Autumn Harp is a specialized research and development and manufacturing partner in the cosmetics and skin care industry.  Located in Essex Junction, Vermont, Autumn Harp develops innovative cosmetic formulations (certified organic and natural), water-based technology and color cosmetics that are packed and labeled in a wide variety of containers. The company supplies products that sell in over 60 countries around the world.  They are challenged by large seasonal swings, so they experience the ebb and flow of many workers into their manufacturing operations at various times of the year.

Situation

Team members from Autumn Harp attended a VMEC workshop taught by Alan Robinson in September 2009.  Alan is the co-author of Ideas are Free: How the Idea Revolution is Liberating People and Transforming Organizations. Charged up by that workshop, a leadership team used the workshop lessons to construct an Employee Involvement program that fit their workplace and their work force.   All senior managers were given Alan’s book to read, which was then followed by a book discussion. Based on the interest of managers to implement their own employee program, Autumn Harp included as part of their 2010 goals an Employee Ideas Program.

Solution

The process began shortly after the New Year.  Daily problems were identified and brainstormed on the floor with supervisors company-wide.   If the problem was deemed enough of an issue to warrant a solution, it was recorded into the Share Point System (software) for next steps.  Weekly 30 minute meetings were held on each shift for all full time employees. Each problem that had been identified was categorized and loaded in the system under one of three areas:  Completed with training necessary, Feedback required and Review for all in-process projects.

To start, idea ground rules were established where the focus concentrated on waste or 5S: product waste, movement of people, rework, over processing, excess inventory, wait time and / or 5S – Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize and Sustain.  Resources available to each shift team included two hours of maintenance time per week and up to $50 as a team per project.  Amounts over $50 and up to $250 required a supervisor’s approval and beyond $250 required management team approval.  Each employee was allowed up to two hours per month to work on projects.

The Ideas program began in the Compounding Dept. due to its size, 5 – 8 employees per shift. Problems were recorded on an excel spreadsheet, prioritized by team voting, brainstormed according to the 5 “Why’s”, followed by the entire team voting on the best resolution. Once this step was completed, the group facilitator would mark as such.

Opportunities for improvement were identified in meetings, but this process was taking too long, especially once rolled out onto the production floor with 20-30 employees per 12 hour shift.  The facilitators were burning out, finding there were not enough hours in the day and tracking the growing list of problems and communicating the ideas captured between 4 shifts (two 12-hour shifts, M-T-W and Th-F-S) was becoming far too cumbersome.

In order for all full time company employees to observe the progress of the employee ideas system, an intranet database was created on Sharepoint. This transitioned to “on the floor” brainstorming and trained floor leaders to facilitate on the spot.  Ideas were captured and categorized and facilitators met with shifts every other week and followed a specific agenda to ideas completion.

Any employee can submit their idea to the Autumn Harp “Ideas Home Page”.  Each idea has an “Ideas Data Page” which spells out the concept in further detail.   Ideas that are brought to fruition, taken for action and are deemed successful are posted around the plant for all to view on “I Have an Idea!” laminated sheets.

Results

After nearly two years following the initial implementation of their Employee Involvement system, Autumn Harp employees have submitted nearly 900 ideas with 500 plus to date having been implemented. Employee feedback has been very positive as they can see their ideas taking shape before they were lost or discounted.

Testimonial

Chuck Huizenga, Safety and Training Manager at Autumn Harp, speaks enthusiastically about the Employee Involvement program and its success at the company. “What is most impressive is the rate of idea generation and the value of those ideas which have increased with time. We have gone from a culture of “We’ve always done it that way” to “I Have an Idea!”.  Employee engagement in the program has been exceptional and overall morale has been lifted significantly.  We don't make tracking the savings from ideas a required step in the system.   But the reward for a good idea is the satisfaction that it has been implemented and the opportunity to submit more ideas.”

