow the company to enter previously inaccessible markets, and b) provide the company with a management system for its core product that would bring the comprehensive structure, discipline, and documentation necessary to position CCS for increased efficiency, process repeat-ability, responsiveness, and growth.

SOLUTION

Based on its discussions with CCS owners and management, IMC arranged a meeting for CCS with a resource to perform a one-day, onsite assessment/gap analysis. From that analysis, a report was drafted that detailed the gap between CCS’s existing management system and the company’s desired state as well as what it would take for CCS to make the transition.  We then worked closely with CCS personnel over several months to provide the services needed for the company to meet all applicable QMS system requirements. The company is now prepared to begin the CSC certification process.

RESULTS

“We had a lot of procedures that we did every day, but they weren’t formalized. When we tried to revise and change what we were doing, we did so not based on objective trends but subjective feelings. Today, because of the QMS system, we make decisions based on accurate data and consider those changes with our larger processes and company objectives” said Todd Vonderheid, Managing Member, CCS.

“IMC connected us to a consultant that helped us to design a Quality Management System specifically around our process for our core product. The end result of that is that we are about to go through a review process with the certifying agency [for the intermodal container], and we have built a prototype product that we’re taking to the customer next week. We belive that this customer is going to move forward with orders, and we believe that could be another doubling of gross sales and newar doubling of the workforce, and we have every expectation that this is going to happen,” said Vonderheid.

“We couldn’t have been happier with the consultant that IMC paired us with,” he added. “We’re actually on the third project now.”

Other results:

•  70% Reduction in the number of mistakes made in core products
• Significantly improved workplace safety (very low number of workplace injuries and very low number of
  Workers’ Compensation claims)
• $500,000 investment in new equipment (cranes and paint booths)
• Increase in staffing from 12 to 21 line employees
• Increase in gross sales from $3 million to $6 million annually
• 20% increase in average wage for employees

Located in Central Pennsylvania, TRS Technologies is a world leader in piezoelectric and dielectric materials technology, transforming raw powder into piezoelectric rings, discs and plates. These products are revolutionizing technologies in the medical, sensor, industrial and defense domains. Examples include medical ultrasound systems with higher resolution, reduced package size in sonar systems and new low-temperature instrumentation.

SITUATION

According to TRS president and owner, Wes Hackenberger, the company was struggling with on-time delivery and scheduling inefficiencies when he first connected with IMC. “After working for a period of time without a real tool, we had transitioned into using Microsoft Project, but even that was extremely time-consuming.” Hackenberger, himself, was spending a considerable amount of time with scheduling productive capacity and responding to customer service issues, limiting his time to focus on critical areas of business success such as pursuing new product development, adding new customers and leading the company in the execution of its business vision and mission. That’s when IMC became involved, bringing in the expertise of a third-party resource.

SOLUTION

The project was broken into several key phases: assessing the circumstances, defining current and future needs, securing RFPs from qualified vendors, facilitating software demonstrations and making recommendations on a final, integrated solution that would ultimately allow Hackenberger to delegate scheduling to another member of his team.

At the onset of the project, the resource interviewed TRS leadership and other personnel to get a full understanding of the process flow for scheduling, from quoting delivery dates through to the completion of production and the closing on the work order into finished goods. He then drafted a business process narrative describing TRS, its current technology, the value proposition for the project and the current state and future state capabilities required from software to support TRS’ requirements. The document was finalized with TRS and then circulated to vendors who fit the scope requirements. Those vendors were instructed to reply with an overview of their solution’s capability to satisfy the needs of TRS, as well as budgetary pricing.

The proposals were evaluated and TRS was assisted throughout the selection process. This included facilitating a series of software demonstrations by the vendors, who were provided a demonstration guide directing them to present at minimum what the selection team needed to review. Once vendors were narrowed through that process, solutions were discussed and a second round of presentations were convened to provide TRS the opportunity to view the software again, but with their own sample data implemented. The process enabled TRS to evaluate the solutions more thoroughly in order to make the best decisions possible.

