| COMPANY: | TPI Corp. |
| HEADQUARTERS: | Johnson City, TN |
| SIZE OF COMPANY: | 500-999 employees; $50M-$100M in revenue |
| INDUSTRY: | Metals – fabrication and assembly |
| PRIMARY PRODUCT LINE: | Built-in heaters, Duct and VAV/Plenum heaters, portable electric heaters, infrared heaters, heat ovens, lighting products, industrial fans, thermostats and controls |
| NAME OF PROJECT: | HarrisData Kanban/JIT – Automates inventory and purchasing replenishment to manufacturing |
| PROJECT OBJECTIVE: | To use Kanban and ABC Cycle Counting to get accurate inventory and just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing to drive better cycle times, reduce time to market, lower costs |
| TECHNOLOGIES EMPLOYED: | AutoCAD, ERP Manufacturing, MRP, MES, Kanban HarrisData, Zebra Technologies bar-code scanning, IBM |
| ACCOMPLISHMENTS/ROI: | Reduced inventory costs 20%, or more than $4 million per year; reduced warehouse space and added manufacturing line; reduced time to market from four to six weeks to three to four days; increased sales 10% year over year; 2008 was most profitable year since 1949; implementation costs were about $15,000; Zebra bar coding cost $30,000 |