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What a difference a day makes. If you are in the finishing industry, that difference can be about a 4 or 5 percent improvement in profitability related to order lead times and training.
That’s one of the findings from the 2018 Products Finishing Top Shops Benchmarking Survey for the electroplating industry, which generated plenty of data designed to assist shop owners and managers in increasing productivity and improving efficiencies.
This year, we asked our partners at Gardner Intelligence, which runs and scores the survey, to look for correlations in the statistical data they culled from the several hundred shops that took part in the extensive survey.
Brian Palmer, the director of data science for Gardner Intelligence—which is owned by the parent company of
Products Finishing—found a distinct correla-
tion between profits and order lead time in the thousands of data points
he reviewed.“There is a 4 percent
increase in profit margin per each day of decrease
in order lead time,” Palmer says.
Jan Schafer, Gardner’s director of market research,
says employee training also correlated with higher profits
in the 2018 benchmarking survey. Respondents could pick from annual training time
options of less than one day (less than 8 hours), two days (8-20
hours), four days (21-40 hours), and six or more days (more than 40 hours).
“The statistics showed a 5.8 percent increase in profit margin for each increase of approximately two days training,” Schafer says.
Top Shops—those who finished in the top 80 percentile—also spent about 10 percent of their gross sales on capital equipment purchases in 2017, meaning they were reinvesting in their facilities; the other shops that responded to the survey spent far less of gross sales on capital equipment, at roughly 3 percent. The average capital spending against gross sales of all shops was about 7.6 percent, up slightly from 2016.
Net income as a percent of gross sales—the basic profit margin—was 20 percent for Top Shops, a decrease from 25 percentin 2016. The same margin dropped slightly for non-Top Shops at just over 5 percent in 2017, a decrease from 6 percent in 2016. Other notable stats culled from the survey:
• Largest customers: almost 71 percent of shop’s active customers accounted for 80 percent of their business, with the median at 81 percent. The Top Shops group averaged 87 percent.
• Utilization: the average shop reported 15.2 hours of utilization per day, while the Top Shops were at 20 hours. The median was 16.0 hours.
• Parts inspection: Top Shops averaged more than 270 hours per week inspecting parts, far more than the 34 hours spent by all other shops. The median of all shops was 96 hours.
• Analytical testing: The average shop spent roughly 46 hours per week in analytical testing of their finishes, with the median at 25 hours. Top Shops spent almost 80 hours per week in this operation.
• Hiring: In the last year, shops turned over 13.6 percent of their staff, while 20 percent of Top Shops’ staff turned over. The median was 11 percent.
Select Shop Floor Wages
Products Finishing Top Shops Honors
The Top Shops Honors Program that highlights shops that performed well in each of the four main surveycategories:
Top Shop: Hixson Metal Finishing; Best Practices: Great Lakes Metal Fin.Best Technologies: Pilkington Metal Fin. Best Strategies: Electrolizing of Ohio Best Training/HR: Saporito Finishing
Order Lead Time
Top Shops All Shops Other Shops
8.2DAYS
7.0DAYS
3.8DAYS
Top Shops to be Honored at Sur/Fin ShowThe Products Finishing Top Shops will be honored at this year’s NASF Sur/Fin conference June 4-6 in Cleveland, Ohio. The festivities begin Tuesday, June 5 when Products Finishing will host a symposium on the show floor with the focus on benchmarking and performance for finishing operations, which will include the owners and presidents of several Top Shops detailing how their facilities attain such high performance marks.
The Top Shops will be recognized at the symposium, as well as that evening at the NASF Sur/Fin industry night gala at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, where each shop will be presented their Products Finishing Top Shops medal for 2018. For information on the Sur/Fin show, visit nasfsurfin.org
Just Released: Benchmarking ReportsIn addition to an exceutive summary and a comprehen-sive report that can be used to compare a shop’s operating statistics with others in the industry by size, facilities that completed a substantial portion of the Products Finishing Benchmarking Survey will receive a Customized Report illustrating how their responses directly compare to all surveyed shops and to the Top Shops. These reports not only serve as a baseline “report card,” but provide hard data that will eliminate the need to rely on gut feelings as a method of identifying and prioritizing improvement efforts.
