EMI Industries

Source: Retail Digital

Date :25/05/2007 09:11:47

EMI Industries: Mastering Rapid Response

Written and produced by James Buchanan & Nick Ledue

When lead times are tight, EMI Industries looks for savings in its processes to meet its customers’ demanding store fixture needs

Competition among retail outlets is traditionally quite intense. But so too is competition among the companies that manufacture the store fixtures that display retail products. This is true whether the products are in a supermarket, drug store or high-end retailer.

One of the signal differentiators among these manufacturers is having the versatility to quickly respond to the customers needs while maintaining the highest standards of quality.

“We must invest a lot of time and money in technology,” says Alan Harvill, president and CEO of EMI Industries, “in order to become the innovator for our customer, deliver to their expectations, and create the efficiencies needed to operate cost effectively.”

According to Harvill, the Tampa, Fla., based company is a designer and manufacturer of custom display fixtures and food handling equipment for the food retailing industry. EMI’s primary focus is supporting customers in the supermarket, restaurant and convenience/drug store industries.

The products EMI produces are composed of various types of wood, stainless steel, aluminum, and plastic. They also have the ability to source and integrate other materials such as solid surface, acrylics, glass, etc. into the company’s product line. According to the company’s website, EMI’s products can be found in one out of every 10 convenience stores.

Harvill cites a number of reasons for the company’s success, but perhaps one of the best examples of the company’s capabilities and versatilities is what EMI was able to do for one upscale café in the Midwest.

A food service equipment dealer based in Tampa was in need of some custom-built combined cabinets that consisted of both wood and metal. They needed the completed cabinets delivered and installed in the Midwest within three weeks to meet the café’s grand opening.

EMI designed the cabinets using its rapid, joint design team of engineers from both its wood and metal shops. Using the company’s 3-dimensional, parametric CAD software produced by SolidWorks, the company was able to quickly design the cabinets and demonstrate them to the customer for approval.

Once approved, the designs were electronically transferred to CNC (computer numerical control) driven equipment on the manufacturing floor, where materials were cut and the assembly was initiated. The utilization of the CAD software in accordance with CNC driven equipment enabled EMI to design, manufacture and deliver the products to the customer’s expectations within the three week time frame.

In the end, the company’s uniquely designed cabinets played a role in attracting media attention to the café, which drove record setting traffic in the first two weeks of the café’s opening.

According to Harvill, the ability to execute on projects like the café is driven by EMI’s continuous focus on four areas of excellence: marketing and research, engineering and manufacturing, technology management, and customer of service.

“Quality in all of these areas is a given,” says Harvill, “but the reality is that organizations have to select the areas where they will differentiate themselves. We have identified these capabilities as unique to our success and we must cultivate these strategic capabilities over time to keep our organization strong.”

On the marketing and research end, Harvill says the company strives to identify current and emerging trends in the food service industry. Further, the company must be innovative in providing for these trends, and be very efficient in how it designs and manufactures quality products for its customers.

“With the lead time in our industry at one to two weeks, not months,” says Harvill, “you have to be on top of the new technologies.”

These technologies (CNC driven equipment, 3D CAD software, CRM, etc) are something of an interface point between the customer’s concept and the machinery that will act on the design of that concept. By being able to design three-dimensionally and automatically program that design into computer driven equipment, the opportunity for error is minimized and the speed of producing it is greatly increased. It is a smooth process from concept to finished product.

Further, because these systems are fully integrated through software and internal processes, the company is able to share work across multiple locations, including both of its manufacturing and engineering functions.

The focus on technology is also part of the company’s commitment to lean manufacturing principles, which Harvill says provides a great amount of flexibility throughout the organization.

The company uses lean work-cells, which Harvill says places a number of capabilities and trained staff in close proximity. This allows for resources to easily flex, which minimizes bottlenecks and maximizes throughput. This is similar to the Toyota Production System, he says, which relies heavily on lean manufacturing principles to reduce overburdening the line, smooth production, and reduce or eliminate waste.

Coordinating the manufacturing floor and the lean cells from a macro sense is handled through MRP-II product scheduling software produced by Macola. This software gives visibility of current and future demand to the leaders, giving them a tool to make educated decisions.

