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Chemical Manufacturer Balances Growth through Open Communication
With the help of: Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) at Georgia Tech
About
The Challenge
The Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) at Georgia Tech, part of the MEP National Network™, has been a trusted partner of Isotec for almost 10 years. After the management team completed an organization excellence assessment, Forest Knight, president of Isotec, wanted to build on the positive company culture by increasing open lines of communication between the staff and management teams to operate more effectively and efficiently. He turned to his trusted resources, Bill Ritsch, region manager, and Andy Helm, senior project manager for strategy and leadership development, to conduct Managing for Daily Improvement (MDI), a training that increases overall teamwork and development of key performance indicators (KPI) within an organization.
Any type of training can teach you something new or remind you of something you forgot. We would not have been able to grow and be as successful without the help of GaMEP and their expertise.
MEP's Role
Helm led the project to identify critical metrics, and engaged the teams in developing KPI’s that staff and management could use to encourage collaboration and solve daily problems more efficiently.
As part of the Isotec process, staff now utilize 30-minute GEMBA walks throughout the plant, stopping in each area to problem solve right on the spot, shortening the communication loop and improving troubleshooting time. Isotec's staff now feel more comfortable voicing problems in a group setting, and have embraced working together as they feel the lines of communication are always open without judgement.
Knight said, “The MDI training has helped us manage our growth by organizing and planning better so that we are proactive, not reactive.” As a result, Isotec has increased revenue and new customer acquisition. Their daily communication of raw material issues has improved by 75% and approval time has been cut in half, enabling problems to get solved at a faster rate.
GaMEP continues to help Isotec identify opportunities for business growth, and Knight has already engaged the GaMEP team for additional projects, including leadership training and a cybersecurity assessment.