Largest North American Manufacturer of Glulam Increases Productivity with OMEP

Rosboro LLC innovated the glulam industry in the 1960s and now serves as the largest U.S. manufacturer of glulam, a stress-rated engineered wood beam composed of wood laminations, or "lams", that are bonded together with durable, moisture-resistant adhesives. They currently operate in two locations: Springfield and Vaughn. The Springfield mill produces studs, dimensional lumber, and glulam products, and the Vaughn plant focuses on stock and custom glulam applications.

Rosboro dug in and weathered the storm of economic volatility over the past decade and is now looking toward continued growth and innovation. They have a smaller workforce than in years past with high demands on production; as such, they are keenly interested in building a methodical, continuous improvement culture to engage employees in problem-solving and innovation. They recently invested in new equipment that was not yet performing to its full potential.

OMEP helped Rosboro to assemble a team of employees including management and operators upstream, within the value stream, and downstream. The team collected data and analyzed the gap between current and future states – as well as sources of variation within the process.