No matter what your company produces, you can't meet your sales goals and objectives unless every single employee -- including the guy who sweeps the floor -- is focused on the customer. I was able to reengineer Craftsman Custom Metals (CCM) from a high-volume supplier to low-volume, high mix stamping and fabricating company by finding a customer service niche by providing our customers with direct access to decision makers, quick response and the flexibility to make changes.
The company began its transition to cellular manufacturing in the late '90s when I was director of engineering. When I purchased it in 2001, I knew we had to concentrate on differentiating ourselves if we were going to survive the outsourcing movement to Mexico and China. We chose to focus on what we could do best -- manufacture highly engineered flexible volume products -- and moved the company focus to cellular manufacturing teams with dedicated equipment and personnel.
I believe if we had not transitioned to cellular manufacturing, we would not be in business today. Because the cell teams work on a product from start to finish, there is a feeling of pride and ownership in the work that translates into a higher quality product. In addition, because of their familiarity with the products, the teams provide insights that can lead to product or process improvements. The employees have enabled our company to compete in a rapidly shrinking U.S. manufacturing environment by producing highly engineered products with tight tolerances.
Every Employee Knows the Customer
Each CCM employee is dedicated to gaining an intimate knowledge of customer needs. Our cellular manufacturing processes combined with our quick turnaround prototype capabilities provide great value to clients where speed to market is vital, such as telecommunications, medical instrumentation and computer manufacturers. We have the capability to fulfill smaller runs, assemble non- sheet-metal components, test final products and ship to the end user.
We were able to move to a more labor-intensive manufacturing process with a decrease in actual labor costs. In order to change the paradigm, all team metrics were geared towards satisfying the customer.
If you walk through the manufacturing facility, you'll see that each cell has a production scoreboard that measures:
- On-time delivery
- Quality of the finished product
- Safety/health of the work environment
- Productivity
- Satisfaction level of the customer
Transitioning to a New Environment
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