RESULTS

Hackenberger noted that the process, itself, produced several positive results for the TRS. The impacts included:

• On-time delivery improvements – from 70-80% to 92%
• Retained sales – $2 million
• Plant/equipment investment – $600,000
• Employees retained – 10
• Employees created – 3

These outcomes were realized as a result of the work accomplished through the project with IMC – even before implementation of a software solution. As of January 2015, TRS had not purchased the solution, but Hackenberger indicated that he would be making the investment.

SITUATION

“We needed to get out of the foxhole and make a charge of some kind or else bury our heads and die.”

That’s how Lewis Lumber President Keith Atherholt characterized the circumstances when he first connected with IMC. “We recognized that demand in our business would not recover to the degrees of the past.” That fact is what prompted him to meet with IMC. “Discussing things really helped me to understand our situation even more thoroughly,” Atherholt shared, “and it was helpful knowing that we were not the only business or industry with these kinds of challenges.”

SOLUTION

It became clear that Lewis Lumber needed to more effectively generate meaningfully unique or differentiated products and services. Through conversations with IMC, company leadership believed that by more fully leveraging resources through a systematic innovation approach, they would be able to generate and develop new product and service ideas, as well as identify and develop customers and markets—all leading to increased sales, profitability and growth.

IMC recommended that Lewis Lumber embark on what would be a business-altering journey for the company. They proceeded with two projects: Innovation Engineering (IE) Jump Start and Innovation System Engineering System Development. These highly entrepreneurial experiences were aimed at helping Lewis Lumber to identify at least two product or service ideas and to create the company’s own innovation system. The goal was to equip the Lewis Lumber team with significant knowledge of the innovation process and tools, increase their capability to innovate and set them on a path towards developing their own defined and re-finable Innovation Engineering Management System (IEMS).

The work included:

1. Planning — Gain a solid understanding of the inner workings of the company, ensure a collective understanding of the purpose and fundamentals of IEMS, establish clear objectives for next steps, discuss the IE Assessment Tool and identify Stimulus Mining opportunities for the initial Create Session.
2. Create — Apply Innovation Acceleration principles and transform Stimulus Mining insights to create and/or sharpen ideas.
3. Communicate — Using IE Communication tools, apply 3 P (Problem, Promise, Proof) structure to move ideas from more generalized to more focused and to begin validating the potential of the ideas for market success.
4. Commercialize — Apply IE tools to further understand the potential of the ideas by doing fast evaluations of market segments, potential customers, financial potential and various challenges and potential threats including design, manufacturability and cost.
5. Lewis Lumber System Build — Loosely construct a draft model of the Lewis Lumber Innovation System by completing a blank Innovation Funnel.
6. Idea Selection — Decide upon two or three ideas to move into a Discovery Phase and identify Project Leaders and a Management Coach for the projects.
7. Coaching Rapid Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) Cycles — Apply Fail-Fast, Fail-Cheap methodology to swiftly and cheaply learn enough about the idea to either kill it or move it to the Development Phase.
8. Lewis Lumber System Build – Develop a draft of a Lewis Lumber Innovation System.
9. Work, Refinement, Assimilation into Company Culture — Work on current projects while also placing emphasis on the further development of a defined Lewis Lumber Innovation System that can be sustained, taught to all employees and new hires and continually improved and refined with the intent to make Lewis Lumber a highly innovative enterprise.

RESULTS

Atherholt said that he was extremely pleased with the outcomes.

“In fact, we are confident that we can draw direct relationships to improved gross profit margins in product lines identified and altered in the innovation engineering process. Better yet, we developed a new system to process ideas. We’ve named it ‘LEMIS,’ for ‘Lewis Efficiently Managing Ideas Systematically’!”

The approach officially kicked off in 2014 and involved every employee, reinforcing the concept of ideas emanating from the floor-up rather than from management-down. Atherholt admitted, “This is a culture change. We have a small company and even in that small arena, this is taking time. We started in December 2013 with an employee meeting to introduce this concept. It took until March 2014 to put the next step in place of creating an ‘idea session’ with the entire company all at one time.”

