LASER SPECIALISTS INC.: Preparing for Growth With Expert Mentoring
Our involvement and experience with The Center and their training programs helped reignite our passion and refine our team members’ skills to prepare our business for the next chapter.
-- Jon Paquin, Owner
Since its founding in 1986, Laser Specialists Inc. (www.laserspecialists.com) has been a pioneer in the laser cutting industry and at the forefront of laser cutting technology. Now under second generation ownership, Laser Specialists continues to leverage state-of-the-art technologies and in-house talent to offer unprecedented metal cutting services. Their team of more than 30 operate out of three facilities totaling 145,000 square feet in Fraser and Washington Twp., Michigan.
Challenge
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Laser Specialists experienced a significant decrease in sales. As they began to rethink their business model, they pivoted from being mostly a job shop to establishing an additional niche in the high-volume production arena. In doing so, they sought out and were awarded contracts that would double their business. Recognizing they were not prepared for this rapid growth, Laser Specialists looked for assistance so they could find success in this business pivot.
Solution
To get the guidance they needed, Laser Specialists turned to the experts at the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center (The Center). Using funding from the NIST CARES Act grant, Laser Specialists completed the following mentoring and training with The Center:
Hoshin Strategic Planning – Hoshin Planning is a systematic approach to planning, executing, auditing and managing business strategies on a company-wide basis. Through three days of mentoring, The Center helped Laser Specialists use this system to set business goals and objectives, develop a policy deployment plan, schedule regular reviews and learn how to track goals against performance. With this in place, Laser Specialists has the opportunity to improve performance continuously.
Lean Mentoring – The Center’s Lean Opportunity Assessment determined Laser Specialists could benefit from Plant Layout/New Product Launch mentoring. This involved analyzing the product and process flow, optimizing floor plan layout, establishing process instructions, improving changeover and handling corrective actions.
Quality Mentoring – To ensure quality is consistently maintained, Laser Specialists needed comprehensive assistance with the ongoing maintenance of their ISO 9001:2015-certified Quality Management System (QMS). The Center’s experts performed a two-day internal audit of their system and reviewed all opportunities for improvement. The Center then assisted Laser Specialists with closing any gaps in their QMS, leaving them with a more robust system and an enhanced ability to audit.
Supervisor Skills – Because the company is growing, management needed to improve their skills to support that growth throughout the organization. Several Laser Specialists managers attended The Center’s Supervisor Skills training to learn how to be a better leader and how to best manage different personalities and issues.
Results
- Sales increased by more than 100% in two years
- 25% increase in employees
- 55% increase in expenditure capital equipment