Overcoming Inconsistencies from Outsourced Supply

Two words in a manufacturer’s vocabulary can bring on ulcers: Reject. As in poor quality creates a bloated reject count—unacceptable when margins are thin. Second word? Down. As in “Our production line is down!”

These words are two of the biggest profit-lowering, blood pressure-raising parts of life as a manufacturer and are being addressed head-on by an innovative Creative Automation customer who focuses on institutional furniture.

“We were asked to propose a production solution to the ongoing challenge our customer was facing with relying on a vendor to provide quality laminated panels in a timely fashion,” explained Mark Streckert, CEO of Creative Automation. “Their vendor was failing them too often, and for the sake of their own quality and time demands, they were looking at bringing that process in-house for the first time.”

Controlling Costs Through Controlling Production

The in-house approach, the customer felt, would eliminate the two biggest problems their production was facing. As a well-run company, they felt it would be well within their capabilities to take on their vendor’s production, but a bigger, more demanding question still loomed: “How do we obtain a line that will run reliably with little to no breakdown so we don’t put ourselves in the same situation we tried to remedy—high reject count and inconsistent supply.”

“We were already a vendor-partner of theirs, so they knew who they could trust,” declared Streckert. “Our equipment has worked great for them and our problem-solving skills are excellent. Our entire engineering group is outstanding, and our customer felt we were the right choice for the project.”

The new line would be required to integrate with a European hot press. Labor and versatility were important considerations.

Production Done Well

Creative Automation designed and built a complete processing line around the hot press, which included core feeding, laminate slitting and cutting, panel layup, inspection, cooling, and stacking of finished panels. Designed to run with only two people, the new laminating line handles different sized material and a variety of laminates and is designed so that no human ever touches the product.

The Creative Automation laminating line has enabled the customer to control their component supply, reduce rejects, and minimize labor costs.

The customer’s own words sum up their experience with this project, as told to us by their Director of Manufacturing, “Our [Creative Automation] line is the best piece of equipment I’ve experienced in my forty years of doing business.”

Considering a production line upgrade, retrofit, or new processing line?  Call Creative Automation at 715-223-6321 to discuss how we can help discover and implement greater production efficiencies with fewer problems.