On-Time Deliveries (by Plant Size)
89.3%92.1%
93.9%94.5%
92.4%
1-19Employees
20-49Employees
50-99Employees
100-249Employees
250+Employees
$14.00
$16.50 $13.80$24.00
$14.00
$13.75
$18.00
Annual Growth 2017 vs. 2018 Projected
20172017
20172017
20172018
20182018
20182018
12%
11%
8%
4%
10%
14%
12%
11%
10%
8%
1-19Employees
20-49Employees
50-99Employees
100-249Employees
250+Employees
Survey Data Shows Profit Correlations
14 APRIL 2018 — PFonline.com PRODUCTS FINISHING — PFonline.com 15
BENCHMARKING RESULTS TOP SHOPS
BY TIM PENNINGTON EDITOR
Electroplating Benchmarking
RESULTS
Nobert Knows Service Is Key To Success
No. 1 Shop: Hixson Metal Finishing
Douglass Greene, Tianna Martinez and Chris Grapsas. Photo courtesy of Elbandagji Photography.
There’s a phrase that Hixson Metal Finishing President Douglass Greene often repeats, acknowledging that his team surely has heard it a million times over the years: “Quality is king, and delivery is queen.”
He says it to anyone and everyone at the Newport Beach, California, company, which finished as the No. 1 shop in the 2018 Products Finishing Top Shops Benchmarking Survey, based on aggregate scoring of the survey components.
Hixson is a full-service provider of more than 80 finishing, testing and inspection processes with numerous qualifications, including Nadcap, FAA and AS9100. The shop’s customers are a who’s who in aerospace and defense, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Parker Hannifin.
“Quality and delivery is mutually married, and you can’t forget one without the other,” says Greene, who has been presi-dent of the company for 18 years. “When push comes to shove, we always push for quality, even though all of our customers
Hixson Metal Finishing | 829 Production Place, Newport Beach, California 92663 | 800-900-9798 | hmfgroup.com
will tell us they want the best quality, but also want a 10-day job done in two days.”
Hixson was founded in 1958 as a niche commer-cial metal-finishing processor, catering to the decora-
tive chrome plating needs of the boating community in Newport Beach, Greene says. The shop quickly gained a
reputation for providing quality plating capable of with-standing the tough and rigorous ocean environment.
When the aerospace industry in Southern California began to grow in the late 1960s, Hixson focused on that
growing market opportunity, and installed numerous lines and services to attract more customers.
Now with more than 130 employees and about 850 customers, Hixson scored amongst the top in almost all
categories related to quality and delivery in this year’s survey, checking in with 99.5 percent rates for both on-time delivery (averaging 5.6 days) and first-quality-pass rate for more than 10 million parts coated.
Greene says the secret to his company’s success are “team cells” that work together on various customer projects, giving more individualized attention to customers and getting team members on board whenever critical issues arise.
“Using team cells gives that customer the royal treatment,” he says. “We all know we are in a service industry, and that is what we work very hard on for our customers: delivering great service to them.”
Greene says he also has great management behind him, including Bruce Green, environmental/health/safety manager; Kara Steging, quality control/process integration manager; Jovan Brown, quality assurance manager; Greg Gannon, production manager; Chris Grapsas, business development/sales manager; Gary Ragan, estimating manager; Tom Riha, accounting supervisor; and Tianna Martinez, executive assistant.
