Forster Tool and Manufacturing Company has taken pride in being a women-owned business, and demonstrated its commitment to clients seeking precision custom machining services for more than 50 years. Forster Tool and Manufacturing is ISO 9001:2015 AND AS9100D certified. They are a client success for thinking strategically and positioning themselves for future successes with IMEC's help.
Situation
With an ever-growing increase in global competition, Forster Tool and Manufacturing Company was losing high volume, low margin work overseas. Clients were developing warehouses and sourcing parts globally. Forster needed a new strategy for higher margin domestic work, and quickly. Additionally, the company knew their impending upgrade to ISO 9001:2015 would require a deeper analysis of risks and rewards –creating a perfect opportunity to explore their larger strategic vision for the future.
IMEC Solution
The Forster Tool team engaged IMEC strategic planning specialists to lead them on a multi-phase journey. Through a three day deep dive conversation, held over three months, the Forster Tool employees were able to drill down to uncover the most common issues and opportunities.The exercise simultaneously provided an overview of the strategic planning process and equalized all staff and their understanding of the plan’s importance. At the end of three months, the team had developed their mission, vision, and value statements, along with draft goals for the five year plan. By reviewing the key inputs they were then able to establish priorities and begin forming strategic charters that would serve as annual performance metrics.
All members of the Forster Tool team bought into the direction of the strategic plan, and Maureen and the leadership team began to see a dramatic, yet positive, culture change. By implementing individual performance metrics, the organization began to see an obvious shift in productivity and staff became more actively involved in forming new committees including 5S, safety, and workforce rewards. “The performance metrics and team approach to decision making truly helped increase employee involvement,” said Forster. “It was more demanding on our staff, but ultimately the individuals were feeling more fulfilled by their work.”
Results
- Increased margins from 2-3% to 8-9%
- Doubled penetration in the aerospace market in year one.
- Successfully transitioned to ISO 9001:2015
- Achieved registration to AS9100 for the first time
- Decreased reliance on few key clients and increased sales overall
To learn more about Forster Tool and Manufacturing, visit the company's website at http://www.forstertool.com or call (630) 616-8177.
