Excellence in Enhancing Regional Competitiveness (cont.)

Documented impact Each year, the U.S. Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) evaluates the impact that Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Centers have on the clients they serve. This assessment documented the following impact of Catalyst Connection’s work during 2005:

Sales Increased: $47,600,000

Sales Retained: $153,975,000

Cost Savings: $7,629,300

Investments Made
• Plant & Equipment: $18,815,500
• Information Systems: $1,216,500
• Workforce Practices: $1,068,350

Other: $2,438,000

Unnecessary Investments Avoided $ 3,531,600

Jobs Created 246

Jobs Retained 89

Important as these statistics are, they are only part of the picture. Catalyst’s achievements can best be understood by sharing individual client success stories in which Catalyst helped companies enhance their businesses on all dimensions, top- through bottom-line.

Engaging employees as partners in profitability: Miller Centrifugal Casting Company

Catalyst Connection worked with Miller Centrifugal Casting Company on leadership training and the introduction of lean manufacturing methods, assisting with the company’s turnaround.

Miller Centrifugal Casting Company (MCC), in Cecil, Penn., specializes in designing, casting and finishing high-grade, centrifugally cast ferrous and nonferrous products. For more than 40 years, MCC has served a variety of industries, including those involved in power transmission equipment, elevators, commercial and military aircraft, and marine and naval vessels.

MCC, once a thriving family-owned business, was sold to a corporation that subsequently entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy. One of the consequences of the bankruptcy for MCC was a lack of ongoing investment in plant, equipment and personnel by its parent company.

In 2002, two private investment companies, Birchmere Capital and Wilder-Deem, bought MCC through a bankruptcy auction, brought in new senior management to restore the company to profitability and began investing in MCC’s redevelopment. Since then, Catalyst Connection assisted MCC with two initiatives that contributed significantly to the company’s turnaround: leadership training and the introduction of lean manufacturing methods.

After MCC sent its management team to a leadership course conducted by Catalyst, MCC management continued to work with Catalyst to introduce new performance appraisal and gainsharing programs. MCC understood the critical role that good communication would play in motivating its employees and in getting the new pay-for-performance system accepted, and Catalyst provided training to support that process.

Along with the investments made in leadership training, the new owners also invested in new machinery, equipment and operational improvements. MCC engaged Catalyst Connection to train its workforce in lean manufacturing and work with the company’s teams to support the implementation of those techniques throughout the company.

“Change is the most difficult thing that people have to deal with,” observed Ian Sadler, president of MCC. That was certainly true for MCC’s workforce. “But change was critical to the company’s survival.We face global competition, and without the measures that we’ve introduced, we would have been unable to become a successful world-class player.”

MCC and its employees are beginning to see tangible results from their efforts.Manufacturing productivity across several measures improved significantly and the company’s backlog of orders is at an all-time high – not just domestically, but also from export business.

“We believe we can now compete with anybody in the world on a level playing field.We’re actively hiring.We’re experiencing growth in sales. Our revenue this year will be up about 30 percent over last year,” Sadler noted.

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