You can’t cut costs without sacrificing something. For many
companies, that something is often quality. Buckling under the
pressure of overseas competition, they forego long-standing traditions and standards of excellence just to keep pace.
At Design Molded Plastics Inc., President Jay Honsaker has kept his
stride while maintaining the quality of his product by sacrificing something else entirely: inefficiency.
By reducing cost through operational efficiencies, the company
has demonstrated resilience to foreign competition while establishing itself as a proactive player in the molding industry.
The process hasn’t been easy though. Honsaker and his team at
the family-owned plastic injection molding company have invested heavily in automotive robotics to reduce labor costs, reduce
scrap and offer precision repeatability.
Such efforts have certainly paid off, as the company routinely
yields results worthy of the investment.
Take the following case study: One of DMP’s customers is a
major sports equipment supplier to the NFL, collegiate and high
school football teams. In order to gain that business, the injection
molder’s challenge was to provide the highest level of quality at the
lowest possible cost.
To do so, Honsaker turned to automation. To meet the customer’s
demand and produce enough helmet “shells” — the plastic exterior
of a football helmet — DMP originally used a conventional production process comprising considerable manual labor that required 12
workers per day and left room for variation and error.
Since that time, Honsaker has purchased two new molding
machines that have cleared up floor space while producing a more
consistent end product with less waste in a third less overall time with
half the labor cost.
Though the above is just one case study, it doesn’t represent a revolutionary departure from DMP’s long-term strategy. The company
has actually been investing in automation in its relentless pursuit
toward efficiency for approximately 12 years. It’s all part of
Honsaker’s global perspective.
The president recognizes the effects that globalization has had
in his industry and the world economy in general. To stay competitive, he recommends automation to foster operational efficiency.
If you’re going to sacrifice anything, it may as well be inefficiency.
HOW TO REACH: Design Molded Plastics Inc., (330) 963-4400 or www.designmolded.com
