Brad Foote Gear Works
- 250 Employees
- Leading supplier of high-speed, intricate gearing systems to the energy and industrial markets
Opportunity
Order visibility to Brad Foote’s materials and manufacturing departments often stretched to as many as 40 days, causing on-time delivery performance to suffer and hindering the company’s ability to grow its industrial parts business.
IMEC Solution
Following interviews with the project’s core team, IMEC prepared a current state map detailing upfront processes and conducted a brainstorming session to identify opportunities for improvement. This gap assessment process revealed a lack of standardized administrative processes, under-utilization of the TCM system, too much duplication of effort and too many individual workarounds—all of which were consuming time needed by operations to meet customer deadlines. With this information in hand, IMEC created a future state map and a list of action items that Brad Foote set to work executing immediately.
Results
- Order visibility for repeat customers reduced from 14-40 days to 2 days
- Lead time for new customer orders shortened to 2 weeks
- On-time delivery improved from 30% to 70-90% in some product lines
- Significant increases in sales and bottom-line results expected
“I was very pleased with IMEC's level of understanding of manufacturing. They don't just tell you a good story. They know what they're doing.” – Eric Wilkey, Materials Manager
