Results Case Studies
Problem / ChallengeA division of a Fortune 50 manufacturer was preparing their supply chain network strategy for their divestiture from the parent company. The business needed to analyze a variety of supply chain footprint options to support the planned growth while exiting parent-company facilities at pre-determined time periods. The global supply chain consisted of raw ... >
Problem / ChallengePSC Info Group is a leader in data management, printing and mailing technology and online solutions that facilitate billing, collection. Originally a much smaller “making copies” company, growth into online solutions and advanced mailing technology opened up new product and growth opportunities but it quickly rendered their old production processes incapable of meeting a ... >
Problem / Challenge This grocery retailer and distributor faced rising costs throughout its supply chain. It launched a field-to-table initiative to look at and develop a plan to eliminate non-value added work in its buying process, stores and distribution centers. It chose to use Lean to approach this challenge and partnered with Supply Velocity to facilitate ... >
Problem / Challenge Power utility needed to transform its supply chain including the inventory staging branches that it uses to support emergency repairs and maintenance to its network. The current network was built through a history of acquisitions and management wanted to explore if efficiencies could be achieved by rethinking the network locations and inventory staging ... >
Problem / Challenge Omnichannel sporting goods retailer needed to expand its warehouse beyond the original Midwestern warehouse location where the company was founded. This scope included ecommerce order fulfillment and store inventory replenishment. In addition, the warehouse locations had to support the CEO’s goal of being 1 – 2 days away from a large portion the ... >
Problem / Challenge Clean Uniform developed time standards years ago and used them in a pay-incentive program. Investigations revealed that the standards were no longer accurate due to new products, new equipment and layout changes. Most importantly, customer complaints were increasing and management thought the incentive program was making people work faster but not better. Problem Definition Current ... >
Problem / Challenge An aerospace, security and defense contractor needed to improve its Request for Proposal (RFP) process to speed up response time. The RFP process for these highly technical and critical products is complex, yet it needs to be swift and accurate. An RFP estimated poorly can cause losses for years on large multi million-dollar programs ... >
Problem / Challenge A manufacturer of energy testing, shielding and mitigation solutions needed to bring multiple acquisitions under one roof and promote Lean best practices and techniques in order to meet a rapidly growing demand. Products form, fit and function varied greatly and ranged from small to very large electronics, specialty rooms and enclosures, and a broad ... >
PROBLEM / CHALLENGE This producer of Carvel® ice cream cakes consolidated production from two facilities to a larger new greenfield site. The new factory operated at 60% of demand, months after start-up, requiring one of the old plants to remain open. Each week the old plant had to operate cost $70,000. In addition, waste was 30% ... >
PROBLEM / CHALLENGE A third-party logistics managed services business struggled with inconsistent processes across their client onboarding and ongoing operations. This inconsistency led to complexity in the day- to-day operations and ultimately eroded profitability. The significant growth of the business was the catalyst for the organization to focus on streamlining their business processes. LEAN ASSESSMENT A Lean Assessment ... >
PROBLEM / CHALLENGE TerraSource is a mining equipment and replacement parts manufacturer. The organization produces wearable (standard) parts, engineered-to-order parts and large material grinders and transport systems. With a high SKU count and significant demand variability, the organization struggled to meet customer expected lead times. This challenge became more significant as supply chain lead times extended. ... >
CHALLENGE OF NEW W/H LAYOUT Crescent Parts is a distributor of HVAC equipment and parts. They were growing and needed to expand warehouse space. They found an existing building that allowed them to combine 2 warehouses into one new larger warehouse. Many Lean Warehouse projects involve transforming an existing warehouse to a Lean layout. This project ... >
PROBLEM / CHALLENGE MTM, a specialty transportation company that uses external transportation providers, had a company strategic plan but not a supply chain strategy. Therefore, efforts to improve supply chain operations were haphazard and misaligned internally and with external suppliers. In addition, while every function had key performance metrics, they were not coordinated, lacked clear goals ... >
PROBLEM / CHALLENGE A franchise cleaning business was being carved out of a large chemical manufacturing business. Historically, they had used the supply chain of the parent company. They needed support in the short term to stand-up a supply chain to maintain product flow to their franchisees. We analyzed various options for the medium-term supply chain ... >
PROBLEM / CHALLENGE Horizon designs, manages the manufacturing, and distributes high-end radio-controlled planes, cars, trains and boats. Their sales increased dramatically during the 2020 pandemic while experiencing significant supply chain disruption. In addition, they plan to triple sales in the next 5 years. Supply Chain Restructure The supply chain team was restructured from one planning group organized by ... >
