Denver Rubber Co - Denver, CO
Denver Rubber Company (DRC) is a custom gasket and hose manufacturer
to the industrial machinery and original equipment manufacturer (OEM)
markets in Colorado. DRC also manufactures and distributes wholesale products
to the national construction, floor care and concrete pumping industries.
Founded by Tom Jones in 1974 as a hose manufacturer named Rocky Mountain
Hydraulics, the company expanded its product lines and changed its name
to Denver Rubber Company in the mid-’80’s. DRC now occupies
a 17,000 square foot facility in Denver and employs 15 people, including
two successive generations to the founder, who passed away in 2005. DRC
takes pride in its unique ability to offer gasket manufacturing and industrial
distribution, in addition to its commitment to superior customer service.
Since its inception, DRC developed and implemented many good processes
for both inventory management and quality control. However, management
recognized that in order to market to larger manufacturers, an ISO certification
was critical. Working towards the ISO certification would facilitate a
greater understanding and documentation of the processes already in place,
and assist in the development of additional quality standards. CAMT was
recommended by associates at the Denver chapter of National Association
of Women Business Owners and DRC worked with CAMT in the second half of
2004.
CAMT developed a training plan for DRC’s process improvements. The
training included on-site customized training in both Lean Inventory Control
principles and formal Quality Control principles for the warehouse and
management staff. The training began with CAMT interviews of key managers
within the company in order to understand the operations of the company
and determine the areas in which to focus improvements. Brief classroom
sessions were conducted followed by extensive hands-on implementation.
As a result of these trainings, many new processes were put in place by
the warehouse team, such as quality inspection documentation, a detailed
process flow chart from beginning to end with “bottlenecks”
identified, staging and kitting processes for press operations, a streamlined
process for returned materials, a unique manner of labeling and tagging
rubber materials, and a training matrix for documenting the ongoing training
of warehouse staff. Regular process inspections have also been implemented.
The most significant long term improvement DRC identified is in the material
handling department, resulting in increased productivity and decreased
material waste. Instead of press operators picking up the materials for
each job themselves, often resulting in both wrong vmaterials and bad
dies being used, DRC now has a kitting department responsible for creating
a kit for each job consisting of materials cut to size for the best yield
and a die which has been inspected prior to use. This has also resulted
in more accurate inventories as there is a materials manager responsible
for marking the amounts used after each job. Denver Rubber Company President
Karen McCormack shares, “CAMT’s trainings and consulting helped
us to identify unique solutions and achieve results which far exceeded
our highest expectations.”
Results:
- Reduced waste materials by 60%
- Increased productivity by 40%
- Saved $97,000 in labor costs
- Combined economic impact of $328,000