IMM's Plant Tour: Managing Growth, Tier One Style

Driving past the blue awning-covered entrance at Cambridge Industries' Lapeer, MI plant, visitors pass a sign on prime parking space that declares "Supplier Parking - reserved for those extending cost savings only!" It may be a humorous reminder, but many a truism is said in jest. This Tier One systems integrator is more than serious about meeting price, delivery, and quality goals set by automotive OEM customers. And it shows - it recently became one of the few companies to be named GM's Supplier of the Year three years in a row for consoles and instrument panels. To receive this distinction, Cambridge and its suppliers had to meet price, delivery, and service goals on a daily basis.

Pretty impressive, considering that Cambridge Industries as a whole has been growing at an exponential rate. It is living the auto industry trend toward suppliers who can deliver it all - assembled systems that GM, Ford, and Chrysler can bolt on without worry or excessive time on the line. Although Cambridge began as an automotive custom injection molder 10 years ago, it is now one of the leading Tier One integrators in a group that includes Magna, JCI/Prince, and Lear. In fact, Cambridge has had five major acquisitions in the past three years. How does it manage this incredible growth?

The answer is multifaceted, of course. According to Pat Pavelka, president of the interior system and molded products division, keeping quality and profitability on track hinges heavily on a program management process (PMP) developed in-house (see sidebar, Checklist for Success ). As part of this system, the Lapeer plant organizes a launch team that includes from five to nine people dedicated to each program through production approvals and beyond. Their involvement continues through to the continuous improvement phase. This program management group reports directly to the general manager, minimizing layers of management to improve communication.

The team consists of a quality engineer, manufacturing engineer, materials specialist, industrial engineer, tooling engineer, and account manager, all of whom work with one another, as well as with the customer. There are roughly eight points in the product launch process at which the general managers must sign off on work done to date. "So if there is a problem," says Terrell Edmunds, general manager at Lapeer, "we can stop the process momentarily and fix it before it becomes a major production issue."

Winner's Circle

GM's Supplier of the Year award is based on a performance "report card" - including grades for timeliness and quality of deliveries, service to the customer, and rejected parts per million (another Cambridge plant molding interior parts in Canandaigua, NY has a record of zero ppm in the past six months). "And pricing must be competitive, of course," says Pavelka.

The Lapeer plant stays price competitive by employing technology and continuous improvement in manufacturing. "Our program management process is also helping us to streamline operations so that we run more efficiently," says Edmunds. "Most Tier One molders have similar equipment and secondary operations, so a lot of the difference involves people - a capable workforce, managers, and systems."

All new molding equipment at Lapeer runs closed loop, and older equipment is upgraded periodically. This plant also prides itself on tooling, not only the machining end, but the design. "We want to ensure that the mold is process-capable," says Jane Horal, vice president of sales and marketing. "So we typically complete the mold design here, in concert with our customers and moldmakers."

Account managers and program managers work with customers to find other improvements along the way. "This is one of our competitive advantages," says Horal. "Communications are essential to cost-efficient, high-quality production."

Every quote that leaves the interiors organization is reviewed by Horal, Pavelka, and Edmunds. "We have to be able to deliver, and we want to make sure a job fits with our business strategy," Pavelka notes. "On the majority of our higher volume jobs, we do ROI and ROA assessments, to make sure we have capacity." Quote assessment is the first part of Lapeer's program management strategy, aimed at understanding deliverable and nondeliverable items.

Molding Strategies

Three aisles in the molding section of the plant are organized roughly according to tonnage - large, medium, asmall. Eighty percent of the business at Lapeer involves GM projects, including consoles, instrument trim panels, door panels, and various interior parts. Rather than using precolored material, Lapeer almost exclusively colors its material at the press, using Conair Franklin Autoweigh and gravimetric batch blender systems. For large IP parts that need soft-feel painting, the plant operates three Fanuc robots and a conveyor line in a pristine corner reserved for the process. Also, parts that must be masked and painted are produced here.

The large-tonnage aisle contains some of the newer additions to the plant's equipment arsenal. As part of recent renovations, which included four new Engel presses, the Lapeer plant added three silos from Conair along with several new dryers. "We employ central materials handling from Conair for our nine larger presses, which consist of about 70 percent of all material processed, and we'll continue to tie more presses into the central system as we upgrade," Edmunds says. A 2500-tonner located at the end of this aisle belongs to the fan shroud program for Ford's F-150, Expedition, and Navigator models. Volumes for the glass-filled nylon 6 fan shrouds reach 800,000 per year, which represents about 20 percent of the plant's volume.

In the medium-tonnage aisle, door bezels for Cadillac are in-mold decorated. Woodgrain film is purchased, then preformed, before being placed manually into the mold. These parts are nearly always molded in ABS, according to Edmunds. Another workcell includes instrument panel bezels for the Pontiac Grand Am, also ABS, which are molded in color.

Staying Flexible

One of the keys to success in today's automotive market is flexibility, say both Horal and Pavelka. That means learning to work together with their competitors at times. "When a major OEM begins plans for a World Vehicle," Pavelka adds, "it is talking about volumes in excess of 1 million, so we are learning how to align with our customers in order to make these volumes happen."

Another major plus at Cambridge is its responsiveness, according to Horal. "Setting ourselves on the PMP course has enabled us to respond more rapidly and profitably to customer requests," she confirms. "And it all hinges on guidance of our employees rather than micromanagement."

Checklist for Success

Instituted last October, the Lapeer plant's program management process (PMP) initially added more time to the production schedule. Systems had to be upgraded and integrated, and employees had to become familiar with the process. Now that they have been "living the system" according to Horal, learning curve time has decreased as efficiencies rise. "We find we're still spending more time up-front using this process, but that it pays off handsomely in time saved in production."

This particular program management system was developed by a consultant and tailored specifically to Cambridge's needs. A team of plant representatives at each plant did most of the work, and the consultant organized the team's feedback and created software to document the process it created. "There's a feeling of empowerment in this process, and our rather flat management structure reinforces the fact that each employee is important to our overall success," Horal says.

Here are some highlights of the PMP at Lapeer: