Lean Success Story

Manchester Printer Cartridge Company Proves to be More than Just Reliable
NH MEP Helps Reliable Technologies Improve Facility Layout, Increase Production

Reliable Technologies is always looking to make some cost-reducing changes at its company. Manufacturer of printer cartridges and fax machines, Wayne Justason, vice president of manufacturing, recognized an opportunity to incorporate positive modifications to keep up with their production demands.

Familiar with Time Wise® Principles of Lean, Justason knew the New Hampshire Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NH MEP) was an expert in implementing Lean. In implementing a Time Wise® Value Stream Management System session, the workflow was streamlined, and three work areas were combined into one work cell, reducing the time and distance of the production process. "As a result, we have been able to manufacture about 120 cartridges in 6 hours as opposed to the 80 we were making before. That’s a 50 percent productivity increase," said Justason.

"We are currently 50 percent of the way to completing our transformation to Lean, and we have experienced a 50 percent improvement in our daily production output with the same staff as we had before," said Justason. "The outcome we have experienced from the work we have done with the NH MEP has exceeded my expectations."