Orlando Metering Company
Ed Cucinelli had been working within the Orlando Metering Company (OMC), a mid-size water meter manufacturing facility in Orlando, Florida, since 1993. He began his career at Orlando Metering Company as an engineer and then moved on to eventually become the VP of Operations. During his time with the organization, Cucinelli witnessed many changes. When he began with Orlando Metering Company, the organization was a small traditional manufacturing facility. Due to its success and to the commitment of the employees, the organization began to acquire more business and was selected by the corporate headquarters as the test facility to implement lean manufacturing and become a lean showcase. Through its success with lean, Orlando Metering Company increased its capacity and success.
Over the years, Orlando Metering Company had expanded its business and grown from the small 50-person organization to a 108-person organization and had more than quadrupled its sales. But the lack of sufficient support and appropriate training of employees during this rapid growth created some significant challenges with turnover, absenteeism, quality and productivity for Orlando Metering Company and threatened the significant progress it had made with implementing the culture of lean manufacturing. Cucinelly had some key decisions he needed to make: (1) should he try to re-implement the lean manufacturing culture and lean thinking in the new organization or (2) should he abandon this goal and instead focus on re-establishing the traditional management methods of the past?
In this constantly changing environment, an organization’s future hinges on its ability to cut cost and improve the quality of their products and services as well as develop new ideas in order to stay competitive. The lean concept is widely used by many organizations as an approach to remain competitive, achieve better results and improve daily operations, services and products. Furthermore, a...