Company Profile

Classic Designs/Tablelegs.com by Matthew Burak/Tablelegs.com offers furniture and architectural components to
wood-workers on a just-in-time, semi-custom and custom basis that are hard-to-find or hard-to-make. Hundreds
of different designs and eight standard wood species result in over 9,000 unique table legs, kitchen island legs,
columns, bun feet, table base kits, corbels & architectural components. 

Classic Designs/Tablelegs.com customers include over 34,000 active furniture makers, cabinetmakers, kitchen designers, interior designers, architects as well as a whole host of hobbyist and DIYer woodworkers who demand only the highest quality in terms of materials, workmanship, and timeless, principled design. The company employs 26 full time staff.

Classic Designs/Tablelegs.com was founded in 1995 as a division of Matthew Burak Furniture. In that same year,
Matt outsourced manufacturing and warehoused 100% of the product that sold. On December 2, 1999 the
division was incorporated and became its own entity. In 2001 Mark Desrochers, Matt's longtime friend and
marketing consultant, bought into the business as a junior partner. Matt's 30 years of experience in furniture
design and assembly combined with Mark's direct marketing experience pole vaulted Classic Designs/Tablelegs.com ahead of all the competition. Today, 98% of what they sell is produced in their St. Johnsbury wood shop with typical lead time of only 5 days.

Situation

Classic Designs/Tablelegs.com has been engaged with VMEC for three years, mostly in the Lean Manufacturing
and Strategic Planning areas. Beginning as a warehouse/ catalog/ direct marketing operation, they outsourced
their manufacturing operations. As the company began to integrate into the manufacturing arena, their inventory
grew rapidly. Working with VMEC, they cut lead times and inventory, as well as greatly improved their cash flow.
As the housing market declined, however, Classic Designs/Tablelegs.com business was negatively impacted with
a dramatic drop in sales. In January 2011, VMEC discussed innovation-driven growth with Classic Designs/Tablelegs.com ownership and the executive leadership team.

Solution

VMEC held their second Innovation Engineering Leadership Institute in Woodstock, Vermont in February 2011
with 110 plus business leaders from across Vermont and the US. Classic Designs/Tablelegs.com was
represented with six executive management team members including two owners; this 3-day, 40 hour session
was immediately followed by an intense one day Innovation Engineering Jump Start session where 14 Classic
Designs/Tablelegs.com team members gathered to create and communicate new ideas for growth. The
company also contracted with VMEC for twelve months of ongoing monthly coaching through Fail Fast, Fail
Cheap cycles of learning. The Jump Start created over 100 ideas; two were selected to move into discovery
mode for further learning and exploration. Over the next three months, those ideas evolved into products that
are now commercialized. Thermo-Ash, a thermally modified wood suitable for outdoor use and preservative-free
from sustainably harvested hard woods, is the first-to-market product in applications of its type, which expanded
Classic Designs/Tablelegs.com into other markets. They are also working with another local woodworking
company as a supply chain partner to commercialize an off-shoot of the second idea that went into discovery. In
addition to these two ideas and their successful growth, Classic Designs/Tablelegs.com has seen cultural
transformations, where 19 innovations have been identified and implemented across product, process and
marketing messages. 100% of the workforce has been introduced to the Innovation Engineering (IE) tool set.

Results

The IE tool set turned into the hiring of two team members at Classic Designs/Tablelegs.com. With 1% growth in
new customer base (over a two month period), the company anticipates as much as 20% of their revenue in
2012 from the new customers/ products alone. In the next year they will be putting metal legs, metal tips, paints
and stains into the innovation pipeline for discovery & exploration. All three of these, if brought on-line, would
require partnerships to accomplish. Depending on the numbers, they would like to send another four – six team
members to the IELI in March 2012 in Woodstock.

Testimonial

According to Rick Rose, Classic Designs/Tablelegs.com Director of Sales, Marketing and Design,
“Innovation Engineering has resulted in a meaningful unique and significant cultural change in our
company. It has increased our ability to move a process, product, or marketing improvement along
ten-fold. The four most important words on our minds...what did we learn?”

