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QRM in the News-ARCHIVE
TCI Moves to Quick Response Manufacturing of Supporting Equipment for Variable-Speed Electric Drives
More ...P&H digging in
Firm invests in plant to meet mining boom
Rapid Response
Company's effort to improve delivery time brings new way of doing the job
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P&H learns to be fast, nimble
Mining manufacturer running smaller, smarter factory after changes.
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Manufacturers put time on their side
Quick-response strategies help multiproduct companies meet uncertain order patterns and succeed.
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Time is money
Center for Quick Response Manufacturing's time-based solutions slash manufacturing costs, lead times.
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R&D investments pays off
Invention will fuel QRM member company HUSCO's growth
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University center offers speed boost to manufacturers
"Quick response manufacturing" touted as cost-saving organization method
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Electronic Theatre Controls, a member of the QRM Center since February 1995, has completed a $20 million, 250,000-square-foot headquarters in Middleton, Wis., a community on the northwest edge of Madison.
Showcasing its theatrical lighting products, the office portion of the building resembles a town square, with store fronts, a theater with a glowing marquee, and a clock-tower in one corner -- scenes painted on wire mesh suspended from the ceiling with functional areas behind them.
ETC's products can be found in a broad range of applications from the United Nations General Assembly Hall in New York to the Williams-Sonoma store in San Francisco, from Disney theme parks around the world to London's Royal Opera House, from the Osaka Dome in Japan to Abu Dhabi TV.
Founded in 1975 by CEO Fred Foster and his brother, ETC has a German division and branches in London, Rome, Copenhagen and Hong Kong. It employees 520 employees and expects to do $130 million in sales this year.
ETC also has acquired IES, a Dutch company that specializes in silent light dimmers for concert halls and theaters. The acquisition also includes Penko Engineering, an IES sister company that makes electronic weighing systems used in manufacturing. The purchase adds 34 employees.
Trans-Coil, Inc., Milwaukee, has successfully passed its ISO 9001:2000 registration audit and is being recommended for certification, culminating a nine-month process. Brian Sobczak, Manager of Organizational Development & Continuous Improvement, led the effort.
The improvements realized from implementing Quick Response Manufacturing assisted TCI in establishing an ISO 9001:2000 quality management system. Two of the key components of the ISO 9001:2000 standard are continuous improvement and customer satisfaction. Through years of learning about and applying QRM, TCI has focused its improvement efforts on removing time from its business system and increasing customer satisfaction.
Trans-Coil also incorporated the word "responsiveness" in its Quality Policy, reflecting the importance of and positive impact implementing Quick Response Manufacturing has had on the company. The first sentence of the Quality Policy is "Trans-Coil, Inc. strives to be our customers' 'supplier of choice' by providing products, services, and responsiveness that meets their expectations and ensures their success."
Trans-Coil manufactures peripheral products for variable-frequency drives and other electronic power-conversion equipment. It has been a QRM member since March 2000.
Alexandria Extrusion Company, Alexandria, Minn., was recognized in November 2003 for its achievements as a MNSTAR work site. MNSTAR is a Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration program that recognizes companies where managers and employees work together to develop safety and health management systems that go beyond basic compliance with all applicable OSHA standards and result in immediate and long-tem prevention of job-related injuries and illnesses.
QRM member Rockwell Automation's Richland Center Packaged Control Products Division was featured in At Work for Wisconsin. The publication describes how Jitesh Mehta and Ernest Nicolas, students in the Manufacturing Systems Engineering capstone course, worked with William Molek, Rockwell's information technology manager, and shop floor control manager Scott Gilson to implement POLCA, a material control and replenishment system.
QRM Center Director Rajan Suri had guest columns in the Wisconsin State Journal on Sept. 15, 2003, and The Business Journal, Milwaukee, on Feb. 13, 2004. He was also interviewed in September 2003 for an article in Greater Madison In Business magazine that included information about the success Datex-Ohmeda (now part of GE Healthcare) has had with QRM. In addition, QRM was the topic of an in-depth article in OEM Off-Highway magazine in September 2003.
Suri also had columns in the Wisconsin Engineer Journal and Illinois Engineer Journal, distributed in February 2004. The Lean Manufacturing Advisor newsletter featured POLCA in a front-page article in its March edition. The UW-Madison College of Engineering Perspectives winter 2004 newsletter featured the QRM Center in a story about our tenth anniversary.
WKOW Lead Story 9-25-03
QRM Center and Rajan Suri on Channel 27 News with member company Datex-Ohmeda
(Video Clip WMV 3.45Mb)
Congratulations to Datex-Ohmeda (now part of GE Healthcare), named Manufacturer of the Year at a Feb. 27, 2002, ceremony in Milwaukee. The QRM member and producer of anesthesia and critical-care equipment won in the medium-size business category for cutting lead time on its anesthesia machines from about six weeks to just days. The annual competition is sponsored by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, Virchow Krause & Co. of Madison, and Michael Best & Friedrich of Milwaukee.