Expansion and Improvements Allow Company to Make Dreams Come True by Being the “Fairy Godmother of Fire”

After Tim and Voni Flaherty purchased the company, they immediately identified areas of untapped potential and the obstacles that needed to be confronted in order to expand and succeed. A quick internet search for Lean training led Tim to the Manufacturer’s Edge website. After meeting with a regional director, he quickly realized that the resources available through Manufacturer’s Edge, part of the MEP National Network™, could help him with much more than Lean.

The previous owners had developed a distribution system for Warming Trends that they admitted was too spread out, complex, and convoluted. With assistance from Manufacturer’s Edge, Tim and Voni were able to pare down the network and improve the quality of the partnerships. Now, they have fewer dots scattered about on their distribution map, but have cultivated quality relationships in order to get much more out of each one.

The combination of Lean training, systems flow, 5S, and facility layout has resulted in improvements in efficiency year over year. According to the Flahertys, they saw a 20% improvement in 2018 to 2019 and an additional 25% from 2019 to 2020. The timing of which could not have been more ideal as they have subsequently seen at least a 60% increase in sales due to the pandemic and could not have kept up with demand otherwise. Thanks to the increase in sales, they have also been able to expand their team. After starting 2020 with a team of 23, Warming Trends now has 45 employees and is well situated and ready to continue growing and making people’s dreams come true.