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Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP)

Focusing Lean Efforts Increase Sales & Profits

With the help of: Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing and Productivity (WCMP)

About

Genesis Industries, located in Elmwood, Wisconsin, was established in the 1980s. Genesis employs 125 people and is privately owned. Key products and markets for Genesis Industries include innovative quality healthcare products for veterinarians and practical solutions to enhance the lives of animals and their caregivers.

The Challenge

With more than 40 years of experience in the veterinary industry, more than 3,000 products manufactured, and more than 10,000 happy customers, Genesis Industries shows they don't simply care about animals, they care about their customers and strive to provide quality healthcare products and practical solutions to enhance the lives of animals and their caregivers. Facing several challenges such as identifying a succession plan, working on developing an accountability model, organizing the production floor, and running out of warehouse space, Genesis Industries reached out to the UW-Stout Manufacturing Outreach Center (MOC), part of the Wisconsin MEP and the MEP National Network™. Company leadership realized they did not have the resources, guidance or skill internally to accomplish their goals. 
The UW-Stout MOC was a pleasure to work with and brought concepts and tools to our management staff that will help our business grow now, and for many years to come.
— Stuart Wittmann, Assistant Plant Manager

MEP's Role

After visiting the manufacturing facility, training goals were identified that included Lean 101 and business operating system (BOS) training. Having employees learn the principles of lean manufacturing and putting them through real-life scenarios showed the effect had a positive impact. The exercise of BOS training for the management team helped them to better understand the business and accountability, along with providing helpful tools to do their jobs more effectively. This training allowed Genesis Industries to review and hire critical positions to help take some of the buden off of others and balance the work-load.

Recommendations as their teams went through training included identifying KPIs and lean concepts in production and warehouse. The team's response was positive with successful project completion. Weekly production meetings and to-do formats were developed and the process of weekly sharing of KPIs for discussion and tracking were implemented. Overall, Genesis Industries is seeing better efficiencies, communication and process flow improvements, as well as employee awareness of 90-day, 1-year and 3-year goals.

In the end, not all problems were completely resolved, but MOC provided a roadmap, ideas, and tools to help resolve some of the additional day-to-day challenges they face.

Created January 31, 2023