"Our inventory is at its lowest and our fill rates and profitability are at their highest... We are doing more today with the same number of people as we had in 2008 and getting the highest quality we've ever had," says Harris Products Group president and CEO, David Nangle.
Discovering the Real Cost of Scrap
Nowhere has this played out more dramatically than its handling of scrap.
The copper and silver the Mason facility melts into its finished products can represent as much as 97% of its total materials costs, yet historically very little attention has been paid to how much of it was scrapped in day to day operation. "All of the scrap we produce is remelted," explains Nangle. "Since the price of copper and silver was going up, the thinking was that the scrap we redid could actually make us money."
That logic, however, did not factor in labor or energy costs, which, compounded through the remelting process, far offset any potential gains.
Since they began collecting and working from data, Harris' casting team has "changed every paradigm in that department of what engineering scrap was about," says Nangle, utilizing advanced metallurgical tools and going through a lot of experiments and projects.
By focusing on casting and scrap, and using data to guide them, the casting team has reduced scrap by some 80% since 2009, adding up to an impressive $1.23 million in project savings from that department alone.
"Data is driving everything," Temple notes. "We are challenging legacy processes, improving quality, improving efficiency. Data is how we get there."
For more on the 2012 Best Plants winners' amazing achievements, click here.