PROBLEM / CHALLENGE Rio Grande, a Berkshire Hathaway company, experienced accelerated growth that outpaced the capabilities of its supply chain and warehouse capacity. On time delivery, fill rate, and labor productivity in warehouse operations had all suffered poor performance. The warehouse needed additional people to support both growth and the degradation of labor productivity. Customers complained ... >
PROBLEM / CHALLENGE Tacony’s Nancy’s Notions (NN) sewing supply ecommerce division was struggling with order fulfillment to its consumers, while Amazon was increasing its penetration to the sewing and quilting consumer market. NN was 8 days behind on shipping orders and when orders did ship it had an 88% fill rate due to items not being ... >
PROBLEM / CHALLENGE Crescent is a distributor of HVAC equipment and parts in the Midwest. Their customers are heating and air conditioning contractors who install and repair residential and commercial units. Crescent Parts’ largest customer represented over 20% of total sales, almost 4 times greater than the next largest customer. As a result, Crescent launched a Lean ... >
PROBLEM / CHALLENGE Seyer designs and produces specialized aerospace products that require precision machining, welding and testing for commercial aircraft and the military. Each successful product requires an extensive back office set of processes. Seyer wanted to improve their “office” process efficiency and quality, which included the entire program cycle, excluding the manufacturing operations. LEAN ASSESSMENT We conducted ... >
PROBLEM / CHALLENGE Electromechanical solid-state manufacturing company with disruptive technology transitioning from early-stage product development to full production, was squeezed into a small facility footprint, struggling with quality yield and throughput as demand ramped up. LEAN ASSESSMENT A Lean Assessment was conducted and the resulting recommendations were to apply 5S throughout the facility, Value Stream Map (VSM) the ... >
PROBLEM / CHALLENGE Dema Engineering is a designer and manufacturer of industrial valves and chemical dispensing equipment. (See below two valves in a assembly and test operation.) They needed to reduce cycle time and improve quality. Throughput time was as high as 6 weeks and yield on certain components was 93%. Both were due to batching ... >
PROBLEM / CHALLENGE Sundberg carries a wide variety of SKUs to support their ecommerce and appliance repair customers’ needs. Because these items are used when home appliances are broken, availability is critical. However, inventory investment had grown faster than sales and customers were complaining about stock-outs of key items. REDUCTION OF LOST SALES AND SURPLUS INVENTORY BY ... >
PROBLEM / CHALLENGE Johnson Controls Parts NA business unit was experiencing a combination of increased inventory and backlog. They had too much of the wrong inventory and not enough of the right inventory. This problem became exacerbated during the pandemic as a result of the supply chain shortages and increased and highly variable lead times. They ... >
PROBLEM / CHALLENGE Grand Rock sells a wide selection of aftermarket exhaust products. They produce to order, have a product-line they produce and stock for inventory and distribute for other manufacturers. The production facility and warehouse are in one facility. The business has experienced significant growth and with increased raw material inventory due in large part ... >
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“We used Supply Velocity to rethink our sales process. By analyzing the entire process we found wasted time in our Sales, Admin and Operations departments. Streamlining this process created extra time for each Sales Rep, allowing them to spend more time with Customers and increase the value we add. Gross profit margins are up 40%!We are now using Supply Velocity to help us rethink our entire Strategic Plan.”
“Myerson engaged Supply Velocity, specifically Ray Davis to visit our plant in Trinidad to conduct a two day assessment of our production procedures and provide us feedback on areas for improvement and where applicable, areas for future analysis.Put simply, we got everything we paid for and in addition to more in depth analysis, we got specific tasks that were immediately actionable. Our local management team found Ray to be engaging, highly credible and insightful based on his wide experience. In other words the cultural differences and lack of specific industry knowledge weren’t impediments to things we could implement immediately and on our own. In a nutshell it was money well spent and will pay itself back many times over.”
“Supply Velocity’s Lean Six Sigma System has given us new tools to help improve our sales performance. We have learned new ways to analyze our business which makes problem solving more accurate and has made us better leaders.”
“For several years we have worked with Supply Velocity to support us with their expertise on Lean Operations and Supply Chain Management. Supply Velocity has helped us implement Lean, improve our inventory systems, and educate our people. They are professionals who are always available to help us as needed.”
“Closure Medical recently completed a major reorganization in order to enhance our ability to rapidly create innovative medical devices. We hired Supply Velocity to help us map out the process and service flows of the new organization that would maximize our product development process (PDP). In four weeks, Supply Velocity helped us envision a new PDP structure, develop measures and accountability for each step, and gain consensus within the organization. Supply Velocity’s focus on speed and accountability helped us complete a critical project in a timely fashion.”
