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Miller Metal’s Journey with the DEMEP
With the help of: Delaware Manufacturing Extension Partnership (DEMEP)
About
Miller Metal Fabrication Inc. is a family-owned custom metal fabrication business in Bridgeville, Delaware. It was founded in 1983 by Martin (Marty) Miller. Marty was working as a mechanic on farm equipment and decided to take his ingenuity and metal working skills to build his own business. Their services include laser cutting, CNC forming, CNC HD plasma cutting, CNC punching, tube laser cutting, design for manufacturing, welding and fabrication, and machining servicing the Mid-Atlantic area. They are ISO 9001:2015 certified.
The Challenge
From October 2007 to present day, Miller Metal has grown from 31 employees to 104 employees and from producing 5,000 pounds of steel per day to 25,000 pounds of steel per day. They have extensively increased their gross revenues. As a result of this growth, the current facility struggles to provide the needed capacity to meet current demands, let alone projected growth in the future. Material storage and movement in the facility was a major problem, as was finding space for new equipment and technology. Recognizing the need for additional space to optimize current operations and support anticipated growth in the future, in 2020 Miller Metal decided it was time to build a new ‘State of the Art’ metal fabrication facility. In the fall of 2020, Miller Metal reached out to the DEMEP, part of the MEP National Network™, for assistance in designing the layout of their new facility.
The DEMEP gave us the ability to use a data-driven approach to organizing our new plant floor layout. They asked the right questions and used their collective years of experience to help us look within our organization to come up with a flexible layout that would last us for years down the road. The important thing was they didn’t provide the solution; they provided a framework to let our team discover the solutions for our unique organization. Additionally, with their help, we prevented a costly design error on our original building layout.
MEP's Role
After meeting with the team and gathering data and information regarding current demand, processes, and layout, the DEMEP conducted a 5-day plant layout event in January of 2021. Working with Miller Metal leadership and employees, the team developed a detailed layout for the new facility which optimized material flow, minimized material handling, reduced waste in the process and is capable of meeting growing demand. The layout provided for material storage and was designed to easily accommodate the addition of new equipment in the future. In addition, the team established the process for how jobs would be scheduled and processed through the facility.
Their current manufacturing facility is approximately 35,000 square feet with approximately 2,000 square feet office space. The new facility is 60,000 square feet with 7,320 square feet in office space, which is a 56% increase in square footage. This new facility is a $7 million dollar project. It is estimated to be completed and operational in 2023.