Jim Smith, Vice President & General Manager

William DeLongis , President

EPCO Plastics Corporation, manufactures and fabricates plastic parts for the aircraft, electronics, and other industries. They were experiencing trouble with their Internet Service Provider (ISP), and needed assistance.

Having worked with a not-for-profit organization in the past proved to be very cost effective for EPCO so they contacted LIFT. Another local economic development agency recommended LIFT’s particular type of hands-on assistance as a match with EPCO’s needs.

LIFT’s Project Manager obtained information from an ISP representative on how to make EPCO’s browser fully functional; he set up the computer with the new account on his first visit.

Janet Jones, President

Fastech, Inc. is a manufacturer of miniature fasteners. They had been selling directly to large, multinational OEM customers in the Electronics, Healthcare, and Telecommunications industries.

Fastech sales had been level at slightly more than $2 million per year, however, during the latter portion of 1998, the company began to see an erosion in order rate of approximately 20% per month.

At this point, they decided to take action. Fastech had been contacted by a LIFT field engineer during a canvass of their industrial park. Management realized that they had little or no formal sales and marketing experience, and asked LIFT to provide general guidance and training. LIFT proposed a series of marketing meetings, where LIFT staff, in conjunction with Fastech management, would develop and implement a marketing plan.

By using LIFT’s services, Fastech was able to realize a 32% sales increase year to year.

George Hugues, President

Halm contacted LIFT and requested an assessment of their facility, their manufacturing process and their physical product flow. After evaluation, LIFT targeted areas to concentrate on: inventory, production, defects, skills development and training, assembly processes and motion studies. Improvement was almost immediate and Halm began its journey to establish itself as a world-class manufacturing organization.

LIFT has worked closely with Halm in many areas and continues to do so. Most notable improvements, however, are in the quality of the product, cycle time and a tremendous increase in consistency of products produced by a multiple of individuals.

Tom Noce, Engineering Lab Manager

IFI contacted LIFT for assistance in improving their productivity and bottom-line profits. IFI's driving force is its President Mark Swanson, a staunch advocate of LEAN. LIFT's relationship with IFI began with Mark's attendance at a LEAN Workshop offered by LIFT.

LEAN is a method that streamlines the manufacturing process by improving work flow and minimizing waste. Now, armed with a vision of IFI as a customer demand driven company, Mark looked to LIFT for assistance in developing a strategic action plan.

RESULTS:

• Output more than doubled with no added floor space and only 14% more employees
• WIP and raw material inventory reduced by 86% and is still dropping
• Job satisfaction has increased along with economic benefits -- not a single employee has left since the project launch
• Sales have tripled, substantially as a result of Lean
• Warranty expense as a percentage of sales dropped by 63%
• IFI was more easily able to achieve ISO-9001 certification due to the application of LEAN methodology by the firm

Mark Swanson, President

Raphael Issac came to LIFT with an idea and a patent for a new and improved type of paint brush. LIFT was given the job to design and fabricate a prototype of Issac Industries' newly patented concept.

A working model was built based on LIFT’s CAD/CAM design software and LIFT’s rapid prototype modeling capabilities. Once manufacturing feasibility was established, LIFT then provided assistance in designing molds for mass production and sales literature for the client.

Issac Industries was awarded a Silver Medal at the Minnesota Inventors Congress for their new “Cleanz-Fast” Paint Brush.

Raphael Issac , President

Running a large corporation can be very challenging. No one knows this better than Richard B. Turan, President and CEO of Nassau University Medical Center (NUMC). Faced with a $17 million deficit in 2002, Mr. Turan’s innovative decision making is expected to help the center break even by 2003. But what was he actually doing to make the hospital run efficiently and profitably?

Besides the difficult task of laying off workers, he has implemented various reengineering efforts which included a taskforce of NUMC Purchasing personnel and the Long Island Forum for Technology (LIFT) to improve purchasing operations.

“The purchasing operation that existed at the former Nassau County Agency was so inefficient, bureaucratic and cumbersome that it failed to serve the needs of the Island’s second largest hospital. We have reengineered it into a more business-like operation which can serve as a model of efficiency,” said Richard B. Turan, President/CEO.

