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Lean Tools Lead to New Investments and Retained Sales
With the help of: Alabama Technology Network (ATN)
About
Since 1987, Fiberglass Unlimited has been a family-owned business that manufactures high-quality fiberglass composites. In addition to being the largest church steeple manufacturer in the country, Fiberglass Unlimited also produces church baptistries, cupolas, crosses, and outdoor water features. Their advanced manufacturing facilities cover over 50,000 square feet, and they currently employ 37 people at their location in Roanoke, Alabama.
The Challenge
In July 2022, Fiberglass Unlimited acquired the assets of Fiberglass Specialties, Inc. in Henderson, TX, and moved the business to their facility in Alabama. The merger of product lines from these two companies has provided Fiberglass Unlimited with one of the largest selections of steeples and baptistries available for churches. To support the transition, Fiberglass Unlimited sought assistance from the Alabama Productivity Center (APC), part of ATN and the MEP National Network
The work of the Alabama Productivity Center has been invaluable in helping us with our growth through acquisition as well help in bringing on new product lines. We will continue to utilize the expertise of APC that is not readily available to us with our limited staff.
MEP's Role
An APC Productivity Engineer conducted a Lean Overview 101 training using Lego exercises for all company employees. This training, along with hands-on exercises, effectively demonstrated how to identify waste in their processes and the positive impact of implementing lean manufacturing concepts. After the training, the production team began to implement simple measures such as visual controls and 5S, which had an immediate effect. They then proceeded to balance the load on process activities. Since Fiberglass Unlimited operates as a custom-build operation, APC also assisted them in adapting lean manufacturing practices to fit their model. Following the training, Fiberglass Unlimited expanded its production facility to accommodate the additional business. They took this opportunity to conduct kaizens and reorganize their manufacturing and logistics processes