General Cable Corp.
Lawrenceburg, Ky.
Employees: 310, nonunion
Total Square Footage: 364,000
Primary Product/Market: Telecom and datacom cables
Start-Up Date: 1974
Achievements: Increased productivity 5.6% in 2010; improved cycle time by approximately 50% over last 3 years; had zero recordable injuries in 2009.
"The key to success is not the guy in the corner office," Paul Furtado emphasizes, "it is the people out on the floor. They get it. They understand that in order to survive, they have to change. They have to be flexible. Leadership is what gives passion to people to say, We can get there.'"
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As plant manager for General Cable's Lawrenceburg, Ky., facility, Furtado is "the guy in the corner office," but it is clear that his focus is on the 300 employees in the plant, and the immediate destination is a sweeping change to an operator-led process-control (OLPC) environment where employees "own and manage" the production process.
The Lawrenceburg facility produces two basic product lines. Telecom cables, the familiar thick cable seen on telephone poles and in underground installations, consist of from nine to 4,200 pairs of copper wire. These complex products cover thousands of part numbers. For General Cable, this is a maintenance business.
The growth at Lawrenceburg comes from datacom cables, such as the Cat 5 and Cat 6 twisted pair cables used for computer and electronic data transfer.
