COMPANY PROFILE:
Established in 2002, TYRI has extensive experience in off-highway lighting and is at the forefront of lighting technology. With more than 200 employees worldwide, TYRI’s Stevens Point, Wisconsin, facility focuses on the design and assembly of lights for the harshest off highway environments, including mining, forestry, material handling, agriculture and construction.
SITUATION:
TYRI was experiencing business growth while also dealing with a labor shortage. In order to meet production volumes, TYRI brought in temporary employees to assemble products. The temporary workers helped reduce production bottlenecks but created additional issues, including extra quality checks and higher costs of production. The high-mix, low-volume assembly environment demanded extra training time for the temporary employees, as well. WMEP Manufacturing Solutions’ automation consultants met with TYRI leadership and determined that the company would benefit from improved production productivity, which would lead to enough throughput improvements to reduce the need for additional labor.
SOLUTIONS:
WMEP Manufacturing Solutions’ automation consultants worked with the TYRI production team to perform an Automation Assessment. This facility-wide evaluation focused on all internal manufacturing processes to assess a fit for automation. Once the TYRI team and WMEP completed the Automation Assessment, mutually defined projects became a priority at TYRI, including material handling automation and future assembly automation.
RESULTS:
- A reduction in the temporary labor workforce of six employees, resulting in a savings of more than $200,000.
- Production output increased due to automated material handling and line layout improvements.
- Employees received pay increases based on the labor cost savings
- Investment of more than $150,000 in new equipment
TESTIMONIAL:
The WMEP Automation Advisor Assessment helped TYRI prioritize our capital investment in automation. We used the assessment results to develop a long-term automation strategy. The first phases have helped us address our workforce challenges while significantly improving productivity.
Ken Turzinski, President – TYRI Americas