America’s economic engine is compromised. Forces at work over the last 30 years have sapped our nation’s vitality. Pushing back.

A 15% cost reduction was great, however, we still had quality issues.

Once our local suppliers were in place and our assembly operation up and running (a 7% increase in full time U.S. jobs, with benefits), we were able to look at the factors that effected product quality.

With a histogram of product returns by reason and a fishbone analytical diagram, we were able to create an engineering profile of our best-selling product. We discovered that a design error in a metal supporting bracket accounted for a majority of customer returns.

Six weeks to re-design the bracket and modify the tooling, and when we received the new parts we were able to introduce them into our production immediately; scrapping our inventory of old brackets. No defective finished goods on the water, no defective work in progress in Taiwan and no defective brackets on order with the Taiwan supplier to worry about. Only $100 worth of old parts into the trash!

Armed with an improved product, I re-visited our customer. Explaining in detail what had caused the returns and showing them our fix, we were able to win back their business. Life was good.

[Post 8 of 21]

America’s economic engine is compromised. Forces at work over the last 30 years have sapped our nation’s vitality. Pushing back.

Reeling from the loss of a sizeable piece of our electronic scale business, I knew that I had to improve the quality of our electronic scales. But how?

The Taiwan manufacturer was of no help. They designed and built these scales the best that they knew. The product return rate was reasonable for them and they had no appetite for any additional effort. I wondered if I could bring production to our facility in Illinois.

With components produced locally and assembly in-house, I knew that we would find improvements. But what would that cost? Our profit margins were already tight; could we afford to pay more for quality?

As it turned out, that question went unanswered. Working with our local parts suppliers and bringing assembly operations into our Illinois facility, we were able to relocate production from Taiwan to the U.S. at a “real” cost reduction of 15%!

[Post 7 of 21]

America’s economic engine is compromised. Forces at work over the last 30 years have sapped our nation’s vitality. Pushing back.

With our Weight Watchers business under increasing cost pressure from our French supplier, we decided, in 1988, to design a replacement mechanism and to produce all components in the United States. With costs and sales in U.S. Dollars and our supply lines shorter, our business was stable and more profitable. We were free to focus our energies on growing our market. Life was better.

[Post 6 of 21]