Implementing new changes, while also accurately measuring the results they bring is a key component of successfully making improvements. In recent years, each of our plants conducted many kaizen improvement projects, and by doing so I imagine that we created much advancement in efficiency. Frankly though, up until now we did not possess an information system capable of verifying the contribution of each individual project. We were operating solely based on our gut feel or on partial information, and didn’t have any direct ability to check or measure numerical data that is capable of showing the effects of what we intended to accomplish, to see how well it worked.

Over the last two years however, the integration of Epicor into our company has brought a fundamental change to the way we make improvements. To establish this new system, and make it fully operational was the biggest lean project in our history. It has standardized our electronics manufacturing business processes and gives us the foundation to have centralized measurement systems which link together information about all of our services. Data ranging from our high-level business metrics, down to the individual electronics assembly work cells on our manufacturing floor can now be easily accessed and analyzed. By carefully reviewing this work cell data, we are now able to see how our key business metrics of profitability and on-time delivery of Perfect Product to our customers was directly influenced by specific kaizen changes. Each employee will be able to see how their work towards making improvements directly impacts our overall company performance, which puts the power of making a difference in each of our hands.

Rick McClain,

COO Milwaukee Electronics