Counterpart - Following a Map To Customer Satisfaction


Results

Increased on-time delivery by 5.3%

Increased customer satisfaction

Reallocated resources to provide customers with a single point of contact

Testimonial

"Having MTS facilitate our VSM brought a wealth of experience to the process that allowed us to complete the project in a timely manner. They did an excellent job helping us understand and clearly document our issues and create a future-state plan to correct the issues which had an immediate positive impact for our customers and our organization."

- Jeff Jacobson, Co-Owner

    About

    Counterpart began in Brookings, South Dakota in 1995 as a place for local companies to source custom metal parts. Today, the metal fabrication company employs 65 people and offers a wide variety of services including: powder coating, priming and top coating, laser cutting, welding and more. Counterpart’s dedicated and knowledgeable employees manufacture parts and assemblies for a broad spectrum of industries. As time continues and the company expands, Counterpart’s focus and dedication to high quality endures.

    Challenge

    One of the challenges the family-owned business faced was understanding how to improve their on-time delivery to their customers. Satisfied customers are a huge priority for Counterpart and delays in delivery was extremely frustrating for everyone. Time constraints also restricted their business from taking on additional projects. Knowing there was room for improvement, the company decided to reach out to South Dakota Manufacturing & Technology Solutions, a NIST MEP affiliate.

    Solutions

    South Dakota Manufacturing & Technology Solutions evaluated Counterpart’s needs and suggested value stream mapping to visually recognize waste and to improve their operational flows. By adjusting their process and reallocating resources, Counterpart was able to compress time and reduce non-value added activities. They became more efficient by clearly defining employee responsibilities and accountabilities. With the team having clear defined responsibilities, it eliminated confusion of who would perform each task. This helped speed up the production process and provided clarity to everyone in the department. The adjustments made in the value stream allowed the company to reduce throughput time and improve their on-time delivery performance.

    Results

    • Increased on-time delivery by 5.3%
    • Increased customer satisfaction
    • Reallocated resources to provide customers with a single point of contact