ARIZONA
ChemResearch Co. Inc.James Burriss, President & CEOPhoenix • chemresearchco.com
Coating TechnologiesRobert Barrkman, Managing PartnerPhoenix • coatingtechnologiesinc.com
Perfection Industrial FinishingCharles Zinke, PresidentTucson • perfectionindustrialfinishing.com
CALIFORNIA
All Metals ProcessingMichael Coburn, CEOStanton • allmetalsprocessing.com
Embee ProcessingMichael Coburn, CEOSanta Ana • embee.com
Hixson Metal FinishingDoug Greene, PresidentNewport Beach • hmfgroup.com
Miramar Metal ProcessingMarcos Cielak, PresidentSan Diego • mmpus.com
Sheffield PlatersMark Watkins, Vice President/OwnerSan Diego • sheffieldplaters.com
CONNECTICUT
Whyco Finishing TechnologiesNick Post, PresidentThomaston • whyco.com
FLORIDA
A.M. Metal FinishingRick Hunter, PresidentOrlando • ammetal.com
ElectroLab IILonnie / Buddy Harder, Vice PresidentsOldsmar • electrolab2.com
Freedom Metal FinishingKeith Eidschun, OwnerClearwater • freedommetalfinishing.com
Seminole Metal FinishingElliott Blackwelder, PresidentAltamonte Springs • smfi.net
ILLINOIS
Armoloy of IllinoisNolan Hannan, PresidentDeKalb • armoloy-il.com
J&M PlatingMark Morris, CEORockford • jmplating.com
Saporito Finishing Co.Jeff Logan, PresidentCicero • saporitofinishing.com
MASSACHUSETTS
AMF TechnologiesTom O’Mara, PresidentRockland • amftechnologies.com
MAINE
Silvex Inc.Daniel Atkinson, Executive Vice PresidentWestbrook • silvexinc.com
MICHIGAN
Cadillac PlatingNick Salvati, OwnerWarren • cadillacplating.com
KC Jones Plating Robert Burger, CEOWarren • kcjplating.com
Marsh Plating Matthew Marsh, PresidentYpsilanti • marshplating.com
Master Finish Co.John Mulder, PresidentGrand Rapids • masterfinishco.com
MINNESOTA
Avtec Finishing SystemsPeter Waldo, President/CEONew Hope • thelindgrengroup.com
IncertecRob Clark, PresidentFridley • incertec.com
Twin City PlatingBen Minger, PresidentMinneapolis • twincityplating.com
Wolkerstorfer Co.Steffen and Chris Wolkerstorfer, Co-OwnersNew Brighton • wolkerstorfer.us
MISSOURI
MicrofinishWilliam Stock, OwnerSt. Louis • microfinishco.com
NEBRASKA
Lincoln IndustriesMarc LeBaron, PresidentLincoln • lincolnindustries.com
NEW YORK
Anoplate Corp.Jim Stevenson, President/CEOSyracuse •anoplate.com
NORTH CAROLINA
SurtronicsAngela Stanley, CEORaleigh • surtronics.com
OHIO
Electrolizing Corporation of OhioGreg Marn, General ManagerCleveland • ecofohio.com
Hohman PlatingBrad Kremer, PresidentDayton • hohmanplating.com
Luke Engineering & ManufacturingChris Jurey, PresidentWadsworth • lukeeng.com
Lustrous Metal CoatingsMike Paxos, PresidentCanton • lustrousmetal.com
Medina PlatingTait Krejci, PresidentMedina • medinaplating.com
Plating TechnologyMatt Raskin, General ManagerDayton • platingtech.com
PENNSYLVANIA
BFG Manufacturing ServiceJeffrey Grube, PresidentPunxsutawney • zincplating.com
Great Lakes Metal FinishingDavid Wachter, General ManagerErie • goglmf.com
SOUTH CAROLINA
Roy Metal FinishingJohn Pazdan, PresidentConestee • roymetal.com
TENNESSEE
PauloDave Timken, Plant ManagerMurfreesboro • paulo.com
Protech Metal FinishingMike Huddleston, CEOVonore • protechfinishing.com
UTAH
Pilkington Metal FinishingVan Pilkington, PresidentSalt Lake City • pilkingtonmetalfinishing.com
VIRGINIA
Advanced Metal FinishingDwayne Robinson, PresidentRoanoke • amfva.com
WISCONSIN
Acme GalvanizingEdward Weiss, PresidentMilwaukee • acmegalv.com
Advanced Plating TechnologiesMatt Lindstedt, PresidentMilwaukee • advancedplatingtech.com
ChromeTechAlan Henry, PresidentFranklin • chrometech.net
Green Bay AnodizingCharles Dunham, PresidentGreen Bay • gbanodizinginc.com
Oshkosh Plating TechnologiesAaron Johnson, PresidentOshkosh • oshkoshplating.com
Pioneer Metal FinishingScott Turner, Vice PresidentGreen Bay • pioneermeal.com
