IEM Protects Innovative Brand Reputation of “Woody's” With Quality Management Systems

International Engineering and Manufacturing, Inc., established in 1968 and based in Hope, Michigan, is known worldwide as the industry’s premier producer of snowmobile performance and safety traction products. International Engineering and Manufacturing (IEM) has 58 full-time employees and is best known for the Woody’s® racing product line, which includes more than 150 different stud, runner and support plate configurations, all developed to advance the technology of snowmobile chassis, drive trains and engines.

Quality is paramount in the performance snowmobile market. In late May of 2018, IEM decided that to maintain a competitive edge, they would need to update their Quality Management System and make operations more efficient to better respond to customer demand.

To boost efficiency in production, IEM came to the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center (The Center) - Northeast, part of the Michigan MEP and the MEP National Network™, to have employees trained by the Lean Manufacturing Champion course and other core Lean methodologies. Then, following mentoring and coaching from The Center, the Operations team implemented major changes in their plant layout that garnered large efficiency improvements. The Center also worked with the IEM team to implement an updated Quality Management System which has improved product quality and lowered re-work significantly.