Hear how Columbia Machine focused on transitioning from a manufacturing-based continuous improvement effort to a fully engaged, enterprise approach. Learn how to develop company-wide pillars of success – safety, long-term profitability and customer advocacy.
Columbia Machine has been practicing continuous improvement (CI) for a number of years within operations, but hadn't seen a significant impact to the bottom line as manufacturing is only a portion of the overall value stream and its improvement efforts weren’t strategically identified. Learn how the company formed a cross functional CI steering committee to help develop main, sub and process level key performance indicators (KPI) for each department. Through process analysis and root cause identification, the committee helped identify the correct activities to positively impact the KPIs and how to achieve the vision. It then developed implementation timelines by setting interim goals and gauging progress of actual results versus set targets. Hear how the group shares learnings and success stories to help foster employee engagement. Through this process, Columbia Machine is witnessing increased engagement through the development of people and increased accountability, a significant improvement in cross functional communication and a clear understanding of how its efforts are linked to its vision.
Established in 1937, Columbia Machine is a privately held, family-owned business, headquartered in Vancouver, Washington, and is a leading worldwide supplier of factory automation OEM equipment and systems. It provides complete engineered product solutions and support for concrete products factories, conventional palletizing for large consumer products companies, robotic palletizing for specialty packaging and various factory automation, used to convey, mix, package and/or prepare packages for shipment. In 2009, it opened its manufacturing services division to offer a full range of contract manufacturing and support services to other companies. Over the last 10 years, the company has invested heavily in updating facilities, new technology, systems, manufacturing space and continuous improvement. www.colmac.com
Bryan Goodman has served as vice president of operations for Columbia Machine since 1999 and is president of the contract manufacturing services division. Prior to Columbia, he held several positions at Precision Castparts Corporation from 1987 to1999. He is president of the board of directors for the Northwest High Performance Enterprise Consortium (NWHPEC) and also serves on the board of directors for Enoch Precision Machine.
Kris Langdon has worked in manufacturing for over 18 years. He began his career at G. Loomis, where he received lean training through the Lean Enterprise Institute and the Northwest High Performance Enterprise Consortium. Since then, he has held the position of continuous improvement manager at Benchmade Knife Company, Esco Corporation and now Columbia Machine.
