{"75771":{"#nid":"75771","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Helps LaGrange Manufacturer Boost Production 200 Percent","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EOrthoCare Labs was preparing to move into a new manufacturing facility when it contacted Derek Woodham, a Georgia Tech regional manager who serves west Georgia companies. The collaboration that resulted helped the company expand its sales by more than $1 million per year, add seven jobs, save nearly a quarter million dollars -- and make a big investment in the LaGrange, Ga. community.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe seven-year-old company, which makes custom orthotics -- shoe inserts -- for athletes, diabetics and others, is now poised for additional growth.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We would not have been able to grow at the rate we have grown if we were still making our product the way we did before Derek helped us,\u0022 said Dr. Ric Hollstrom, the company\u0027s owner. \u0022Derek helped us change the complete flow of our process to make it smoother.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOrthotics are by their nature custom products. Physicians make molds or take three-dimensional measurements of patients\u0027 feet, then send the casts or data to OrthoCare. The company\u0027s first production step is to carve a wooden replica of each patient\u0027s feet using a precision router. From a variety of orthotic-grade polymer sheets, the devices are then vacuum-formed around the replica feet, finished and packaged for shipping.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EPrior to the move, Dr. Hollstrom\u0027s five staff members produced the orthotics in a departmental-type flow, in which one person was responsible for each aspect of the production, and would pass the products on to the next department in batches. This batch process created the potential for quality issues, and sometimes order confusion, because hundreds of individual products had to be kept separate.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022One of the issues was consistency of our product,\u0022 said Dr. Hollstrom. \u0022Maintaining consistency when each product was custom-made was difficult.  It was also difficult to judge if the required consistency was there every time.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWoodham, who is part of Georgia Tech\u0027s Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP), visited the company\u0027s old facility to learn the production process and talk with the staff. He listened to Dr. Hollstrom\u0027s concerns and heard his interest in adopting lean processes, which systematically reduce wasted time and resources. And Woodham understood the company\u0027s potential for growth.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhat he recommended was a complete change in the organization of the manufacturing process.  Instead of producing the orthotics departmentally and in batches, Woodham recommended creating flow cells in which a small team works together to complete products in one continuous operation.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBecause a pair of orthotics could be made by the same group of workers in a continuous process, quality issues could be identified and addressed immediately. Having fewer products in process reduced the potential for mix-ups. In the new system, most orders were completed and shipped in a single day, besting the old process, which could take a week or more.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022The flow cell creates a better communications path from the beginning to the end,\u0022 explained Woodham. \u0022It\u0027s easier to keep up with custom orders because you don\u0027t have a large number of products waiting to be completed.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFor a fast-growing company, switching to manufacturing cells also had an important benefit: production could be ramped up simply by adding cells following the plan Woodham designed.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022The company felt an urgency to get this right before they moved into their new facility,\u0022 he explained. \u0022Our work was a matter of understanding their processing steps and developing what would be the best layout for the equipment and the best way for the staff to work together.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDr. Hollstrom said the flow cells allowed the company to expand production from approximately 80 sets of orthotics per day to 250 -- a more than 200 percent increase.  The improved product quality reduced the number of products returned by the doctors ordering them, and faster turnaround time increased customer satisfaction.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe improvements also caught the attention of a company that sells footwear for people who have diabetes. That customer has already sent some business to the company, and is discussing the possibility of expanding its orders. If that happens, OrthoCare\u0027s sales could again grow dramatically, putting as many as 25 more people to work.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDr. Hollstrom believes that growth can be accommodated without changing the processes Woodham established. He\u0027ll just add more workers and cells.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ENot surprisingly, he is pleased with the work done by Georgia Tech and Derek Woodham.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We added more than a million dollars worth of business to the company as a result of Derek\u0027s work,\u0022 Dr. Hollstrom said. \u0022Derek always told me what I needed to know, even though I didn\u0027t always want to hear it.  For instance, I thought batching was better than the cell process, but he timed it and convinced me otherwise.  What we are doing right now works very well.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbout GaMEP\u003C\/strong\u003E: The Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) is a program of Georgia Tech\u0027s Enterprise Innovation Institute and is a member of the national MEP network supported by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).  The GaMEP, with offices in nine regions across the state, has been serving Georgia manufacturers since 1960.  With a broad range of industrial expertise, the GaMEP helps manufacturing companies across Georgia grow and stay competitive.  It offers a solution-based approach through technical assistance, coaching, education, and connections to Georgia Tech, industry and state resources designed to increase top line growth and reduce bottom line cost.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEnterprise Innovation Institute\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 314\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAtlanta, Georgia  30308  USA\n\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\n\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Contacts\u003C\/strong\u003E: John Toon (404-894-6986)(\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E) or Abby Robinson (404-385-3364)(\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:abby@innovate.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Eabby@innovate.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E).\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter\u003C\/strong\u003E: John Toon\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EOrthoCare Labs was preparing to move into a new manufacturing facility when it contacted Derek Woodham, a Georgia Tech regional manager who serves west Georgia companies. The collaboration that resulted helped the company expand its sales by more than $1 million per year.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Assistance boosts production \u0026 cuts costs for a LaGrange company"}],"uid":"27303","created_gmt":"2012-01-03 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:10:53","author":"John Toon","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2012-01-03T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2012-01-03T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"75781":{"id":"75781","type":"image","title":"OrthoCare production","body":null,"created":"1449178055","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:27:35","changed":"1475894688","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:48","alt":"OrthoCare production","file":{"fid":"193815","name":"jtoon_tbe30818.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/jtoon_tbe30818_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/jtoon_tbe30818_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":724678,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/jtoon_tbe30818_0.jpg?itok=lJL117SW"}},"75791":{"id":"75791","type":"image","title":"OrthoCare CAD process","body":null,"created":"1449178055","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:27:35","changed":"1475894688","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:48","alt":"OrthoCare CAD process","file":{"fid":"193816","name":"jtoon_tnc30818.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/jtoon_tnc30818_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/jtoon_tnc30818_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1326770,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/jtoon_tnc30818_0.jpg?itok=lXD_GWCz"}}},"media_ids":["75781","75791"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.gamep.org\/","title":"Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership"},{"url":"http:\/\/innovate.gatech.edu\/","title":"Enterprise Innovation Institute"}],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"131","name":"Economic Development and Policy"}],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJohn Toon\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=jt7\u0022\u003EContact John Toon\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-894-6986\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jtoon@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}