Solutions Current Issues > July.Aug.Sept_2007 >IN FOCUS
Email LinkIN FOCUS
ASSEMBLY CAPABILITIES
Value-added service born from meeting one customer’s needs.
It all started when just one customer needed parts assembled before they were shipped. Today, RL Hudson provides assembly services for the majority of its largest customers. And with more and more companies looking for ways to consolidate suppliers and related services — without sacrificing speed or quality — that number is growing.
Given the increasing demand, one might expect Assembly to be a profit center, but for RL Hudson that’s not the case, said Roux Carroll, director of information technology and operations. “The ultimate function of the department is to provide a service for our customers. We believe there is greater value in providing that service at pure cost,” he said.
Yet, while RL Hudson keeps assemby costs low, attention to detail and quality are at an all-time high. In fact, by Six Sigma standards, RL Hudson’s performance has consistently been within just a few points of target. Impressive by any standard, but even more so when you consider that Assembly can touch nearly 35 million parts a year.
“We know that even a minor error on our part can end up costing our customer a significant amount in both time and money,” said Rick James, Assembly supervisor. “So, for our customers’ benefit, we can’t afford to make mistakes.”
The Assembly group strives for total accuracy, a task made easier by the fact that Roux, Rick and their team have implemented highly-defined procedures, not the least of which is manual inspection of 100 percent of the finished assembly before an order is shipped.
Said Roux,“For RL Hudson, Assembly is simply another way we support our customers. And we’re happy to do so.”
ADDING VALUE, SEEKING PERFECTION: Members of the RL Hudson assembly team produce a wide variety of complex components, then manually inspect each one for accuracy.