Professional PlatingLarry Dietz, General ManagerBrillion • proplating.com
Reliable Plating WorksJaime Maliszewski, President/CEOMilwaukee • rpwinc.net.com
CANADA
Active Metal FinishingAllan Phillips, PresidentToronto • activemetalfinishing.com
TNM Anodizing and Paint Inc.Michel Martel, General ManagerPointe Claire • tnminc.ca
Zuraw TechnologiesMichael Zuraw, PresidentGeorgetown • zurawtech.ca
MEXICO
GalnikRenato Villasenor, DirectorQueretaro • galnik.com
Recubrimientos MetalicosCarlos Cielak, CEOAmpl. San Juan De Aragon • recubrimientosmetalicos.com
2018 PRODUCTS FINISHING TOP SHOPS
How Do You Become a Top Shop? Prepare Months in Advance of Survey
• Identify opportunities• Set realistic, but aggressive goals• Challenge internal paradigms on
what is possible
The annual Products Finishing Top Shops Benchmarking Survey attempts to determine what differentiates the best finishing practices that shops should emulate to be profitable and competitive. The goal is to hone
in on the best finishing practices, the most efficient procedures, the most sophisticated business operations, and to determine what benchmarks a shop needs to do to be considered one of the best in the business.
There are many benefits of the Products Finishing Top Shops Benchmarking Survey. Your shop can:• Understand methods for improved processes• Uncover strengths within your organization• Learn from the leaders’ experiences• Better prioritize and allocate resources
Visit short.pfonline.com/top-shops to get more information about how to prepare to take the survey. Also join the National Association for Surface Finishing (NASF) and the Aluminum
Anodizers Council (AAC) for assistance and training. The NASF and the AAC can help captive and job shops that want to increase efficiency, improve their bottom line and work their way
toward becoming a Top Shop.
16 APRIL 2018 — PFonline.com PRODUCTS FINISHING — PFonline.com 17
BENCHMARKING RESULTS TOP SHOPS
Finishing Practices: Great Lakes Metal Finishing
Great Lakes Metal Finishing | 1113 West 18th Street, Erie, Pennsylvania 16502 | 814-452-1886 | goglmf.com
From left, Dave Cadwallader, plant manager; David Wachter, general manager; Dennis Hartwig, president; and Scott Flook, production manager.
Finishing Technology: Pilkington Metal Finisher
From left, Dean Ngo, John Pilkington, Van Pilkington, David Pilkington and Wayne VanTassell.
Van Pilkington puts his shop’s money where his mouth is: He spends well above the industry average on capital equipment each year to make Pilkington Metal Finishing in Salt Lake City, Utah, one of the most technologically advanced shops in the U.S.
“We make capital improvement budgets, and we spend
our budgets,” says Pilkington, who has been the company’s president since the shop opened
in 1979. “This is true of building maintenance, as well as with labor and materials. Capital
improvements typically pay for themselves in improved quality or lower hassle factor, so they’re
a good investment.”In fact, equipment was what led Pilkington into
the finishing business in the first place. In 1981, he and his father began refurbishing medical equip-
ment using a small tank line in a small garage. Pilkington gradually expanded the business into
liquid painting and anodizing. Today, the shop offers anodizing, conversion coatings, non-destructive
testing, heat treating, liquid and powder coating, elec-tropolishing and graphics application.In 2017, Pilkington Metal Finishing spent about 12
percent of its gross profits on capital expenditures, which is one reason the shop was selected for recognition in the Products Finishing Top Shops Benchmarking Survey in the Finishing Technology category.
Last year, it registered a 99.5 percent first-quality-pass rate on more than 10 million parts using four finishing lines.