“We used Supply Velocity on our Warehouse optimization project. One of the key characteristics of Supply Velocity is that they listened to our requirements and provided a clear path for our Warehouse processes using lean tools and our future sales growth as objectives.”
“In thirty years of hiring consultants, Supply Velocity, Inc. was the first to tell me what they were going to do, set a price they stuck to and substantially exceed my expectations. I have recommended them to friends and acquaintances. They were true partners in assisting with the turnaround of an acquisition we had been struggling with for two years.Their math-based technology, solid down-to-earth facilitation skills, and positive, patient and enthusiastic attitude combined to make our implementation of Lean a very rewarding experience.
We increased our production by 50% in the first month of implementation and continue to see improvements. Improvements have not only been realized in productivity, but also in quality and morale. We have increased profitability by $2M on flat sales of $10M.
Based on Supply Velocity, Inc.’s integrity and our results, I will continue to refer them to others and utilize them in the future as we expand our company through acquisitions.”
“The role of the Erie Insurance Marketing Department has been evolving over the past several years – from a support role to a more critical role of driving growth in our organization. Because of our increased workload and desire to prioritize the most critical projects, we hired Supply Velocity to teach us the skills of Lean Six Sigma.Participants included the Promotions, Market Research and Agency Licensing sections of the Marketing Department.
We learned valuable tools to help us to prioritize based on the voice of the customer.
I firmly believe these skills made a difference in how we work every day. We are moving new projects forward, eliminating or changing ineffective processes, and we are a much stronger department. We continue to use the tools to help us with our highly-complex and time-consuming projects. Supply Velocity helped us to accomplish our goals.”
“Isolating a problem, finding short, and long term solutions with measurable results is what was promised and results is what was delivered by Supply Velocity. Upon launch of the Lean Six Sigma Selling System, we knew more about our customers, our products, and were able to create a solid plan to increase sales of our most profitable products. Within months of implementation, our booked sales jumped 60% and our most valued customers were getting direct, active, and calculable attention.”
“We are pleased that Essex selected Supply Velocity, Inc. as our Lean Implementation Partner. At one facility, we have saved over $350,000 in work-in-process inventory, reduced throughput time from 2 weeks to minutes and increased inventory turns 3 to 8 times per year. All these results are in just 6 months. Our return of investment is very high.”
“I am thrilled to provide this testimonial for Supply Velocity and their outstanding work in implementing Lean Warehouses and processes at Crescent Parts & Equipment through the COVID pandemic. With their data-first focus and Mitch’s exceptional coaching and experience, they transformed our business into a more supply chain-oriented organization, enabling us to grow while prioritizing employee safety and creating a better work environment. Supply Velocity’s expertise in Lean methodologies and their comprehensive evaluation of our customers have been instrumental in optimizing our operations and increasing customer satisfaction. We highly recommend Supply Velocity to any company seeking to implement Lean processes and enhance their supply chain efficiency.”
“Supply Velocity created visibility within our Assurance Services Group… visibility of performance, Client-service, employee satisfaction and processing time. Using the Supply Velocity System, Audit Report Cycle time is down over 50%. We are using his strategies to create greater Client loyalty.”
“Many thanks to all three Supply Velocity presenters. I think you guys took a very difficult time for learning and capitalized on everyone’s time and training needs. I truly hope this helps your business as this was a considerable undertaking on the part of Supply Velocity. Outstanding!!”
“We are using Supply Velocity’s Lean Six Sigma methods to analyze a variety of processes including rationalizing SKUs (stock-keeping-units). By using math to evaluate SKUs we took some of the emotion out of our decisions. We expect significant increases in sales and productivity from reducing poor performing SKUs.”
“Mitch Millstein and his team helped guide our shop fabrication division in the re-layout of our custom pipe and steel fabrication facility when we moved into a new building. It is not only the results but how he helped. We were involved in every step. I personally did time studies and was able to see the non-value added steps required to manufacture in our old layout. When we created our new layout, everyone was involved, from the executive team to our direct labor force. With Mitch’s help we increased our throughput by a 3x multiple, while providing more competitive prices to our clients as a result of the efficiency improvements.This has enabled us to not only make more money but also to expand our commercial reach and serve more, and larger customers. I would recommend Supply Velocity to any company that wants to make improvement in supply chain and operations.”
“In a time of volatile supply chain disruption, Supply Velocity is helping us develop Demand and Supply Planning processes to proactively tackle these new challenges. They are genuine partners, working with our team, facilitating and teaching.”