Company Profile

Maple Landmark Woodcraft located in Middlebury, Vermont, is a manufacturer of small wood toys, games, and
giftware. Started in 1979, the company sells wholesale to toy stores and gift shops, and also direct through its
catalog and website. Many of the 37 employees include members of owner Mike Rainville's extended family,
which makes for a close-knit workforce. The product mix has changed over the years, but Rainville's early
commitment to sustainable manufacturing practices remains the same.

Situation

Recent years have provided new and unique challenges for Maple Landmark. With assistance from VMEC, the
company embarked on Lean manufacturing initiatives that have made their processes more efficient, and in turn,
increased production capacity. Then in late 2007, product recalls of toys made in China and other countries made
news headlines, generating a huge surge of interest in American-made toys. Maple Landmark knew they could
benefit from a process that would help them bring profitable new ideas to life and into the marketplace.  Knowing that within the many service offerings of VMEC is a focus on top-line sales growth for manufacturers, Mike contacted VMEC and arranged for a "Eureka! Winning Ways" program, the first scientifically based process to guide companies to systematically and significantly sustain and grow profitability. Specifically, the program provides a disciplined methodology and analytical tools to create new ideas, select the ideas with the highest probability of success, and efficiently drive the best ideas to market.

Solution

VMEC Growth Coaches led a Eureka! Idea Session with Maple Landmark and 68 ideas were created. Four ideas
were selected and analyzed for market pull using Merwyn research tools. The company decided to move ahead with
one of the ideas - to go beyond the inherent "natural" aspects of wooden toys and develop a full line of toys that are
safe, chemical free and "green."  The idea was accelerated through the development process using rapid cycles of "Fail Fast, Fail Cheap, Get Smart" learning and weekly coaching by VMEC. The holiday rush slowed down the process, but by mid-February of 2008 (four months after the initial Eureka! session), the company introduced its "Schoolhouse Naturals" product line. Buyers welcomed the new line, which opened the door to a new segment of customers from the eco-friendly and eco-baby industries. The toys are natural wood, primarily maple, with no added chemicals other than a little wood glue where needed.

Results

Schoolhouse Naturals has attracted a great deal of publicity for Maple Landmark Woodcraft, including a story on
CNN. Creative Child Magazine has named two of the new Schoolhouse Naturals products to their 2008 Honor Roll.
The Push N' Pulls garnered the 2008 Preferred Choice Award in the Toddler Toys category while the Shape Sorter

Bench was named Toy of the Year in the Toddler Block Toys category.  The company has realized over $100,000 in sales for the new line in just the first year and expects to double that figure as they insert and rebrand other existing product lines within Schoolhouse Naturals. Rainville forecasts that Schoolhouse Naturals sales will grow to become 25% of their total business.

Testimonial

“In our industry, it's critical to keep developing new ideas to grow our market position. Eureka! Winning Ways put
a structure to our new ideas, giving us a methodology to ask the questions we may have otherwise not taken the
time to explore but which are necessary for launching a new idea," said owner Mike Rainville.

G.S. Precision Inc. is a family owned business which was founded in Wilmington, VT in 1958 and moved to its current headquarters location in Brattleboro, VT in 1985.  G.S. Precision has grown to a total of three facilities in North America. With an eye toward becoming a leader in the precision machining field, the company has grown, expanding its capabilities for manufacturing parts for a wide range of industries requiring high precision machining.  GSP is a leader in the manufacturing of high-precision machined components and sub-assemblies for the aircraft engine, aerospace, medical, fiber-optic, automotive, specialty bearing, and other commercial industries. With an experienced team of 375 employees, they are experts in machining a diversity of materials; from nickel based aircraft alloys and titanium to stainless steels and aluminum. Beyond their ISO 9001:2000 and AS 9100 certifications, they have a reputation for outstanding quality and value in their industry.