“Improved temperature controls, improved agitation systems and faster hoists have helped produce a higher first-pass-quality yield,” Pilkington says. “Part-specific titanium racking helps produce a more predictable result.”
Pilkington gets assistance from his brother, David, who is vice president of operations, and Wayne VanTassell, the shop’s quality director, as well as the 60 employees.
Pilkington says the facility’s overall operations improved greatly after Boeing Commercial Aircraft invited it into the Nadcap program several years ago.
“We have embraced the discipline Nadcap requires,” he says. “We’ve taken that same approach into the non-spec areas of our processing, resulting in improvements.”
For example, Pilkington Metal Finishing has gained better use of its enterprise resource planning software, resulting in improved efficiencies all around the shop.
“Our estimating costs and comparing actual costs to estimates is sometimes painful, but always enlightening,” Pilkington says.
Being a Products Finishing Top Shops is something the organization shoots for every year.
“We think it motivates us to be better and helps the finishing industry as a whole,” Pilkington says.
Pilkington Metal Finishing | 1225 South Legacy View Street, Salt Lake City, Utah 84104 | 801-972-2146 | pilkingtonmetalfinishing.com
Big Data Pays Big Dividends for PlaterHere’s how SWD Inc. is using software to track efficiencies.By Brad Kuvin
In 2015, metal finisher SWD Inc. made a significant capital investment that company President Rick Delawder strongly believes provides the company with a strong competitive advantage. Data mining and analysis software now has the firm’s management team “looking at things way differently than our competition,” he says.
“The standalone software reaches deep into our data-bases to empower our managers to understand better what’s happening on the shop floor and make decisions to improve efficiency and consistency,” Delawder says of the software from Advizor Solutions. “Access to the data and high-level data analysis also lets us optimize scheduling and produc-tion planning. And, last but certainly not least, it improves customer communication. We have real data to back up discussions related to our performance for individual customers and projects, rather than just relying on intuition.”
SWD operates a 165,000-square-foot facility in Addison, Illinois, where more than 150 employees process hundreds of orders per day. Among its process offerings, performed for manufacturers of fasteners, metal stampings, springs and other metal parts, are computer-controlled plating, dip-spin coating and fastener sorting. Customers include automo-tive and agricultural-equipment OEMs, each with their own unique coating specifications, but all with similar quality requirements. That is, as close to zero defects as possible, a directive that pushes Delawder to drive continuous improve-ment throughout the company.
“We often have more than 1,000 active orders being managed at any one time,” he says. “We needed a tool to open up new ways to see what’s happening on the floor, discover inefficiencies and optimize performance. In that way, the software is a continuous-improvement tool at its best.”
Matt, Rick and Tim Delawder own SWD Inc., a shop that coats fasteners, metal stampings, springs and other metal parts.
18 APRIL 2018 — PFonline.com PRODUCTS FINISHING — PFonline.com 19
When Great Lakes Metal Finishing opened its doors in 1994, one of its first customers ran its inventory under a just-in-time system, which was a little perplexing to the newly opened shop. It forced General Manager David Wachter and his team to get serious in a hurry about managing turnarounds and delivery schedules, and it’s a skill the company has improved on continually over its two decades in operation.
have a quality maintenance staff to maintain and improve it,” Wachter says. He gives much of the credit for his shop’s success to Dave Kelly, who has been a key part of Great Lakes for many years.
“Giving customers the consistent results they need with quick turnaround times means you rely heavily on auto-mated equipment functioning properly, with little to no unscheduled downtime,” Wachter says.
Great Lakes believes that consistent quality and customer service are the two main areas that separate the shop from others in the finishing industry.
“The vast majority of our work is spec, and whatever is required by the plating spec is exactly what you are going to get at Great Lakes,” Wachter says. “Being able to give the customer exactly what they need week in and week out has helped us build many long-term relationships.”
Several years ago, the company started to implement business plans covering one, three, five and 10 years, and as a result of that process has rebuilt three production lines, installed two new production lines and installed a new waste treatment system. One of the new lines is a high-zinc-nickel barrel operation that was added to meet the increase in demand from customers.
