April 2013
| Business World Magazine | 187
OPERATIONAL
EXCELLENCE
To achieve their production quality and de-
pendability in expeditious delivery, Taylor
says the company encourages all employees
to take ownership of their role in the com-
pany. They are empowered to make decisions
and act on what needs to get done, or cor-
rect whatever is standing in the way of the
job getting done.
Under Greg Suth’s leadership, the com-
pany determined to strengthen its quality as-
surance processes by going through the rig-
ors of training involving risk management,
root-cause analysis, internal auditing and
Six Sigma methodology. Taylor, a Six Sigma
Black Belt, says this effort not only helped
Hoosier Spring achieve AS9100C Certifica-
tion, but provided the tools to identifymeans
of achieving greater efficiencies which result
in even greater service and cost savings to
their customers. According to one case study
involving this initiative at Hoosier Spring,
the improved production methods accom-
modated through Six Sigma helped the firm
save more than 14 million operational-sec-
onds per year (equating to annual savings of
more than $313,000).
“We’re always trying to take on new busi-
ness, but we also believe it is essential to max-
imize on the business we already have,” says
Taylor. “By becoming a lean manufacture,
