“Great!! It was well worth it. I can use things I learned immediately.” “Got some good ideas that I can take back, share, and implement with my team.” “I picked up two new ideas that I can use at my plant!”
These were just a few of the comments from AME members who attended the Best Practices tours during the AME Boston 2005 Annual Conference.
During the conference, nineteen area companies were showcased for best practices in lean implementations. Full-day tours were conducted for visiting attendees and the learning process began. AME conference organizers found that the plant tour portion of the conference was one of the most successful and far exceeded past conferences. All tours were filled to capacity with a waiting line for each. It was a wonderful testament to manufacturing facilities in Massachusetts.
How does a company become one of nineteen highlighted at a national convention for their Best Practices? What do all these companies have in common?
The companies were selected for their excellence in implementing and sustaining lean, not on the size of their company or the amount of sales. The companies varied in size and location. Acromatic Plastics, Leominster MA, for instance, is a custom invention molder of precision parts for the medical, automotive, and industrial markets. While touring the facility, attendees saw insert molding, invention molding, tool building, and secondary operations.
Other companies featured during the AME plant tours were: Acromatic, Cirtronics Corporation, Gillette, Gortons, H-P Americas Software, Hitchner Manufacturing, Hyde Tools Inc., Invensys, Mar-lee Co, MKS Instruments, Nypro, Raytheon Company, Saint Gobain, Stonebridge, Synventive Molding Solutions, Taco Inc., Thermo Electron, Toyota PDC, and WPI Metals Processing Institute.
In future months, the MAC Action Newsline will offer additional examples of Best Practice plants. If you have any questions regarding the plant tours or the companies featured, please contact Kathie Mahoney at (508) 831-7020 or .