Turan concluded, “We were able to restructure our procedures from as long as four weeks down to two days by applying good solid principles which will help to make NUMC one of the best hospitals on Long Island.”

Richard Turan, President and CEO

Operating a hospital in today’s business climate places demand on its management to drive towards improving productivity and cost effectiveness. Faced with a $17 million deficit in 2002, Richard B. Turan, President of Nassau University Medical Center (NUMC) was making innovative decisions to help the hospital break even by 2003.

Mr. Turan took the bull by the horns and implemented various reengineering efforts utilizing the expertise of the Long Island Forum for Technology (LIFT) in improving its purchasing operations. He also called upon LIFT to perform an assessment of the hospital’s old, inoperable pneumatic tube system; a method of transporting objects using compressed air. Richard knew that if it could be fixed, it would improve patient care by shortening the time to have laboratory tests completed and medications administered.

There has been a 98% improvement in travel time between the ER and the Lab since the system was installed and a 96% improvement from the ICU and Delivery Room to the lab and vice versa. Four months following the installation of the new system resulted in the improved processing of 27,000 transactions. It is estimated that the hospital has eliminated approximately 30 minutes per transaction resulting in a savings to date of over 13,000 hours of patient waiting time.

Richard Turan, President and CEO

Tom Figlozzi sees Precision Metals as his legacy, so business concerns (such as environmental standards) mean more to him than just monetary commitment. The last thing Tom Figlozzi wants is to leave his son with a “time-bomb”.

Before moving from his old facility, he made sure that a Phase II Environmental Assessment was conducted in the new building. Another strength is that PMC is willing to seek assistance. A professional with LIFT, has been able to offer “coaching” in several general areas, as well as conducting a significant sales tax recovery project.

Through LIFT, PMC learned that it could be exempted from energy sales tax on the portion of usage related directly to the manufacturing process and that PMC could apply for a refund. LIFT took on the project of identifying the portion of the energy sales tax that was nontaxable and submitting the appropriate paperwork to the state and local utility.

Tom Figlozzi, President

Protex International Corporation, a developer and manufacturer of retail security devices came to LIFT when the company realized it needed immediate assistance to validate the functionality and performance of a new sensor product line. Protex designed a new product, the “Prolink Electronic Mini Attach-all”, a device that prevents in-store theft of electronic goods such as computers and cameras.

LIFT suggested a rapid prototype process using fused deposition modeling techniques, which produces the parts in ABS Plastic. Through the use of electronic mail, design iterations were executed quickly, and LIFT produced the working prototypes.

The manufactured Prolink Attach-all discs were delivered as required by Protex, the same day, and in some cases the next day.

“The rapid turn-around by LIFT helped our sales force conclude a successful project that enabled Protex to be awarded an initial contract of $350,000,” says Richard Larkin, Vice-President, Finance. “In addition, the company retained jobs, grew its business base, and added to its product line. LIFT’s assistance has strengthened Protex International’s market leadership status in the security device industry.“

Richard Larkin, Vice President

The owners of Sapienza Pastry were concerned about the profitability of the firm and were considering selling the business and/or selling the factory. Sapienza applied for assistance under the New York State Industrial Effectiveness Program, administered by Empire State Development.

LIFT was asked to perform preliminary and full Productivity Analyses which included financial reporting, and a review of marketing, financial reporting, and factory operations. LIFT’s analysis found that the factory was just breaking even, while the retail store was generating profits.

The factory was absorbing the overhead, however, allowing the two combined businesses to generate profits. Further analysis of the baking process in the factory uncovered ways to reduce scraps, a savings of $10,000 per year allowing the factory to become profitable!

Paul Sapienza, President

Wess Plastic, Inc. a manufacturer of injection molded parts invested $500,000 in new molding equipment, trained personnel, and acquired a mold building shop. They used LIFT’s product development capabilities to develop working prototypes for products that eventually became injection molded.

