Lean Success Story

AMCO Awarded IWT Grant to Help Offset Training Costs
Florida MEP Helps Train AMCO on Time Wise Principles of Lean Manufacturing

AMCO Water Metering Systems Inc., a leading provider of innovative metering products and solutions partnered with the Florida MEP and received approval from the Incumbent Worker Training Program (IWT) for $20,000 in grant monies to be used to train their workforce in Time Wise® Principles of Lean Manufacturing.

Despite having a comprehensive portfolio of advanced metering products and meter reading solutions, AMCO’s president, Blake Snider realized that in order to sustain the company’s growth, the business needed to embrace Lean Manufacturing, an initiative focused on continuous improvement and elimination of waste.

“Before we began our lean journey, AMCO was a functionally organized manufacturer,” explained Snider. “We moved work around the factory from one functional area to another until the manufacturing process was complete. With our lean focus and training, we have begun to transform our factory into dedicated work cells that focus on particular products by incorporating all required functions into a particular location.”

Florida MEP implemented Time Wise® Value Stream Management System, mapping the flow of material and information as the product made its way through the production line. As a result AMCO was able to reduce its inventory and product lead-time while maximizing productivity.

“In support of this training, we restructured some of our staff and added new personnel to the AMCO team. Our new team will be the driving force in our company for lean manufacturing, as we know that training and development of personnel in lean techniques will be a continuous event,” said Alistair Vaughan-Edwards, Vice President of Process Engineering and ‘Lean Champion’ at AMCO.

“This transformation has utilized our best assets, our employees. The AMCO team consists of over 250 personnel, and we want all of them to be active participants as our company converts to a lean facility. Thanks to the help of the Florida MEP and the IWT grant, this goal is now attainable,” added Vaughan-Edwards.