“In order to meet that customer’s needs—some-times with a day or same-day turnarounds—we
developed our operational and quality programs around this philosophy,” Wachter says. “It requires a
hands-on approach from all associates, from shipping and receiving, quality, production, maintenance, and
management. This philosophy has helped us remain competitive when bidding on jobs outside of our
region, where it may take a few days for the parts to get here and back.”
That philosophy also has helped Great Lakes earn special recognition in the Products Finishing Top Shops
Benchmarking Survey in the Finishing Practices category for its outstanding scores in several parts of the survey.
With an on-time delivery rate of 99 percent and a first-pass-quality yield of 98 percent, the shop finished
about 38 million parts in 2017, which includes about 1,200 different types of parts. Great Lakes says it accomplished this by adhering to strict quality standards for its 30 employees, as well as continually looking for improvements in equipment and operations.
“As in any business, in order to stay competitive, you need to ensure that you have not only the best equipment, but that you
BENCHMARKING RESULTS TOP SHOPS
For example, data pulled and analyzed by the software might identify a repeat job that generates more profit on one day than it does on another, or that runs more quickly on one day than it does on another. Many jobs, in fact, run through multiple processes, and the software can query the databases and provide specific reports to help managers see where specific job runs are more efficient than others. For example, Delawder says, a job could comprise one huge lot that runs through the finishing department, and then separates into two or three loads through the dip-spin department, and then into several lots through the sorting department.
“These deep and specific insights into our operations help us zone in on opportunities for improvement,” he says. “And they often can help with capacity planning and even guide us as we look to make our next capital equipment investments.”
Advizor’s software, in addition to supporting shop-floor processes, scheduling and production planning, also supports customer communica-tion and insights.
“We can create very special-ized and detailed reports for customers to show them exactly how we’ve been performing for them in terms of delivery dates, quality and other perfor-mance measures,” Delawder says. “Having the data to back up those performance reports enhances our customer relation-ships greatly when compared to merely relying on intuition—ours and our customers.
“We can build in specific rules. That help us develop minimum invoice amounts for jobs based on the number of parts or by order weight, for example. This prevents inaccu-rate quotes and invoices.”
Brad Kuvin is publisher and editorial director for MetalForming magazine. Visit metalformingmagazine.com.
Business Strategies: Electrolizing Corp. of Ohio
Electrolizing Corp. of Ohio | 1325 East 152nd Street, Cleveland, Ohio 44112 | 800-451-8655 | ecofohio.com
From left, Bill Morad, chrome operations manager; Eric Petersen, titanium anodize operations manager; and Greg Marn, general manager.
Electrolizing Corp. of Ohio’s Greg Marn says there is no secret as to why about 98 percent of its customers stay with the Cleveland shop.
“At our core, we focus on quality, service and value, which are important to all our customers,” says Marn, the shop’s general manager. “We get to know our customers and what is important specifically to them. We work with them to
create the best match of our capabilities and exper-tise, and their requirements. Our objective is to be
partners with our customers, not just a supplier.”That 98 percent retention rate was one reason ECO
was selected for distinction in the Products Finishing Top Shops Benchmarking Survey in the Business Strategies
category. Overall, the company achieved outstanding scores in many of the operational categories.
It’s also a special time for the shop, since 2018 is ECO’s 70th anniversary year, and Marn says the company’s
extensive experience has propelled its success.“We have some of the most talented metal-finishing
experts in the industry,” he says. “We understand the rigorous requirements of the industries we serve, such as
medical, nuclear, aerospace and military, and we work hard to meet or exceed those requirements.”
ECO markets itself through the internet and trade shows, but Marn says its reputation really drives its marketing and networking. The shop recorded a 99 percent on-time-delivery rate in 2017, with first-pass quality at 96 percent.