“This is taking much longer than I would like, but we have woven in LEAN Continuous Improvements as well. I am confident that we will move forward with forming project groups, and I am sure that we will still depend upon IMC to guide us through building our own LEMIS. The future looks bright and positive! I am confident of profit-generating results!”

Through prompting of IMC, Lewis Lumber embarked on other positive steps too. These included sending the company’s general manager to a LEAN manufacturing class, Atherholt’s participation on an idea-sharing “Manufacturers’ Executive Forum” and an educational outreach program in which Atherholt and a panel of manufacturers spoke to 50 guidance counselors from local school districts about encouraging students to consider manufacturing as a career.

REICHdrill® manufactures a complete line of rotary and DTH drilling equipment for use in the water well, oil and gas exploration, quarrying, construction and mining industries and is based in  Philipsburg, PA.

Specifically, REICHdrill’s production includes a series of truck-mounted drilling platforms, a full line of tractor-mounted drilling platforms, a full line of tractor and self-propelled based drilling equipment and support vehicles for those products.

The company was founded in the late 1940s by Wendell Reich and has roots leading back to the development of the first hydraulic top-drive rotary drill. The company has been producing drilling equipment at its current location since 1984, when REICHdrill acquired the CP line of rotary drills. REICHdrill has built a solid reputation in the industry for manufacturing the highest quality, best performing drills in the marketplace. The company continually drives innovation in the design process leading to the development of technologically advanced drilling equipment.

SITUATION

REICHdrill was in negotiations with the world’s second largest mining equipment supplier on an agreement that would mean a significant ramp-up in production and export market delivery by an anticipated $5 million per year over four years. Unfortunately, the company wasn’t poised to take advantage of the opportunity due to operational and financial issues. The business had a critical need to refinance and restructure operationally, and was constrained by their physical space inhibiting further growth. The Strategic Early Warning Network (SEWN) came to their aid and engaged the company on multiple platforms including cash flow and planning, operations, thru-put and turns, production planning, and organizational planning for growth. IMC was brought into the mix to help attack issues on the operational front.

SOLUTION

The objective of IMC’s work with REICHdrill was to help the company learn and apply a variety of lean tools and methods to better understand and analyze major product lines, improve set-up and product change times, identify and remove production bottlenecks, improve process flow, engage employees in continuous improvement activities, and in general move towards becoming a more lean enterprise. To that end, the project focused on two major areas —training on the principles of LEAN manufacturing and Value Stream Mapping.

To facilitate this effort, IMC brought in a highly experience Lean / Continuous Improvement solution provider from a sister center in York, PA.  Participants were involved in open discussion and learned about the eight wastes that an organization must reduce in order to be competitive in today’s marketplace. Topics included Standardized Work, Workplace Organization, Batch Size Reduction, Point-of-Use Storage, Quality at the Source, Raw Material Inventory, W-I-P Inventory, Finished Goods Inventory, and Pull Systems.

In terms of the other major component of the project with IMC, the intensive work on Value Stream Mapping provided REICHdrill with clarity on their Current State—from receiving customer orders and scheduling through all manufacturing operations, inspection, and shipping. A Future State value stream map was also built, and both exercises equipped the company with the insights to identify and prioritize opportunities for improvement.  Following that initiative, IMC continued to meet with REICHdrill to discuss improvement strategies and implementations.

RESULTS

Due to the work of IMC, MANTEC, SEWN, and of course, REICHdrill, 65 jobs were saved and the company is now experiencing significant growth and will be expanding their business. In particular, the work with IMC has resulted in the removal of constraints that prevented the company from working on multiple drill units at the same time, as well as the elimination of a severe bottleneck in the paint process. REICHdrill is now able to work on five units at a time, has changed the way that painting is done, and has implemented several other improvements. This positive movement has garnered significant positive results.

Ascent Bio-Nano Technologies is a biotech startup company that develops high-performance, low-cost miniature flow cytometry devices for various industries based in State College, PA.