Wess Plastic teamed up with Pro Hitter Corporation to manufacture Pro Hitter's Direct Protect product. This product is a small piece of flexible plastic, which slips over a baseball player's thumb, giving the batter a better feel with the bat, as well as better wrist action which should, in turn, enable the player to get more hits. Direct Protect is used by nearly one-third of players in the major and minor leagues, and it is an inexpensive item that is available to all baseball enthusiasts.

Wess Plastic was asked by Pro Hitter Corporation to make 2-D drawings of the new product and develop an inexpensive prototype. Bruce Wessinger, President of Wess Plastic, turned to LIFT for design and prototyping assistance. Within two days of the initial request for engineering assistance, LIFT was able to develop 3-D models and manufacture working prototypes which helped them create the optimum design. This rapid prototyping effort enabled Wess Plastic to be awarded a contract valued at $150,000 to produce injection molds and manufacture 500,000 Direct Protects.

Wess Plastic also contacted LIFT for rapid prototyping assistance for a Light Fixture that was constructed from several components that required assembly and welding (post processing). Wess was able to deliver a multi-purpose design that could be injection molded to different specifications which yielded a $60,000 contract for Wess.

Bruce Wessinger, President

LIFT facilitated a Kaizen/field training event in setup reduction at Wolf X-Ray, a manufacturer of medical x-ray equipment and accessories. The event focused on their sheetmetal break press department, which is the first step in the process of fabricating their x-ray view boxes. Current setup times were running between one to two hours. In order for the company to set up a pull system based on customer demand a buffer inventory known as a supermarket is required between sheetmetal and the remaining processes.

A self-managing signaling system telling the sheetmetal department to produce parts on demand known as a kanban was required, however due to the long setup times, production capacity was limited thus yielding large buffer inventory levels of some 300 sheetmetal components. It was clearly evident a reduction in setup times was required.

Having attended LIFT’s one-day course in Setup Reduction utilizing the principles of Shigeo Shingo’s Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED) System, the company principles knew this was a necessary exercise in Wolf’s journey to becoming lean. Having never performed the SMED technique in a real world scenario, Wolf was somewhat apprehensive and came to LIFT for a solution.

The solution was to perform a combination of a kaizen and training event. This shop floor event went beyond theory and directly to a hands on set-up reduction process. On hand for this event were representatives from several local manufacturers including Royal Products of Hauppauge and Thompson Industries of Port Washington as well as MEP agents from other states.

Over the course of this two-day event setup times of Wolf’s Amada Brake Press were observed, documented and improved. At the onset of the event the observed setup time was approximately one hour with approximately 17 minutes of value added activity. The resulting improvements yielded an anticipated setup time of less than ten minutes.

By reducing setup times Wolf is able to increase capacity, cut inventory, reduce lot sizes and be more responsive to customers. Wolf is currently undergoing a series of setup reductions and plans to have all setups done in less than ten minutes by the end of the year.

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The Antenna Product and Technologies Group of the EDO Corporation was unable to be productive in the space they were occupying. In addition, they were in receipt of a new order that required infrastructure not available at their current location.

LIFT was contacted to provide for planning and the execution of a move to a new location. LIFT engineering services provided a layout for the manufacturing area that made it possible for Lean Flow to be achieved. Because of the scope and significance of this project LIFT’s senior management helped in the high level planning and execution of the move and the necessities required of the new facility.

Because of the successful relocation and new layout, EDO was able to accept a new $20,000,000 order and deliver it within three months.

Michael Mezzacappa, Director of Production, EDO Antenna Products and Technologies Group

In-order to penetrate new market opportunities in performing classified research, Applied Visions was in need of a specifically designed and constructed facility referred to as a “SCIF” or “Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility”. Although AVI was willing to construct its own SCIF once the long-term need was established, the company required short-term use of a SCIF in order to pursue the initial work. LIFT was contacted to assist in the search for a near-term source for such a facility.

• The effort led to related new sales amounting to approximately $500,000
• Added sales have enabled growth of the company. AVI has added six new full-time employees since the date of LIFT’s assistance
• AVI has constructed its own new SCIF in its Northport facility, adding approximately $55,000 of value to Long Island’s business infrastructure

Frank Zinghini Jr., President & CEO, Applied Visions, Inc.

