The PC Systems Blog

This last week of the year is a time that most companies will look at the past year and acknowledge what went well and what didn’t go so well.  We will do the same thing at PC Systems and I thought it would make sense for me to share some of those discussions with you.  Overall, 2011 was a very good year for us.  We expect that we have done the right things to make sure we continue that pace and 2012 will be just as good.  Here is what went well in 2011:

New Design and Development Procedure – We threw out the book (literally) with the Design and Development procedures from our Quality system and started new.  We developed a much more robust system using many APQP principles and most importantly, multi-stage Design Reviews.  This will definitely benefit our customers in the future.

Improved Engineering and Quality Staff – We added Kevin Genevro to the Engineering team and Andy Gahr as the new Quality Manager.  They both made significant contributions to the business in 2011.

http://blog.pcsridgway.com/2011/04/addition-of-kevin-genevro-to-the-team/

http://blog.pcsridgway.com/2011/10/addition-of-andy-gahr-to-the-team/

Executed Continuous Improvement Plan – 2011 was the first year that we developed and executed a Continuous Improvement Plan.  It included multiple Kaizen events, including Value Stream Maps, 5S Events, and SMED.  The structure kept us on schedule and made improvements across our plant.

Harness Production Improved – Our largest harness cell produced over 1000 harnesses per month multiple times in 2011.  Before 2011, we never produced more than 600 harnesses out of that cell, although the demand was higher.  The team was able to do this while maintaining their productivity and 5S KPIs.  We look for even greater throughput and demand in 2012.

Lead Free Solution for Automotive Glass Electrical Leads – Working with a couple different customers, we were able to identify a Lead Free solution for Automotive Glass leads as the RoHS exemption 8b expires at the end of the year.  We will continue to work on this through 2012 and if you need more information, please contact us.

Continued Growth – We continue to grow at a brisk pace and meet our Sales goals.  We were able to do this primarily with the growth of our current diversified customer base, which leaves a lot of room for growth with new customers.  We continue to monitor capacity from both a production and support staff perspective, to make sure we grow at a pace that will not put our customers at risk.

These are some of the highlights, but there were many small successes that added up to significant achievements for our entire team for 2011.  I am proud of how our team performed in 2011 and expect similar results in 2012.  To get there, we will develop strategic company goals for 2012 with cascading personal goals for our staff (ala Hoshin Planning).  We are excited for the prospects and will share some of these goals through the early part of next year. 

Until then, we wish you a happy and successful New Year.  If there is anything we can do to assist you, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Written by: Kalen Fitch on December 28, 2011.
Last revised by: Kalen Fitch on December 29, 2011.