Alpha Coatings Inc. was founded in 1990 and has offices all around the world. The company first started out by applying metal to rubber bonding adhesives for the military. This application then led to producing weather strip coatings for the automotive industry. Meeting the needs of the automotive and aftermarket industry, their custom coating services are especially suitable for many types of sealing systems, including those found on any type of vehicle, including cars, trucks and trailers as well as appliances, windows, doors and boats. Today, the company boasts over $100 million dollars in sales annually.
Alpha Coatings’ local facility in Fostoria, Ohio identified some operational and communication issues that needed resolved to further business. Operationally, the shop floor was disorganized in various work areas. There were also very few measurable key performance indicators communicated to employees to help them understand how they were doing. The company’s management team met and were in agreement that a Lean implementation was necessary to improve the two issues.
The company contacted CIFT, an Ohio MEP, to provide the on-site process education and hands-on shop floor experience implementation of Lean Principles and Techniques. The MEP trained employees and implemented 5S to assist with the organization of shop floor areas. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were also identified to track and communicate to the shop floor.
The results of this work conducted for Alpha Coatings were significant. The most noteworthy impact being over $4 million dollars in increased and retained sales directly from this project. Alpha Coatings also increased and retained 40 jobs.
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