C&M Circuits was chosen to manufacture the Warlock assembly, designed to protect our troops in Iraq from Improvised Explosive Devices (IED's). C&M’s challenge was to ramp its production output from 50 assemblies per month to 350 assemblies per month while maintaining quality levels and minimizing cost.

LIFT was hired by EDO Corporation, the prime contractor for the Warlock program, to assist C&M in meeting this high priority, urgent requirement. LIFT provided a Lean Transformation process that assisted and enabled the C&M team to:

• Identify opportunities
• Design solutions
• Implement solutions
• Provide tools to insure Continuous Improvement 

Charles Gwynn, President

AFCO Precast was experiencing many productivity issues concerning throughput, meeting deliveries and cost. AFCO is facing competitive pressure from manufacturers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. AFCO contacted The Long Island Forum for Technology (LIFT) a NIST MEP network affiliate for help.

LIFT provided a four-step Lean Enterprise Transformation process that would assist and enable the AFCO Precast team to identify opportunities, design solutions, implement solutions, and provide tools to insure continuous improvement.

Peter Kaplan, General Manager

Designatronics was experiencing some productivity issues with defects, scrap and rework. In addition high inventory levels caused by a large number of SKU’s and large batch sizes were creating inefficiencies within the manufacturing process. Designatronics contacted The Long Island Forum for Technology (LIFT) a NIST MEP network affiliate for help.

LIFT provided a 4-step Lean Enterprise Transformation process that would assist and enabled the Designatronics team to Identify Opportunities, Design Solutions, Implement Solutions, and provide Tools to insure Continuous Improvement.

• The “Standard Gear Value Stream Map disclosed 4.9 days or 4,855 pcs of WIP Inventory between the Turning and Chamfering areas. Once identified, the team determined the lathe operator had time to perform the chamfering operation. Mini cells were set up and with some additional tooling, the 4.9 days / 4,855 pieces of WIP inventory was reduced to ½ day / 500 pcs. A nearly 10 to 1 reduction.
• The Value Stream Map for the “Order Entry Process” determined a baseline (Current State) on “repeat orders” indicating 4.5 days of non-value added time and 1.9 hours of value added time for the Order Entry Process. The Future State Map indicated 2 hours of Non Value Added Time (An improvement of 34 hours per Order or 18 times faster per order entry). The “Quote Process” for quoting directly from the Estimating Department was reduced from 10.5 days to 8.25 days (An improvement of 2.5 days or 22% reduction in time to quote).
• The Set-up Reduction in the Turning Center reduced an assumed baseline of 3 hours per set up to 65 minutes. This represents a nearly 2 hour per set up increase in machine capacity
• The Set-Up Reduction in the gear-cutting department reduced the setup time from 44 minutes to 25 minutes. Because there are nine operators running 3 machines each, this represents an added machine capacity (9 hours) that allows an ability to produce an additional 540 parts per shift
• The Cellular/Flow Manufacturing exercise designed a cell that when complete is calculated to reduce through-put from a baseline average of 21 days in the cell (current average) to nearly 5 days average in cell, a reduction of 16 days, or over 3X faster.

Sue Anderson, General Manager – Sterling Instrument Division of Designatronics Inc.

Over the past five years, GAC has experienced double digit growth, yet felt there was room to improve the company by increasing gross margin, operating efficiencies and increasing inter-departmental teamwork and communications.

Our third party, ACE02 worked closely with GAC's senior management team using proven methodology to help them unlock their hidden potential of accomplishing more while not changing their culture. There was an effort to focus more on results and efficiency which allowed them to take responsibility and accountability for charting the company's future.

For the first time in the company’s history, the first and second quarter of operations have outperformed any other time in the history of the company.

Charles J. Schultz, General Manager

Royal Products was experiencing delivery problems due in part to lengthy machine set-ups. They were having difficulty reducing batch sizes even though they were aware that smaller lots would give them greater flexibility with their customers.

LIFT and the Royal Products team performed a set-up reduction on a CNC Lathe where the standard changeover time was nearly 3 hours. The set-up was videotaped and analyzed by the team.

