Initial State:

• Multiple production sites and outsourced powder coating created severe tracking challenges:

• Lost parts, Urgent emergency work orders and overproduction

• Parts arriving without identification led to extensive search times (up to 60 minutes per component)

• Employee turnover exceeded 150% annually

• Orders 4-8 months behind schedule 

• Negative gross margin through October

• Major customers expressing serious concerns

Key Challenges:

• No system for identifying powder-coated parts

• Part numbers were not in use for assembly operations

• Relying on tribal knowledge and 100% engineer intervention to locate and identify components

• Zero visibility of parts in process

• Inefficient storage and retrieval processes

• Multiple handling points without tracking

• Thousands of similar "painted rectangles" all looked similar

• Seas of pallets, slips, trips, and falls

• Reliance on scarce tribal knowledge for assembly

Solution Implementation:

1. Developed powder coat-resistant (and heat-resistant) component identification system

2. Created comprehensive part tracking database

3. Implemented "cut-to-truck" tracking methodology - recorded outgoing and incoming components via barcode / QR code

4. Established systematic storage location assignments

5. Designed streamlined employee workflows for support staff.

Technology Investment:

• Barcode scanners: already lying around

• Avery Labels: $45

• Custom database solution developed in-house

Results:

• Generated first profit of year ($10 million) in final two months

• Transformed from negative margin to 30% gross margin (positive)

• Eliminated chronic part misplacement issues

• Established complete component traceability

Key Success Factors:

• Collaborative solution design with fabrication, shipping, and receiving teams

• Simple, effective identification methods

• Systematic storage and retrieval processes

• Complete batch visibility through production cycle

This dramatic turnaround demonstrates how relentless, systematic process improvement can change history, even with minimal capital investment.