“C&R was struggling with labor productivity. The construction crews were often missing materials that they needed to do their work. This caused significant idle time. Supply Velocity, Inc. and C&R used value stream mapping and visual management tools to make dramatic improvements in operations. Most importantly, two years later C&R is sustaining and improving on the implementation. C&R’s return on investment was 11:1. C&R had a record year last year in both sales and profits and would not have been able to pull it off without the changes Supply Velocity, Inc. helped us make.”
“We engaged with Supply Velocity to help us embed process improvement at all levels of the business. Our team learned from Mitch to let the data drive decisions, to use Lean tools to help us see our processes critically and objectively, and to create a control plan to manage all of the tasks that were the outcome of the data study.The project turned out to be very significant to the company and most importantly, our customers. We reduced our customer wait times by 40%, and cut in half the labor cost to fulfill customer orders.
Some results are not able to be measured. However, as a result of this project, we have started to build a Lean mindset and culture, which is part of our strategic mission to save our customers money. Supply Velocity has been a valued partner in this mission.”
“Supply Velocity has provided the technical expertise and political capital to move our project forward. They have just the right amount of push and the right amount of support. Supply Velocity has helped us make real changes to improve efficiencies in logistics without jeopardizing our performance. We’re happy and our customers are happy.”
“In 2015 we began working with Dr. Mitch Millstein to optimize our inventory locations supporting e-commerce and in-store inventory needs. From this work we developed a new omni-channel warehousing and inventory plan that entirely redefined our approach to warehousing, inventory management, store distribution and fulfillment. As a result of the analyses by Dr. Millstein we have begun the move to an improved omni-channel design by reassigning MSAs to new warehouses, greater leveraging of in-store inventories to satisfy e-commerce demands, and exploring acquisitions of new warehousing space in strategic locations. We have already seen an improvement of $300,000 from both more efficient shipping strategies due to better inventory management.”
“Anheuser-Busch Precision Printing had been implementing Lean Operations on our own for the past two years. We needed to move faster and partnered with Supply Velocity, Inc. Through Supply Velocity, Inc.’s mathematical workflow balancing and visual management tools, dramatic improvements were achieved. The entire converting operation was rearranged based on Lean principles. The result is a 20.6% productivity improvement, enabling us to operate with 23 fewer people in production.”
“Your process encourages this group to work together, better communicate and have fun doing it.”
“Supply Velocity has helped Clean succeed in a number of ways. First, they provided the education that kicked off our Lean Process Improvement journey. They also facilitated a number of large supply chain and process improvement projects including: 1) building quality into our direct-labor productivity incentive program, 2) designing the layout of our garment warehouse, and 3) streamlining our route service process.We have integrated the methods that Supply Velocity taught us into our management and strategic planning. In the process our quality measurement has improved 22% from 2013 to 2015, we have reduced required annual labor by 2200 hours from the garment facility layout project and we’ve seen 50% decrease in error rate. Obviously the numbers speak for themselves, but just as important, Supply Velocity has been fun to work and have become true partners. They have “taught us how to fish” so our internal teams are able to implement change on their own, with the skills we learned from Supply Velocity. This relationship has been invaluable.”
“In the spring of 2003, the St. Louis Area Chapter of the American Red Cross engaged Supply Velocity, Inc. to perform a study and make recommendations to streamline office processes, maximize cash flow in purchasing and warehousing and restructure and enhance our maintenance department. Supply Velocity, Inc.’s process was methodical, flexible, staff-oriented, inclusive and, above all, trackable.In the last six months, our Chapter has realized expense savings of over $380,000 annually, and significant improvement in intra-company service levels has been attained. Supply Velocity, Inc. will return to the Chapter periodically throughout the next 18 months to audit our newly implemented processes. We have been pleased with our results and Supply Velocity, Inc.’s professionalism.”
“Our experience with Supply Velocity was one of the best values we have ever had from a consulting project. Cyril Narishkin brought a structured lean methodology, invaluable experience and engaging facilitation skills to help us streamline a very complex and disjointed sales order process. Just as importantly, our team now has the knowledge and process competencies to address other business improvement opportunities going forward.”
“Supply Velocity gave us the tools to analyze our business and processes based on the facts and numbers versus our perceptions. Our common quote was “Let the numbers lead us”. The key for our organization was how quickly we moved from classroom to actual project initiation. We were able to jump in, start using the tools and see a difference right away.
The get-into-action approach was good for our culture.”
“Supply Velocity is driving instrumental change in our inventory management processes. This is critical for us to be competitive in a supply chain environment with numerous disruptions. They are making change happen, which can be challenging in a 182 year old organization.”