Several years ago, G.S. Precision ownership and leadership teams understood that the industry marketplace was growing at a rapid pace and they needed to take action and remain an active, strong player in their arena. GSP determined that their Technology / Continuous Improvement efforts were key to support rapid growth. In 2010, GSP hired a Lean Coordinator and at the same time started a long term joint relationship with VMEC.

G.S. Precision and VMEC consulted together on multiple occasions to layout a direction before beginning the actual on-site project work, the main goal being to create a strong base at GSP for long term growth. Training the workforce in Lean 101 and 5S began, followed by instruction in and execution of a major 5S project.  Other trainings undertaken and completed were two Value Stream Mapping sessions and a Set-Up Reduction project.

GSP has completed or are currently engaged in a total of twelve 5S trainings and projects. These efforts have reduced unnecessary items by over 60% for the events on the plant floor and only needed items have been set in place.  Forty two employees from managers to manufacturing employees support weekly 5S audit programs to sustain efforts implemented.  GSP has trained and engaged 65-70% of its workforce in 5S efforts at two Brattleboro locations alone. GSP has instituted an Employee Idea Program that encourages all employees to generate key small tasks that will improve productivity, safety, operator motion, cost and quality.

Key results from efforts include a Lean 5S / Flow improvement for needed Comparator and Tool scopes. The team determined wasted walk, motion and wait times per day. After the initial analysis, current state cost showed a high total labor cost per year.  The team researched and implemented new equipment for the area. Future state analysis cut the initial cost to more than half, as well as a 50% reduction in steps and over 50% reduction in labor cost.   Similar 5S projects in other plants showed by reducing walk/ wait time, simply by moving gauging and tooling to point-of-use. The result was a cost savings of several thousand dollars per year. GSP formed another team to work jointly with manufacturing, safety and Simple Green products to create four centrally located cleaning stations in the facility.  This allowed employee’s one stop for mop water, spray bottle solution and the vacuum system to remove waste.  These efforts reduced walk/ wait time, operator motion, material and inventory cost in the plants, not to mention tens of thousands of dollars in total savings.  GSP estimates a six figure savings from basic Lean projects and 5S execution based on tool availability at point-of-use, as well as opening of aisle and work space.

The training and culture growth has been "Priceless” in the words of Shannon Covey, Lean Manufacturing Coordinator.  “Our relationship with VMEC has been critical to our growth. GSP has worked hard with support from VMEC to build our knowledge base and greatly improve our culture. Consultants from VMEC have gone out of their way to change direction as our company transformed. Our plant has become much more efficient, with waste reduction efforts and Lean thinking. Our plant is safer, more organized and more efficient through 5S/ Lean efforts.  GSP looks forward to a continued relationship with VMEC.”

Founded in 1981, Simon Pearce is a family owned business located in Windsor, Vermont. There are three (3) manufacturing facilities - Windsor, Vermont, Quechee, Vermont and Mt. Lake Park, Maryland. The company manufactures handblown glass and handmade pottery which they sell through their own retail stores and website. They also sell wholesale to distributers. Their products are "high end luxury" items. They currently have 330 employees, of which 200 are full time. This success story pertains to the pottery manufacturing division in the Windsor, Vermont facility.

The client manager attended a VMEC Lean 101 workshop and saw that Lean principles would be a good fit for Simon Pearce. The pottery division was selected for the pilot project. They were challenged with excess Work in Progress (WIP) and finished goods inventory, several bottlenecks restricting product flow, lack of organization, not enough room, a lot of time spent looking for tools as well as the next job. They ran very large batches that contributed to inventory issues.

