Managing Automation Announces 2007 Progressive Manufacturing High Achievers

LAS VEGAS — In early 2003, as Livingston & Haven and many of its customers suffered through a prolonged economic downturn, CEO Clifton Vann III decided he needed to transform his manufacturing company if it was to survive. Vann launched a multi-year project aimed at vastly improving operational efficiency at the $70 million manufacturer of hydraulic, pneumatic, lubrication, and connector components for industrial applications. At the same time, Vann and his team set out to make their company easier for customers to do business with and to acquire experience and skills in disciplines, such as lean continuous improvement, that L&H could pass along to its customers, all of which are themselves manufacturers. Just three years later, the results of L&H's effort dramatically proved that even a small manufacturing organization, given the resolve and the right support, can put itself squarely on the path to long-term survival. Between 1999 and 2006, L&H increased its sales by 60% and grew net profit by more than 5,000% to $2 million a year. In recognition of its efforts and those results, L&H has been awarded the Managing Automation Progressive Manufacturer of the Year award. The award was one of nine High Achiever awards bestowed on manufacturing companies at the third annual Managing Automation Progressive Manufacturing Summit event, which took place here this week. L&H Executive Vice President and Director Bruce McKay accepted the award from Managing Automation Editor-in-Chief David Brousell, SAP Senior Vice President Sudipta Bhattacharya, and Kemco Manufacturing President and CEO Haider Nazar, winner of the 2006 Progressive Manufacturer of the Year award. "Everyone at L&H is extremely surprised and excited about receiving the award," said McKay, minutes after L&H was announced as the top PM award winner at a gala event. "I've already called them and told them about this. It is a great honor." The Progressive Manufacturing Awards program recognizes manufacturing companies that have clearly demonstrated mastery of one or more of eight disciplines that will be keys to the success and prosperity of manufacturing companies in the coming years. A panel of eight distinguished judges evaluated Progressive Manufacturing nominations from a record number of manufacturing companies this year, identifying 50 that have demonstrated significant mastery of one or more of the disciplines. (See the complete list of the Progressive Manufacturing 50, as well as a list of the PM judges.) From the Progressive Manufacturing 50, the judges selected nine High Achievers. Those were the manufacturers receiving the highest scores in each mastery category, as well as the Progressive Manufacturer of the Year, which, in the eyes of the judges, demonstrated mastery of multiple Progressive Manufacturing mastery categories. Besides L&H, other 2007 Progressive Manufacturing Award winners, and their mastery categories, were:

• Business Model Master: IBM Integrated Operations. This award is given to companies that have redefined their business model, including core competencies, in order to compete more effectively or have re-engineered a significant business process or processes to achieve a competitive advantage. IBM Integrated Operations was recognized for its efforts to transform the 107,000-employee company into a truly global company able to locate operations anywhere in the world based on the right cost, the right skills, and the right business environment.
• Supply Network Mastery: Smead. This award is given to companies that have re-thought, re-engineered, and improved the operations of the material procurement, production, and execution aspects of their supply chains to achieve faster time to market, cost reductions and efficiencies, and higher customer satisfaction ratings. The $497 million manufacturer of office products was recognized for a Collaborative Planning, Forecasting, and Replenishment transformation project that allowed Smead to increase sales while minimizing inventory growth and improve forecast accuracy and service levels.
• Data & Integration Mastery: Martinrea International Inc. This award is given to companies that have achieved cross-functional systems and process integration among design, production, and logistics/warehousing or other functions, and with suppliers and customers. Martinrea, an 8,000-person manufacturer of automotive parts, was recognized for a project it called "Turning Data into Decision-Making Power" which helped the company increase plant productivity by 50%, increase Six Sigma efficiency by 50%, and increase overall equipment effectiveness by 50%.
• Customer Mastery: Avaya. This award is given to companies that have become customer-centric by re-thinking and re-engineering processes around customer demand, and have achieved demonstrable improvements in customer satisfaction as a result. Companies will have also achieved significant improvements in mastering information about customers and customer markets, and leveraging that information for competitive advantage. Avaya was recognized for a service parts planning re-engineering project that increased service levels by 95% and reduced inventory by $50 million.
• Innovation Mastery: Glatfelter. This award is given to companies that have achieved a significant advance or breakthrough in product concept, design, production, or ability to deliver to customers. Innovation can be the result of an advance in basic research, research and development, or product development. Glatfelter, a $986 million specialty paper manufacturer was recognized for its CLEAR initiative, which, among other things, dramatically increased its revenue from new products by accelerating new product innovation.
• Education and Training Mastery: The Society of Manufacturing Engineers Education Foundation. This award is given to companies that have devised and deployed programs to advance employee knowledge and the use of advanced automation and IT technologies on an ongoing basis and with demonstrable results. Also, this category includes companies that have instituted scholarship or other promotional programs to encourage secondary or college-level students to pursue a career in manufacturing, with demonstrable results of those programs. The SME Education Foundation was recognized for its "Manufacturing is Cool" Web site, which is focused on inspiring pre-teens and teens to pursue careers in engineering and manufacturing.
• Leadership Mastery: VirTex Assembly Services Inc. This award is given to companies that are led by creative, out-of-the-box thinkers who visualize and guide organizations toward transformative ways of doing business. These managers craft and communicate strategic objectives, establish key performance metrics, and arm cross-functional teams with the requisite resources to identify technologies to implement business process improvements. VirTex, a high-tech manufacturer, was recognized for its Green Manufacturing Initiative under which it is migrating to the manufacture of lead-free circuits and other technologies.
• Operational Excellence: TOMASCO mulciber Inc. This award is given to companies that have mastered the ideas of continuous improvement as advocated in such disciplines as Six Sigma and lean manufacturing. And they achieve measurable excellence not only in internal operations, but also in those processes that involve customers, partners, and suppliers. Continuous improvement in operations, which involves establishing best practices, can have a profoundly positive effect on a company's competitive position as a result. TOMASCO mulciber, a metal stamping company, was recognized for its deployment of a Plexus on-demand manufacturing system that allowed TOMASCO to manage the entire manufacturing process, reduce inventories by more than 20%, and reduce work-in-process by over 40%.