The company’s mission is to develop innovative biomedical instruments to accelerate the impact academic research makes on society. The company’s products are used in biomedical studies, medical diagnosis and therapeutics. The applications are expansive, including for HIV, leukemia and cancer diagnosis and the product is based on patented, renowned technologies.

SITUATION

Ascent’s team had developed low-cost flow cytometer cell sorters that analyze and sort without damaging cells. The achievement was significant, earning them a financial investment from the Ben Franklin Partners of Central and Northern Pennsylvania. However, while the instruments were leading edge, they were developed for the lab setting. Moving the products to market would mean engineering them for production at a variable price point while maintaining stringent quality measures.

SOLUTION

IMC business advisor, Ed Zubavich, connected Ascent President and CEO Lin Wang with the Learning Factory, a program within Penn State’s College of Engineering. The Learning Factory helps to provide engineering students with practical hands-on experience through industry-sponsored and client-based capstone projects. Wang submitted a project proposal to have students perform configuration designs to reduce the instrument footprint and provide a proof-of-concept prototype based on the lab-performing system of Ascent’s cytometry instruments. The project involved solid modeling, basic electronics and interfacing and multi-disciplinary expertise. Student work included the following:

• Review the lab-performing system and understand the requirements of the proof-of-concept prototype.
• Identify the most suitable commercially available components to replace the expensive lab equipment.
• Develop several concepts of prototype system design. Consider size, functionality, cost and system stability. Select one approach and develop it in detail.
• Assemble the prototype based on the design concept.

Students completed that work over the course of four months in the fall of 2012. Wang noted that her team was very pleased with the results. “The students brought good passion to the work,” she explained. “They were big contributors to choosing components, resolving modeling concerns and more.”

The effort was so successful that in January 2013 Ascent moved forward with a second project with IMC and The Learning Factory – this time, to advance the prototype developed in the fall. Students were charged with researching existing compact flow cytometry cell analyzers to develop an understanding of price, size, features and specification. Armed with that information, students moved ahead with a second prototype to consolidate power supplies, gain new efficiencies in the electronic design, optimize the data interface and enable system data to feed directly into commercially available software for display and analysis. The prototype was assembled, tested and the results compared to what was available in the industry.

RESULTS

According to Wang, these projects have helped Ascent in many ways. Having a solid prototype in place, Ascent has extended its position from solely a research lab to that of a serious business, placing it in good position for building even more credibility in the industry and with potential investors. The process also enables Ascent’s leadership to better plan for growth by allowing them to see what skills would be needed if they expanded their operation to in-house prototype development. Combined, the two projects have staged Ascent for future success.

Lumax Industries is a leading manufacturer of high quality, custom industrial, commercial, and institutional fluorescent and LED lighting fixtures. Founded in 1976, Lumax is privately owned and operated with a 150,000 square foot manufacturing facility based in Altoona, PA.

The company is a Made in the USA manufacturer, offering a complete line of fluorescent and LED fixtures for many lighting applications, including recessed parabolic and lensed troffers, recessed indirect, surface mounts, strips, channels, and industrial units, wraparounds, task and wall brackets, and vandal and security lighting.

SITUATION

Lumax’s success can be attributed to a mastery of all the latest manufacturing and product technologies across the entire lighting spectrum; a well-established reputation for capstone quality and superlative customer service; and a willingness to design, develop, and manufacture lighting fixtures for an ever evolving and more specialized, technologically advanced marketplace.

Despite the company’s rich history and ongoing success, Lumax’s leadership team also recognizes the importance of responding soundly to significant movements within their industry. With the growing momentum of LED technology, Lumax sought to explore the potential of an innovative LED industrial high bay light fixture.

SOLUTION

IMC Business Advisor Ed Zubavich connected Lumax Engineering Manager Rich Taylor with The Learning Factory, a program within Penn State’s College of Engineering. The Learning Factory helps to provide engineering students with practical hands-on experience through industry sponsored and client-based capstone projects.

Taylor submitted a project proposal to have students design and fabricate two high bay LED lighting fixtures with stringent criterion for ambient operating temperatures, lumen output and distribution, ease of manufacture, and aesthetics.