The project started with an on-site Lean 101 workshop attended by key employees. The next step was a Value Stream Map training and exercise detailing the flow of a typical pottery product from start of manufacture (release of job) to sale in retail store. All pottery personnel as well as representatives of marketing, sales, retail, finance and operations attended the VSM Kaizen. Changes and improvements were identified during the VSM process that included setting up supermarkets for WIP at a key location as well as in finished goods, determining that the workplace needed organization and visual controls to direct work flow. The task of organizing the workplace was accomplished utilizing a 5S Kaizen event. The department manager stated that these projects changed the mindset of the whole division; people became vested as a team to succeed. The division has since incorporated a suggestion process that requires an employee to present a suggestion to the team for review bi-weekly and the team implements improvement if approved. They have implemented many improvements as well as sustained the involvement and morale.

Quality: Able to maintain same defect rate while manufacturing more difficult product. Division manager states "Mindset has made us focus on the areas with the potential for greatest financial and quality impact." Finished Goods Inventory: Reduced 25% in warehouse due to ability to produce smaller batches. Production: Increased 40% with only a 10-15% increase in labor. Raw material: Turns improved from 3 to 4. WIP: 40% reduction in amount of WIP maintained on shop floor

“By implementing the tools learned in the workshop, we have improved morale of the people on the shop floor because they feel more vested”, states Neil Cockwill, Director of Pottery at Simon Pearce.

Amoskeag Woodworking, based in Colchester, VT, employs 42 people. Established in 1992, they manufacture and sell high-end millwork for commercial industries such as banks, hospitals and retail operations. Roughly 80% of their business is commercial, the remaining 20% residential. Other shops in the area have closed due to competition and the economy. The closest competition that Amoskeag faces is located in Maine and Southern New England.

Amoskeag realized as their operation grew, they were in need of organizational as well as utilization assistance of their work space. Flow of work and its timing affected output to the customer. Kevin Hastings, company owner, attended a VMEC Lean workshop and met with Paul Demers, VMEC Manufacturing Advisor, to discuss their situation. Paul assessed their situation as lead times being too long, starting in the office/ administrative area first, carrying into the shop. It was determined that a 5S and Process Improvement system was necessary.

It was determined that the bid process was lengthier than necessary. From start (bidding a job to the customer) to nearly finish (beginning the manufacturing process of the job) was taking approximately 101 days. The process was too choppy and there were too many lag days. By cutting out unnecessary steps and a system of checks and balances and internal deadlines, the start to finish process was decreased to 45 days.

By compressing bid-to-job days, Amoskeag increased its volume of output from 2009 to 2010 sales by over 60% and first quarter 2011 sales exceeded their 2010 total sales.  This volume increase allowed them to seek additional space for their growing operation and in early 2011, Amoskeag purchased Morse Hardwoods in Fairfax, VT.

According to Kevin Hastings, President and Owner, “Amoskeag would not have been able to handle the growth and standardization we have now unless we had contacted and worked with VMEC. Having learned what we now know has allowed us to expand confidentially and take on new challenges.”

Liquid Measurement Systems (LMS) began in 1989 with one big idea - replace the heavy metal tubes in fuel probes with graphite composite. It was lighter, more durable and would not corrode. Manufacturing of these new probes began shortly thereafter with the understanding that everything was to be done with the highest attention to detail and quality of craftsmanship. LMS expanded into signal conditioners and fuel gauges, adding manufacturing and engineering staff. In 2006, the company moved to its current location in Georgia, Vermont where they currently develop and manufacture systems that are trusted for use in many of today's aircraft including the Chinook, Blackhawk, Apache, Comanche, LittleBird, Cobra, Huey and S92. With 30 employees on staff, their state-of-the-art components are developed to withstand the toughest conditions having been put through the most stringent testing procedures to ensure their success in the field.

With the rapid growth in recent business, LMS determined they needed additional manufacturing space. Having purchased their current building location, the need to utilize the unused space in its best possible way was most important. Contact to VMEC was made, as Don Paul, PMA, had worked with LMS previously on projects through their growth and had the insight into their operations and would be able to provide the best and most adequate perspective.

Layout, flow lines, value stream mapping, standardization and problem solving were issues determined and addressed through the expansion process in dealing with the space available. Both LMS and VMEC worked closely together in the process.

