Wisconsin manufacturing success highlights value of Lean supply chains

Factory output in the U.S. is growing at a steady pace. While manufacturing expanded in February for the 31st consecutive month, many industries have failed to learn from mistakes made during the recession. Continuous quality improvement, for example, has emerged as an operational imperative, yet many producers have completely overlooked the value of this management strategy.

Wisconsin manufacturers, however, do seem to grasp the significance of this trend. The Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership (WMEP) reported this week that state factories continued to report both growth and quality improvement in the first quarter.

Through the WMEP's continuous improvement, training, export assistance, supply chain management and sustainability programs, manufacturers were able to retain 102 jobs while adding an additional 82. These companies also generated $3 million in cost savings, and invested $6 million toward equipment, information systems and workforce solutions.

“Wisconsin manufacturers are definitely leading the economic recovery,” said Buckley Brinkman, executive director of WMEP. “The survey results clearly indicate that forward-looking Next Generation Manufacturing strategies drive profitability for Wisconsin manufacturers.”

Prolitec, one of the companies assisted by the WMEP, reported year-over-year international sales growth of 90 percent because of these continuous improvement and operational excellence programs. The manufacturer also reported a 30 percent uptick in export planning.

“Every partner and speaker took extreme care to present strong value to the group and much needed solutions,” said Roger Bensinger, executive vice president of marketing and business development at Prolitec. “The peer-to-peer success stories really helped us relate to their real-world experiences and gave us great ideas.”

But Wisconsin's experience reflects a worldwide trend toward Lean management and process improvement strategies not just in manufacturing but in other areas of business strategy as well. Supply chain management, for example, is closer on managers' radars after last year's devastating natural disasters that ravaged global supply networks.

Earlier this month, Toyota reported that, by this fall, its global supply chain will be resilient enough to withstand another natural disaster and recover within two weeks. The Japanese automotive giant cited the adoption of Lean management, continuous improvement and other process improvement efforts as contributing to the benchmark.