“The performance of our coatings, and our strong quality, on-time delivery and customer service prompts our customers to refer us to their colleagues, customers and even
HR and Training: Saporito Finishing
Saporito Finishing | 3119 South Austin Blvd., Cicero, Illinois 60804 | 708-222-5300 | saporitofinishing.com
Saporito Finishing in Cicero, Illinois, is home to more than 220 employees who churn out more than 50 million parts each year. And when we say “home,” we mean the employees rarely leave to find jobs elsewhere.
Company President Jeff Logan says his shop has a turnover rate of roughly 1 percent, which explains why Saporito Finishing scored so high in the 2018 Products
Finishing Top Shops Benchmarking Survey and is being honored for its excellence in the Human Resource and
Training category.“We have a ‘team’ approach, which values the input
of employees on most decisions, from capital expendi-tures to safety policy to process improvement and much
more,” Logan says.A competitive wage with the opportunity to grow in the
company is another big reason employees stay at Saporito Finishing.
“This is reinforced in that all supervisors and top management here started at the bottom of the organiza-
tional chart and worked their way up,” he says.The Nadcap-accredited shop has been in operation for 71
years and operates three shifts. It boasts a 99.2 percent first-pass-quality yield for 2017 and a 14 percent growth rate,
which Logan estimates will climb to 20 percent in 2018.One of the big reasons for this expected growth is the employee
training and HR practices that Saporito Finishing supports.“We provide continual training of employees and a compre-
hensive HAZCOM indoctrination at hire,” Logan says. “We also provide a formal customer service training for everyone in the organization that has any contact or interaction with a
customer at any level.”The shop also has teams in place whose job it is to
disseminate information on customers—primarily “new” customers—making everyone in the organization aware of each customer and its requirements.
“This formalized communication gives the same message to everyone in the company,” he says. “We also share data and key performance indicators with the team as real time as possible to allow them to have an idea of how their department is performing.”
Saporito Finishing operates 17 lines and services about 11,000 different type of parts for customers.
“We have adopted a completely new business model that has seen growth to the bottom line,” Logan says. “At first, the philosophy was difficult to get buy-in on for many in the orga-nization, especially those that have been here the longest. But the results are clear and the model is now standard.”
He says it is exciting for his employees to receive the Products Finishing Top Shops designation for all the great work they perform around the clock.
“It is something that the team can take pride in, as well as being another validation and recognition of the extraor-dinary effort and commitment,” he says.
other companies,” he says. “Without our reputation, any marketing would fall short.”
Perhaps even more impressive is that ECO has some very tough customers in some difficult industries, with which Marn says the shop enjoys working.
“We are willing to take on challenging parts,” he says. “Frequently, customers come to us because no one else was interested in trying to process the parts, or no one else could do it. Because of this, we have processed parts for unique applications and from new manufacturing processes.”
ECO also is always looking for ways to improve effi-ciency, and recently has been working toward improving its administrative processes and reducing waste. Marn says these measures not only can help the shop control costs, but provide environmental benefits as well.
“We have also upgraded some of our older capital equipment to ensure we are keeping our equipment current,” he says. “In general, we have to be very careful making any process changes because our processes are validated. Since most of our customers are in the medical market segment, we are required to inform them and get approval prior to implementing any process changes.”
From left, Jim Logan, Steve Stone, Jeff Rice, Yesenia Valencia, Debi Kryger, Juana Rangel, Keith Logan and John Dys.
Continued from page 19
Big Data Pays Big Dividends for Plater
SHOP SOFTWARENeed information on software to run your finishing operation? Check out these companies:
Advizor Solutions advizorsolutions.com
Amariko amariko.com
Complex Software compexsoftware.com
Cornerstone Systems ask4csi.com
Dynamic Software Solutions ds2corp.com
TruLogic Co. truelogiccompany.com
WorkFlo getworkflo.com
Visit the Top Shop Zone at PFonline.comRead about how shops across North America are im-proving their operations and profitability through the Top Shops program. short.pfonline.com/top-shops
20 APRIL 2018 — PFonline.com PRODUCTS FINISHING — PFonline.com 21
BENCHMARKING RESULTS TOP SHOPS