“I can’t say enough positive things about The Learning Factory, and I am thankful for the connection that IMC so proactively made. I truly felt like the students were a part of our team.” – Rich Taylor

“I wanted to choose a project that would be brand new for us and not just a modification to an existing product,” Taylor explained. “I wanted to start with a clean slate that would allow the students – who were senior-level engineers in an outstanding program – to be as creative as they want to be. I wanted to provide them that opportunity while also giving Lumax a chance to explore something beyond what we would normally pursue.”

When Damian Rose, a project advisor with The Learning Factory and part-time instructor for the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering at Penn State, saw the Lumax proposal, he knew that the project would be a worthwhile endeavor for students. Rose, who is also an engineer at the Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) at Penn State, was exposed to Lumax products in ARL facilities.

“I was quite impressed with their product and knew that the company was one that believed in quality and innovation,” Rose explained. “I felt that the project would give students the chance to work with a solid, innovative company on a project that combined many different aspects of engineering —thermal analysis, electrical work, CAD work, fabrication, and more.” A team of five students worked on the project, with Rose serving as behind-the-scenes advisor and Taylor as the industry sponsor. IMC contributed funds to help formally launch the project.

Over 15 weeks, the students met with Lumax, presented multiple designs, regularly communicated with Taylor and abided timelines, and engineered a design that was aesthetically pleasing, worked thermally, and performed optically. They fabricated two fully functional prototypes that tested better thermally than LED high bay fixtures that were already on the market.

RESULTS

The students’ hard work paid off in a big way. A panel of industry experts judged the project a second place award winner at the 2013 Student Design Project Showcase held on the Penn State campus. The “LED High Bay Light Fixture sponsored by Lumax Lighting” was among some 163 projects at the event, including 115 senior capstone projects involving 560 seniors.

Lumax has since put the product on display in their Altoona showroom and clients and sales representatives have responded with enthusiastic feedback. The product was also a highlight of the Lumax booth at LIGHTFAIR International 2013, touted as the world’s largest annual architectural and commercial lighting trade show and conference.

Videon Central, Inc. (Videon), an Intel Capital portfolio company, is a leading provider of media solutions, supplying streaming video and Blu‐ray Disc technology to the consumer electronics market.

Videon is also an Original Design Manufacturer for highly regulated industries like in‐flight entertainment, delivering fully qualified hardware platforms designed and assembled in the United States. Videon’s media playback solutions have enabled more than 25 million embedded systems including Smart TVs, IPTV set‐top boxes, BD players, tablets and other connected devices. Videon offers OEM and vertical market customers a unique set of capabilities to help scale product development and facilitate the launch of next‐generation digital media applications.

SITUATION

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Videon had targeted lean initiatives for some time, but being a high‐mix, low‐volume operation had its perceived obstacles when it came to traditional lean practices. In 2011, though, the company got a nudge from customer Rockwell Collins, an aviations electronics company headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Their leadership encouraged Videon to pursue Quick Response Manufacturing (QRM). The recommendations came at a time when Rockwell Collins was focusing on their key suppliers like Videon in an effort to help drive improvement.

In December 2011, Rockwell Collins introduced Videon to the “Accelerate” supplier improvement model offered by the Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership (WMEP). This model calls for the supplier, OEM and MEP to formally agree to a charter defining rules, roles and responsibilities, and to pursue the initiative together.

With Videon based in central Pennsylvania, IMC was the designated MEP and became the third armof what would prove to be a hugely successful effort.

SOLUTION

QRM emphasizes relentless reduction in lead‐time, allowing opportunity forimproved quality, elimination of waste and reduced cost. With Accelerate, Videon moved through a three‐phase program toward establishing a lean culture.

Phase I, Gauging Performance and Identifying Opportunities – The first phase began with an assessment of Videon’s current performance surrounding its dual Blu‐ray Disc player, the primary product supplied to Rockwell Collins. IMC and partner‐consultant Sharon Hoffman worked with Videon through an intensive assessment period, deploying Value Stream Mapping as the primary mechanism.

