A focus on automation, specifically robotic press tending, keeps this Wisconsin metalformer and fabricator in step with worldwide competition. Consider Norlen Inc. The contract stamper, fabricator and assembler, established in 1964 and calling Schofield, WI, home, grew at a 26 percent clip in 2007 and is expected to maintain double-digit growth in 2008 and 2009. The supplier to nearly every major market except automotive achieves such performance by focusing on its core competencies: opera- tional excellence, innovative solutions and human capital. Superiority in diverse production processes combined with well-trained, well-motivated personnel-120 employees across multiple shifts in 180,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing space-undeniably go a long way in attaining these results, but innovative solutions, namely the deployment of technology and the. use of automation to drive costs out of the business model, push the company over the top.
展开▼
