Manitowoc Manufacturers urged to train, plan ahead for recession's end

Speaker shares strategies for manufacturers to become world class

By: Charlie Mathews, Herald Times Reporter

MANITOWOC — Business is off by more than 35 percent at LDI Industries, a family owned manufacturer of lubrication equipment and hydraulic components.

John Lukas, vice president of manufacturing and one of three brothers running the company on the city's north side, doesn't know when the recession will end that has slowed down virtually all sectors of the American economy.

But LDI is taking advantage of slow times to prepare the business to be a world-class manufacturer in the decades to come.

"All of our employees (about 150) are going through lean training with LTC instructors," Lukas said.
Lakeshore Technical College instructors are going to the 100,000-square-foot plant and sharing strategies for continuous improvement, reducing waste of resources or time, increasing worker productivity and maximizing value for customers.

The executive director of Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership, Mike Klonsinski, believes LDI has the right strategy.

"Whether the recovery comes in 2011 or 2012, it will be faster, deeper, and more dynamic than anything we've seen before," Klonsinski told an audience Tuesday at LTC, where he presented WMEP's "Next Generation Manufacturing" study.

Some 530 manufacturing executives in Wisconsin responded to 61 questions, giving self-assessments on how they measure up to various standards related to achieving world-class performance.

Klonsinski said manufacturing is vital to Wisconsin, employing about 475,000, or 17 percent of Wisconsin's jobs. In Manitowoc and Sheboygan counties, more than a third of adults work in the manufacturing sector.

"I know what manufacturing can do … it is a great industry to drive the quality of life in a community," said Klonsinski, who worked for Texas Instruments and the Texas Department of Commerce before coming to Wisconsin.

"Manufacturing is a transitioning industry, but certainly not a dying industry," Klonsinski said.
Key performance indicators

Klonsinski presented six key areas and performance indicators he said that identify whether a manufacturer is preparing itself to compete domestically and globally.

• Customer-focused innovation — is the business investing, at least, 5 percent of sales in research and development. "How fast are you developing new products to get to the market successfully?" Klonsinski asked.
• Advanced talent management — is the manufacturer having employees go through a minimum of 20 hours of training annually. Currently, only about 28 percent of Wisconsin companies surveyed were able to answer affirmatively. "There is a key correlation between greater training and productivity," Klonsinski said.
• Systemic continuous improvement — does the business have 75 percent or more employees engaged in continuous improvement, whether that include implementation of lean principles, Six Sigma, or other best business practices.
• Extended enterprise management — currently, only 22 percent of Wisconsin manufacturers view their suppliers as strategic partners.
• Sustainable product and process development — are more than 90 percent of products used completely recyclable?
• Global engagement — 37 percent of manufacturers surveyed indicated they have more than one out of country sales office.

"What is world class today will be standard practice in 2015," Klonsinski said, urging manufacturers to not wait to implement new strategies for competitiveness.

"If you are located in Manitowoc, it doesn't mean you can't win because you're not on the coasts," Klonsinski said.

"You can overcome real or perceived disadvantages with a strong focus on customer innovations — delivering new and better solutions to your customers quicker than your competitors," he said.

Steve Brahm, vice president of operations at Manitowoc Crane, said ownership-management need to pay attention to what the production workers have to say about what the company can do better.

"We have an unrefined saying — 'Shut up and listen,'" Brahm said. "There isn't a soul in your business that doesn't want to win, doesn't want to achieve, doesn't want the company to succeed."

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