The most significant impact in the new manufacturing layout is the reduction in overall production time. LMS previously produced in small batches; now they produce in three dedicated flow lines. On this journey, they discovered that a certain level of inventory was required because of their long vendor lead times. The change in their process layout and workforce cross training has provided them with some of the successes of this project such as production of AC probes (previously 4 hours, now 2 hours) and DC probes (previously 2 hours, now 1.2 hours) as well as signal conditioners which accounted for 3.5-7.5 hours / unit being cut to 1.7-4.5 hours/ unit. Indicators production time was significantly reduced, from a previous 8 hours/ unit to 3.2 hours/ unit. In addition to production time decreases, there have been substantial cuts in lead times, most significantly the overall lead time of 1-2 weeks, which is now 3-5 days. Individual component lead times are DC probes (10 days to 5 days), AC probes (5 days to 2 days), Signal Conditioners (5-10 days to 2-5 days) and Indicators (5 days to 2 days).

Bill O’brien, Manufacturing Manager at LMS states “working with VMEC over the past few years has provided us with the necessary roadmap to transform the way in which we produce our products. This journey has brought us to a place where LMS has been able to reduce customer lead time, improve overall efficiencies, and take on new product lines with our current staffing.”

It pays to be in the right place at the right time. For Larry Sharon, a plant manager at The Melanson Company, a metal fabrication plant in Rutland, and Bram Kleppner of Danforth Pewter, being at one of the Vermont Manufacturing Extension Center’s (VMEC) innovation & growth workshops in May 2009, led to a new company, The HipCheck, and the launch of an innovative product for golf enthusiasts. In addition, Kleppner credits learning from one of the VMEC-sponsored Innovation Engineering Leadership Institutes in helping him assess the viability of the product and how best to market it.

The HipCheck, a small plastic device that attaches to a golfer’s hip to aid in alignment and train in correct hip rotation, is one of those ingenious inventions that makes one wonder why it hadn’t been invented already. “It’s so obvious, it makes you say ‘why didn’t I think of that,?’” says Kleppner.

Sharon is the man who did, crediting the product with taking 10 strokes off his game in one summer. In golf, a very small change in one’s stance can result in a very large change in where a ball lands, which is why proper alignment with the flag is crucial. Typically, a golfer addresses this by laying his driver on the ground, sighting it with the flag to line it up correctly. The golfer then places his toes against the driver, picks it up and makes his shot – a process Kleppner calls “cumbersome” at best.

The HipCheck provides an alternative. The plastic pointer, which sells for $19.95, clips to a golfer’s belt right above his hipbone, allowing him to stand up straight and glance down. If the pointer is not pointed at the ball, the golfer adjusts his stance until it is. “We figured even if we could reliably take three strokes off someone’s game they’d be happy to pay for this,” says Kleppner.

Kleppner learned of Sharon’s idea when the two paired up in a larger group at VMEC’s workshop for the assignment of coming up with a “Fail Fast Fail Cheap” action plan to bring a case study product to market. Sharon asked the group to instead use an actual product he had invented to improve his golf game. After the exercise, Kleppner approached Sharon about his idea. Sharon admitted he thought the product had commercial potential, but didn’t know where to start. Kleppner turned to his friend, Chris Patton, an entrepreneur and golfer. Patton tested the product himself, had some pros try it, and deemed it a success. He and Kleppner then contacted Progressive Plastics, an injection molding company in Williamstown, Vt, to beginning manufacturing the product.

The men launched TheHipCheck, LLC., licensing the product from Sharon, and began their first production run in mid-December, taking the product to a PGA Merchandise Show in January. There, they received additional interest in it as a tool for encouraging proper hip rotation. They now sell it through their web site at www.thehipcheck.com as well as at some pro shops and shows.

Kleppner drew on tools he learned at Doug Hall’s Innovation Engineering Leadership Institute in assessing and marketing the product. Hall says it is necessary for the success of any innovation to make apparent to consumers its “overt benefit, dramatic difference and real reason to believe.”

