Page 31 - MetalForming August 2016

in labor costs, increases in throughput, and are enjoying the benefits of peak performance while minimizing cost.
So it is with Laser Precision LLC. The Libertyville, IL, fabricator of sheet and plate for a variety of industries counts 80 employees in a 130,000-sq. ft. manufacturing facility. Founded in 1994, Laser Precision does more than just laser cutting, with capabilities that include press-brake forming, CNC machining, turret punching, welding and assembly, and powder coating and other finishing processes. More than 90 percent of worked material is mild steel, with the balance aluminum and stainless steel.
Laser Precision has pioneered big- data use among top-tier suppliers in manufacturing and after 11 years of refining the process, has impressive stats to share. The company has driv- en on-time shipping to 99.92 percent while improving PPM-defect perform- ance to under 115 across 6000 distinct part numbers. As the numbers show, the ability to accurately and cost- effectively respond to demand changes has increased exponentially for the company.
2005: No More Business as Usual
Laser Precision’s big-data journey began in 2005 when the company real- ized that business as usual wouldn’t cut it.
“Jeff, (Jeff Adams, company founder) came up with this idea when he was questioned about the future of the laser-cutting industry,” explains Cameron Adams, who works as a busi- ness development manager at Laser Precision. “At that time we saw a trend toward consolidation of vendors, as it was better cost-wise for OEMs to mon- itor five vendors instead of 50. As a company, we had 300 to 400 part jobs and struggled with metrics such as on- time delivery and quality. Our solution had always been to throw more labor at it, but Jeff thought that there had to be a better way.”
Jeff Adams concluded that the future of his company would rest on incor-
More than just a laser-cutting shop, Laser Precision performs CNC machining, welding, press-brake forming, turret punching, assembly, and powder coating and other finishing. Automated data gathering and processing allows for scheduling and demand changes on the fly, boosting the productivity of all of these processes.
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porating information processing, and he set out to partner with a supplier of enterprise-resource software willing to implement Laser Precision’s ideas.
From where Laser Precision sits, there are three value-chain levels to its value stream to harness: the customer
or OEM; the direct supplier, which is Laser Precision; and vendors that sup- ply outsourcing operations for Laser Precision. In seeking to synchronize sourcing, “we have been trying to seamlessly integrate our entire value stream, so that at the end of the day