Operating in the cell concept allows for maximum flexibility throughout the manufacturing process. Schedules can be altered, contingent on the customer’s expectations, with minimal disruption to the shop floor. Manufacturing floor components are set up in Kan-bans (signaling devices) which signal the team leaders that a component order is needed. This allows for readily available material while minimizing inventories.

Another lean principle adopted by EMI is educating and partnering with their vendor base. EMI takes the approach that their vendors are part of the EMI team.

Communication occurs frequently and information related to forecasting, market conditions, and performance is shared openly. The results have enabled EMI to acquire their raw material at a fair market price and in a manner that it is ready for manufacturing once it arrives with minimal human intervention.

In 2002, the company partnered with SureBridge to install an e-CRM (electronic Customer Relationship Management) system produced by Siebel Software. This application enabled the company to streamline customer ordering, quoting, and approval processes.

It also enabled customers to have immediate access to project and service request information, which help speed the issue resolution process.

Meeting turnaround times and quality demands, and improving on them, is a process of increasing capacity. Harvill says there are a number of ways a company can increase capacity, which includes increasing the size of the facility, buying more equipment, hiring new employees, or examining and streamlining current processes and resources to maximize throughput.

“We have found that 80 percent of any solution is in the process,” Harvill says. “We design the process around the customer’s demands and the product flow.”

The key to making any process more efficient, Harvill adds, is to understand the constraint.

“A Boy Scout troop only marches as fast as its slowest member,” Harvill says. “It’s the same in manufacturing, as the throughput can only be as fast as your slowest machine.”

So then, should a company simply find its slowest machine and replace it or buy another? Harvill says it’s a little more complicated than that, as it is important to address any constraint with a solution that also brings the maximum return on investment.

For example, if you need to increase capacity by 25 percent at the identified constraint, purchasing another machine would likely mean purchasing more capacity than is needed to maintain an even flow on the line.

Managers need to consider what 100 percent of capacity means for the entire manufacturing process and how each piece of equipment and resource fits within that, says Harvill. Each piece may independently operate at a different percent of capacity relative to its potential, but within the context of the entire manufacturing process it is providing an even flow.

If a particular machine is not providing an even flow, then that is the bottleneck, Harvill says. “Our thinking comes from the notion that bottlenecks are the prime determinant of the plant’s throughput.”

EMI has also developed its processes relative to its customers’ products, which helps the company focus and execute on what is important to each customer. According to Harvill, informal surveys by the company have clearly shown his company’s customers look for on-time delivery, quality, price, and customer service in that order.

Technology, lean principles, and organizational processes are critical to creating sustainable capacity, but so too is a stable and efficient supply chain, says Harvill.

“We have invested a lot of time and resources in quality management,” he says, “which includes having a supplier quality management team to develop relationships with suppliers.”

There is something of a circle here in that the company gives its suppliers the executables it must meet, and the supplier designs its processes around the company’s needs.

“We tell suppliers that they need to earn their wings everyday,” says Harvill. “For us it’s all about speed to market, and if a supplier is not up to speed with our view of things then that supplier is probably better off not being with us.”

Future Growth

When looking ahead to the next three to five years, Harvill says the company is focused on three critical areas: maintain superior manufacturing capabilities, following through on its technology plan, and executing on its growth and expertise plan.

On the latter of these, the company is seeking organic, sustainable growth at a range of eight to 10 percent annually.

To achieve that goal, the company is seeking to grow, in part, through acquisition. Currently, the majority of EMI’s customers are located east of the Mississippi, says Harvill. But that does not mean all of the company’s clients are in the East as EMI works nationally. “When quality is necessary, then distance is not an issue,” he says.

To achieve EMI’s goal of becoming a complete nationwide supplier, Harvill says the company is actively seeking a facility west of the Mississippi.

To maintain EMI’s manufacturing capabilities, Harvill says the company will carry on with its continuous improvement plan in its manufacturing facilities by improving on safety, throughput, and acquiring the latest and greatest technology to support that equipment.

This includes providing designers with tablet PCs so that when they are in the field with a client, designers are able to draw onsite directly receiving the customer’s input and approval. From the approval stage it is merely plug and chug through the complete manufacturing process.