“We took it straight from his book,” says Kleppner. “The overt benefit? Our packaging says in big letters, “Better Golf in 30 Seconds.” The dramatic difference? I described using this versus laying the club on the ground and that whole rigmarole. And, the real reason to believe? We guaranteed it a 110% or your money back. Doug also talks about kitchen table logic – does the thing just make sense when you describe it, and we felt it had that as well.”

Kleppner also praises VMEC in providing the opportunity for making this connection happen. “The value of the networking that VMEC provides among Vermont companies allows for the fertilization of ideas and a new company to develop out of it,” he concludes.

Story credit: Kim J. Gifford

Country Home Products, based in Vergennes, Vt. produces the DR and Neuton lines of outdoor power equipment as well as Sunward solar hot water systems. Founded in 1985, the company employs approximately 230 people. In addition to its headquarters and factory outlet store in Vergennes, Country Home Products has a product assembly facility in Winooski and a distribution warehouse in Charlotte, Vt. Country Home Products also operates factory stores in Merrimack, N.H. and New Castle, Del.

Country Home Products considers itself “a niche player” in its industry. “We like smaller, highly-specialized categories of products,” said Joe Perrotto, CEO. “In focusing on these, we almost by default have to be more innovative both in creating new categories as well as finding a discrete niche where we can differentiate and sell feature benefits.”

Country Home Products has a longstanding relationship with the Vermont Manufacturing Extension Center (VMEC), having worked with them for over 10 years. Past projects include introducing Lean Manufacturing methods and a Stage Gate product development process   Country Home Products first became interested in innovation engineering training during a VMEC “Manufacturer’s Forum” held at Country Home Products in early 2010. VMEC informed Perrotto of the upcoming May 2010 Innovation Engineering Leadership Institute (IEL) event in Burlington, Vt.

“We felt it would fit in well with what we were doing…New product is our growth engine, plain and simple. With Stage Gate we brought in added rigor, but it didn’t help us be more innovative. We wanted to keep the rigor especially for the development cycle, but we needed to have the more entrepreneurial spirit that you have when you follow these [innovation] techniques in the early stages,” said Perrotto.

Country Home Products sent its entire executive team of 10 people to attend the May 2010 IELevent and began implementing some of the Create tools they learned upon their return. That fall, VMEC presented Perrotto with the opportunity to be part of an advanced Innovation Engineering Black Belt training program. “This was an opportunity to cement the ‘click’ and say we don’t want this to be abstract anymore. We want to make it concrete for us,” said Perrotto.

Prior to Perrotto and Julia Gilbert, Vice-President of Sales and Marketing at Country Home Products, initiating their Innovation Engineering Black Belt training, VMEC led a December Innovation Engineering “JumpStart” session with 20 Country Home Product employees to introduce more people within the company to the innovation tools and refresh Perrotto and Gilbert on their use. Realizing the need for employees to be on “a level playing field,” Country Home Products sent a larger team of 31 employees to the second Vermont IEL event in Woodstock in February 2011.

As a result of its investment in Innovation Engineering training thus far, a culture change has started at Country Home Products in terms of new skill development and the ability to accelerate innovation at the front end.  Country Home Products has embraced the Innovation Engineering concepts of “fail fast, fail cheap” and identifying early death threats, allowing them to evaluate a greater number of ideas before committing them to their development process. By relying on prototypes, mock-ups and early test markets, Country Home Products is now able to evaluate more ideas up front, including those with which they may have less confidence or pose higher risks, in the prospect of discovering those that are “meaningfully unique.”  While in the past, Country Home Products aspired to taking one new product to market per year; their target now is three, which Perrotto expects to “hit” under their new process.

“We can actually succeed more by failing more. Because we can do it fast, we are going to try 24 things and maybe only three work, but if we were only going to try two things before and only one worked, there is still more success even thought there is a lot more failure,” said Perroto.

