ComDel Innovation was founded in 2007, having origins as a 3M plant in Wahpeton, ND in 1977. The company has 330 employees and specializes in plastic injection molding and automated assembly, tooling fabrication services, precision machining, threading/forming, robotics and machine builds, and engineering design and scale-up. Their customer markets include medical devices, agricultural/construction, consumer automotive, and commercial products.
As a former 3M Site, ComDel Innovation has a long history of lean manufacturing and continuous improvement. The company has experienced growth in customers, employees and products since inception in 2007. The company was seeking expertise to train newer employees on the concepts of lean manufacturing to cultivate best practices for continuous improvement techniques throughout the organization.
Wendy did an excellent job presenting the materials and facilitating hands-on simulations to reinforce the concepts in a practical manner. Attendees were very positive about the learning experience. The simulation especially highlighted what can happen when tasks flow well. It was a great visual way to understand the types of wastes that can happen in manufacturing environments and how to eliminate or minimize those wastes.
Impact Dakota, part of the MEP National Network™, provided three Lean 101 training sessions for a cross-functional team of 50 employees, including production leads, supply chain, process engineers and quality team members. The goal is to continue to take the industry practices forward with the next generation of team members at ComDel Innovation. These team members are applying the lean manufacturing concepts in their own work areas and in various scale-up projects throughout the site.