According to Videon’s Chief Operating Officer, Paul Brown, it became clear that their “silo approach” was creating a series of negative impacts. Materials were piled, orders were on backlog and employees were not truly working together. The company was missing out on the learning and innovation that can come from collaboration and streamlined planning. Despite having a talented team and a solid product, Video wasn’t making the most of its resources and wasn’t optimizing its work.

Our outcomes have been very successful and we are poised to apply these principles to other areas of our business for more widespread improvements. We have much to be proud of at Videon, and this effort is truly helping to take our entire team to a new level.” – Paul Brown

This first phase allowed Videon to identify areas of improvement and work through an agreed future state of improvement. Two key measures of that agreement included reducing Defective Parts per Million (DPPM) by 50 percent and boosting On‐Time Delivery (OTD) to 99.5 percent.

Phase II, Implementing Improvements – Videon implemented its first QRM cell in April 2012, with production starting on April 30. Over a seven‐week period, they saw great reductions in Manufacturing Critical‐path Time (MCT) and recognized opportunities for continuous improvement. Leadership responded to the success and shifted manufacturing operations to total QRM in August of that same year. They moved from six separate functional areas with a single‐person silo at each and multiple orders being processed atthe same time, to one‐piece flow with the entire team focused on the order and orders processed one at a time.

The results included further reductions in MCT, lead‐time, Work‐In‐Progress (WIP), DPPM and more, along with a significant improvement in OTD.

Sharon Hoffmann attributed much of the success to Videon’s forward‐thinking and innovative culture. “The folks at Videon are extremely bright, dedicated and resourceful. They understand that the associates actually building their products have valuable knowledge and input.”

Hoffmann noted that top management was extremely supportive and involved, adding, “After studying the proposed QRM application and realizing its potential, they developed their own motivation to proceed, make changes and ensure that this approach was value‐added to their company and its products.”

Phase III, Next Steps – Establishing a Lean Culture: Videon already maintains a strong focus on continuous improvement. After the QRM implementation, the company built upon the momentum by indicating that the next focus would be on error proofing and preventative measures. Tenets to this next phase include: documentation updates based on Process Failure Mode Effects Analysis(PFMEA) and control plans; supply chain risk analysis andmitigation and a concentration on overall production quality.

RESULTS

Through this process, Videon has achieved high‐impact results in key areas of quality, on‐time delivery, rework/defects and capacity. The initiative also sparked renewed innovation and teamwork.

• Planning wait time reduced from 7 days to 1 day
• Batch size reduced to 10‐15 units; number of shipments increased
• 62.5% reduction in rework
• 0% DPPM in Oct‐Dec
• 50% reduction in scrap
• 60% reduction in MCT
• 61% reduction in MFGNVA transfer time
• 30% reduction in lead‐time (from 13+ to under 10 hours)
• 80% reduction inWIP (from $500k to $100k)
• 100% OTD in Oct‐Dec, soon after going totally QRM

Easier Scalability – Each cell has defined resources and equipment. Purchase orders for equipment and tools can be placed immediately to create a new cell. Personnel requirements are known.

Improved Production Planning – Before,there was no starting information for functional areas, and only the touch‐time was planned. Lack of insight caused Videon to schedule multiple builds at the same time, causing overtime, stress and heroics. The planning process required a higher level of skill and experience. Now, all orders are scheduled when received. Staff can plan for other activities and more easily adjust to accommodate customer requests.

Better Measures for Capacity – Capacity is now calculated daily rather than monthly and includes “other activities.” Potential overloads are quickly identified and overtime is therefore reduced. Capacity stabilization is at 80 percent and allows for maximum flexibility.

New Mechanisms for Saving Time & Improving Quality – Videon now utilizes new error‐proofing techniques and improved work instructions.

Weekly Reviews at QRM Cell – Teams meet weekly and encourage regular, timely feedback. That, plus consistent measurement and monitoring, enables continuous improvement.

All Employees Trained on QRM Principles – Videon is establishing a true Lean culture within its manufacturing operations. All employees have opportunity to be a part.