A survey: Do you want free help from experts?
When Aircraft Stamping Co. was told by its biggest client, Boeing Co., to pass an aerospace industry standard or lose its business, the small manufacturer knew it had no option.
“Either we got certified or we would not be allowed to do work with Boeing,” said Michael Nolan, president and chief executive of El Monte-based Aircraft Stamping.
“Being a small company of 22 employees, we’re kind of hopelessly lost in this kind of stuff. We were at the spot where we needed help,” Nolan said.
In April, Aircraft Stamping turned to California Manufacturing Technology Consulting to help the manufacturer of sheet metal products prepare for the certification. CMTC is nonprofit, funded in part by the federal government as an incentive to encourage local manufacturing. The mission of the Torrance-based firm is to help small and mid-size manufacturers surmount business hurdles and grow in an increasingly competitive global market.
“Manufacturing is critical to the United States. . . . As we keep losing manufacturing jobs, California’s going to suffer big-time. It can’t just go unnoticed,” said David Braunstein, president and chief executive of CMTC, which consults mainly with Southern California companies in the aerospace and defense, automotive, industrial and consumer industries.
CMTC seeks to teach clients how to keep quality high and costs low by identifying what customers will pay for and eliminating unnecessary work.
Nearly every week for five months, Geoff Downer, a senior consultant with CMTC, met with Aircraft Stamping to review its internal operations and quality management system. The process involved updating Aircraft Stamping’s operating manual, which would be reviewed by an auditor during the certification process, and making sure all of the company’s practices were well documented and implemented consistently.
“The company was already complying in many ways to the standard,” Downer said. “In this case, I think the biggest change was a little more accountability.”
Although Aircraft Stamping paid for the services, most of CMTC’s clients don’t pay for access to the firm’s expertise. Companies that have annual revenue of $15 million or less are eligible for its Small Manufacturers Advantage program, which provides on-site meetings, a company assessment and recommendations for improvement.
Instead of paying a hefty bill at the end of the one-year program, companies complete a client satisfaction survey that is forwarded to the National Institute of Standards and Technology as part of CMTC’s funding agreement with the U.S. Commerce Department. About 450 companies -- roughly 80% of CMTC’s clients -- participate in the program each year.
CMTC offers paid services for larger businesses and companies in the Small Manufacturers Advantage program that want more comprehensive consulting, such as Aircraft Stamping.
CMTC’s government funding arrangement, which provides one-third of the costs to run the program, “sets us apart” and enables the company to concentrate its efforts on serving customers, not watching the bottom line, Braunstein said.
Through three generations of furniture makers, Jeannot Fine Furniture has remained a small family business. Lately, the Van Nuys company has been feeling even smaller as overseas manufacturers have crowded the U.S. market with mass-produced, low-cost furniture.
“They can offer a five-piece dining room set for $1,200,” marketing manager Nicole Miller said. “We could never compete with that.”
Faced with losing customers drawn to more affordable imports, the company -- which creates customized home decor pieces including armoires, coffee and end tables, and bedroom sets -- needed to differentiate itself from the competition. But the staff of 11 employees didn’t know what to do and how to pay for the help to figure it out.
Since July, CMTC has been assisting the furniture manufacturer in reinventing its image and improving its business operations.
“We’re working with all kinds of consultants that our company would never be able to afford,” Miller said. “It has definitely, definitely helped.”
Miller -- whose father, uncle and two brothers also work at Jeannot -- said the company appreciated that the consultants took the time to learn about the business instead of fitting “the same formula” to its unique problems.
According to CMTC’s client satisfaction surveys, which include voluntary responses from for-fee clients, companies from October 2006 to July reported a total of $75.2 million in cost savings, $65 million in investment increases and about 4,300 new manufacturing jobs.
In September, Aircraft Stamping passed its certification on its first try with a score of 97%, a feat Nolan said it would not have been able to accomplish without CMTC’s guidance.
“Every question we had, they answered. Everything we needed, they helped us with,” Nolan said. “This certification, we hope, will add to a lot more work.”
--
