Spectrum E-Coat: Investing in Workforce Development at Every Level
MMTC has been a valuable partner in strengthening our leadership team and improving how we make operational decisions. Through Master Supervisor Training, Activity Base Cost quoting, the Supervisor Leader User Group, and the Plant Manager Network Group, our supervisors and managers have gained practical tools, outside perspective, and a stronger network to help us lead people, understand costs, and continuously improve our business.
-- Geoff Bailey, Director of Operations
Spectrum E-Coat (www.specind.com/e-coat) is a family-owned business located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with an additional production facility in Belding, MI, and a separate Grand Rapids location housing their RAYN Technology office. Founded in 1979 by Jay Bassett, who originally started Spectrum as Bassett Tool & Die in his garage in 1968, Spectrum employs 69 employees across its 220,000 square foot production facility. The company specializes in electrodeposition (e-coat) painting systems that apply corrosion-resistant coatings to metal parts, primarily serving the automotive market. Their key offerings include black cathodic epoxy electrocoat and an 11-stage zinc-phosphate pretreatment process, both of which provide full surface coverage and superior adhesion.
Challenge
Spectrum E-Coat sought assistance in strengthening both their operational decision-making and their team’s problem-solving capabilities. Additionally, the company needed support in refining their quoting process to better understand the actual cost of production per job, equipping decision makers with the financial insight needed to evaluate job profitability and make informed decisions on which work to accept. At the team level, employees needed structured tools and methodology to systematically identify issues, address root causes, and prevent recurrence.
Solution
Leadership was engaged in the Plant Managers network focused on continuous improvement, quality systems, and emerging technologies, ensuring that plant and operations leaders had a collaborative forum to exchange best practices. To refine their quoting process, their team participated in Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center ‘s (MMTC) Quoting Process Improvement training. At the team level, Spectrum also pursued Problem Solving and Root Cause Analysis training to give employees the tools and methodology to systematically identify issues, address their true causes, and prevent reoccurrence. Together, these initiatives reflect Spectrum’s commitment to improving performance from the leadership level down to the shop floor.
Results
- Strengthened leadership capability and alignment and helped increase Plant Efficiency from 12% to 140%
- Provided supervisors and managers with practical tools, peer learning, and structured leadership practices to support stronger communication, problem solving, and consistent execution across departments; Reduced monthly downtime by 5,000 minutes a month.
- Used Activity Base Cost quoting support to better understand true production costs, improve quoting discipline, and make more informed decisions about job profitability.
- Created a more consistent framework for supervisors and plant leaders to evaluate operational challenges, share best practices, and act more quickly on improvement opportunities; Increased number of teams at 100% rate from 75% to 92%.