Pathport Introducing Powered Pathport Quattro Four DMX Ports PoE Operation ArtNet sACN (Net 3) Shownet Pathport Ki-Net RDM With unparalleled channel patching, Pathport is the most reliable, flexible & powerful DMX-Over-Ethernet system around. had come on board with a background working in an FDA regulated consumer products company with the training and credentials to lead and implement our new systems. (He is Lean Certifi ed and APICS Certifi ed and had experience implementing two ERP systems—Mike is awesome!) We tapped into CONNSTEP, which is a non-profi t, business consulting organization that helps small and midsize Connecticut manufacturing companies take advantage of expert business solutions to compete and grow profi tably. Supported by the Connecticut Department of Economics and Community Development, CONNSTEP is connected to the national network of Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) organizations. Their guidance was invaluable to getting our lean business systems effectively on track. To give you an idea, our product pricing, prior to 2006, was based on component expense, and did not include labor and overhead—this lead to poor pricing decisions that adversely affected our bottom line. With CONNSTEP, we implemented an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software system—this is a production planning and inventory control system used to manage manufacturing processes. An ERP system is intended to simultaneously meet three objectives: Ensure materials are available for production and products are available for delivery to customers. Maintain the lowest possible level of inventory. Plan manufacturing activities, delivery schedules, and purchasing activities. The challenge with implementing an EPR system is that it won’t work if you don’t accurately account for every component, labor, and overhead for every fi nished-good item. This is a tremendous amount of work—very tricky to do while running the day-to-day business. Fortunately for Lex, Mike Scala had the experience, energy, and wherewithal to make this happen. From that point on, we feel we have had control of the business. (Read the lean manufacturing article in the Fall 2010 issue of Protocol .) Where did you get the inspiration to implement lean manufacturing and other signifi cant changes at your company? My participation in the peer group was a huge infl uence. Our group’s leader, David Hurwitt, is an outstanding gentleman and great guy who provided the guidance and counseling to help us establish our new management systems and lean manufacturing processes. The other key was hiring Mike Scala. Our peer group takes an annual retreat. I had discovered the book The Breakthrough Company by Keith R. McFarland while traveling on a business trip. I brought it up to our peer group leader, who was planning to explore this book with our group in the upcoming retreat. This book really resonated with me. The Breakthrough Company is based on the author’s fi ve years of research from a pool of over 7,000 companies to identify the secrets that propelled exceptional companies to make the transition from the FALL 2011 Pathway Connectivity Solutions 403-243-8110 www.pathwayconnect.com