Results:  Hand tools that had previously been shared became dedicated to this machine and made readily accessible to the setup technician. The 180 minute set-up was reduced to 81 minutes - a 53% reduction. The set-up technician that had previously walked 4413 feet during the set-up now traveled 612 feet, or 86% less. Action items remain that could reduce the set-up time even further - by an additional 20%.  

Chris Jakubowsky, Director of Operations

• Production capacity increased from 3 million to over 11 million lbs / year
• The project created 12 new jobs
• Sales increased from $2.1 million in year 2000 to $3.3 million in year 2001
• The new equipment permitted them to enter into new markets including pilings and bridge fendering systems

Ronald Kwiatkowski, President

Depco, Inc., has the typical concerns of a manufacturer of polymer products. Although the firm continually enforces its health and safety requirement, management decided to bring in a fresh set of eyes, a consulting firm, to perform of review of Depco's Health and Safety procedures and practices and undertake a series of improvements where appropriate.

LIFT was selected because of the extensive experience of Otto Schaefer, a project manager. Depco's program and procedures were firmly inplace avoiding either fines for non-compliance or losses due to workplace accidents.

David Bean, President

LIFT provided in-depth training in all aspects of the AS9100 Quality Management Systems Requirements to senior management and staff.  LIFT offered a phased approach as follows: 

• GAP analysis of current company operating systems
• Company-wide education and training in AS9100 requirements
• Top down analysis of departmental responsibilities and current procedures
• Identification of management “Process Owners”
• Assisted in development and writing of 24 required Operational Procedures and numerous Work Instructions to meet AS9100 requirements
• Implementation of Operational Procedures and Work Instructions
• Training of selected personnel in Internal Quality Auditing

The implementation of AS9100 provided Advanced Testing Technologies, Inc. with a

clearer understanding and control of their company-wide quality effort to meet and

exceed their cutomer's expectations. 

Further, AS9100 certification allowed them to retain current customer contracts,

currently at 55,000,000 per year, as well as increase their opportunities for new and

expanded sales.   

Thomas Leddy, Manager

The president of Astro Electroplating has asked LIFT to provide training for all their employees to conform to the ISO 9001:2000 standards, create all the required manuals and documents and train the employees on how to work in an ISO workplace.

The company’s employees obtained some, if not all, of the following skills during this training:

· Understanding of ISO9001:2000 requirements
· How to effectively plan a major project
· How to write procedures and work instructions
· How to train (recommended to develop as an in-house capability)
· Job-specific training
· How to perform internal audits
· How to understand and comply with customer requirements
· How to improve quality performance

All of these skills are transferable as many companies today are already ISO9001:2000-certified (and thus need their employees to come into the company with a basic understanding of ISO9001:2000) or desire to become certified.

Neil Weinstein, President

Thuro Metal Products was experiencing some late deliveries that resulted in dissatisfaction in their customer base. The company had successfully implemented improvement efforts in the manufacturing segment of its business. The improvements in manufacturing helped to expose a lengthy Customer Purchase Order Process that slowed deliveries and had a negative impact on Lead Times, Quality of Process and (most importantly) Customer Satisfaction. Thuro contacted LIFT to explore possible improvement methods.

RESULTS

The Lean Office Transition helped Thuro Metals to:

• Better utilize capabilities of "Microestimating" and "Job Boss" software to eliminate and/or reduce manual processes
• Reduce delays associated with new job quoting and entering orders
• Initiated long term supply agreement with qualified vendors
• Formalize Kanban system for commonly used raw material
• Provide Receiving with ability and training to enter into system at Point of Transaction
• Increased throughput throughout the Value Stream 

Quantifiable results include:

• Processing time of a Customer purchase Order went from a 10-day average to a 24-hour turn-around
• On-time delivery (Customer Satisfaction index) was increased from 87% on time 95%
• Process quality improved accuracy of information 15%
• Due to increased response time on orders throughput increased 5%
• Value added output from the new process created additional value added output of $148,000 from shop operations

David A. Thuro, President