Marwin Company Increases/Retains Jobs, Makes New Investments, and Increases/Retains Sales Following SCMEP’s Warehouse Re-Design and Development of Continuous Improvement Processes

Since 1947, The Marwin Company, located in West Columbia, South Carolina, has manufactured code-compliant stairways and continues to innovate and manufacture energy saving products for the residential housing industry. The company employs approximately 300 people. Marwin was a fourth-generation family-owned business with annual revenues in the range of $50-$75M. The company was purchased by a private equity firm in 2020.

The Marwin Company was looking to improve the management and flow of raw materials, finished goods, inventory management, and shipping processes. They wished for a complete warehouse redesign and supply chain improvement. In addition, the company desired a functioning continuous improvement system for Marwin production processes, including theory of constraints, lean evaluation, and value stream mapping. Marwin turned to SCMEP, part of the MEP National Network™, for help.

SCMEP’s expert resources provided onsite consulting redesigning the warehouse and inventory of Marwin Company’s Lexington plant. Following the redesign, SCMEP developed a functioning continuous improvement system for Marwin’s production processes. This in turn supported a daily culture of production that adheres to daily standard work for production employees, support employees, and Marwin leadership.

Included in the development were elements making the flow of material and communication visual through value stream management, where processes are in place to ensure daily problem solving and continuous improvement of prioritized constraints, and that the current state of all processes are visually evident. Visual evidence came from 5S, process boards, alert systems, and other tools designed to make it clear and improve the voice of the business, customer, stakeholder, and process. This infrastructure made "plan do study act" a normal part of culture, ensuring all employees were working together to improve the business and measurably move toward the ultimate goals and objectives of Marwin.