Innovation Engineering training has also opened Country Home Products to the value of mining (digging deep for new ideas in the areas of technology, future trends, market and customer insights) and widening the pool in which they search for ideas. Perrotto estimates that in the past 80% of ideas for new products came from within the company and 20% from outside.  This has begun to change and Perrotto expects it will completely reverse with 80% of new ideas coming from mining of outside sources such as the National Innovation Marketplace, supply chain partners, inventors and even YouTube, and 20% created within the company. Country Home Products has also begun inviting suppliers and sources of these ideas to be part of the discovery process, taking some of the early evaluation work off their own hands.

Perrotto estimates that to date Country Home Products has invested between $175,000 to $200,000, on Innovation Engineering Training and initial projects. Using the Innovation Engineering tools they now employ, Country Home Products projects 10 to 15% of revenue in 2012 to come from new products and 20 to 30% the following year.

The Vermont Coffee Company, a privately held corporation, was founded in Bristol, Vermont in 2001, and moved to Middlebury in 2007. The company currently employs twelve people. The company's specialty is "big, bold coffee," the result of proprietary blends and a unique 'slow-roasted' style.

The Vermont Coffee Company (VCC) is fully committed to social and environmental responsibility. All the coffees they use are certified organic to USDA standards and are purchased under international fair trade guidelines. Their motto, "Coffee Roasted for Friends®," is truly their mission. They try hard to be a good friend to their farmers and a loyal friend to their customers.

VCC's brand has been growing steadily over the years. Growth has come from the addition of new outlets, but more significantly, growth has come from penetrating deeper into their existing customer accounts. Their same-store sales in 2009 grew more than 30 percent, thus reflecting their steady increase in market share.

VCC's new facility in Middlebury, Vermont, is a state-of-the-art facility with two custom-built environmentally friendly coffee roasting machines, packaging lines and pick–pack-and-ship operations. The facility currently runs at less than half of its first shift capacity, so there is plenty of capacity for growth.

While still in their Bristol facility, VCC consulted with VMEC regarding production flow. Utilizing the information learned from VMEC, they set up their new facility for optimum flow. After the first year in the new facility, however, they realized they needed to take the next step to simplify order-processing procedures. Additionally, they knew efficiencies needed to be constantly evaluated in order to remain competitive in the marketplace, especially during the current economic downturn.

VCC first met with VMEC to evaluate their current processes, and determined that these processes could be enhanced through the utilization of a Supermarket & Kanban System. VMEC educated the production team on the system and the benefits they would see from this change. The second step was a day-long training session with management to lay out the steps needed to make this change. VMEC provided support through this process and was available for further discussions as needed.

The changes made to their production systems allowed VCC to increase efficiencies by eliminating a cumbersome spreadsheet and some procedural steps in their order process system, freeing up hours equaling approximately .5 FTE (full-time equivalent). It also created a more streamlined flow of information, as the customer orders were now the catalyst for production. This allowed VCC to lessen the number of times information was touched and cut out unnecessary analysis of this information, thereby shortened order processing time by several hours per day.

Since VCC's business model is to move product from roast to ship within 24 hours without maintaining an inventory, it was vital to have a system that could easily adjust stocking levels as needed. The combination of a supermarket and kanban system achieved this goal. Through the increase in efficiencies they have seen their cost of production decrease, and with that decrease, they were able to hire two new employees.

Results achieved were:

1. Reduced production costs from 6.5% of sales to 6%
2. Increased efficiency, freeing up hours equaling approximately .5 FTE (full-time equivalent).
3. Hired two new employees
4. Sales increased over this period of time by approximately 30%
5. A productive process for all involved

Colleen Smith of Vermont Coffee Company - The knowledge, expertise, and support of VMEC personnel made all the difference in this transition. They worked with us until we had the results we were looking for. We would never have come up with this system on our own. We were extremely impressed with their knowledge and the results they secured.