Consulting firm helps make molder more efficient

This month, Best Practices takes you into the land of the humble zip tie — a perfect example of a ubiquitous plastic product that amounts to much more than it appears. In the case of American Elite Molding LLC, internal improvements led to a 50 percent increase in the assembly process, better problem-solving skills for employees and other benefits.

If you're a plastics person, a visit to a retail store is not the same as the general shopper. The same goes for members of the trade press. I turn things over to see who makes them and if they are U.S. made — and I bet you do too.

I tend to gravitate to the housewares department. Where my wife sees dish drainers and storage totes, I see the great combat of capitalism — Sterilite vs. Rubbermaid. What are United Solutions and Keter Plastics up to? A trip to the dollar store is even more intriguing, as you can find plastic items from around the world at super-low prices; what's up with that?

And so this month, Best Practices takes you to Crestview, in the Florida panhandle, where American Elite Molding produces nylon cable ties on 14 injection molding machines in its 75,000-square-foot plant.

Known as zip ties, these are the long self-locking ties perfect for every imaginable use.

And these are made in the United States! Founder and CEO Robert Sires said American Elite Molding turns out more than 1.5 billion cable ties a year, running 24/7. The company's website sports a zip tie man with googly eyes and big, muscular arms.

American Elite Molding officials want to double in size within five years. (Isn't that an amazing goal that makes you think, who uses all these zip ties?)

The company brought in Hallet Enterprise, a Connecticut consulting firm, to analyze its operations and make recommendations to increase productivity, reduce errors, empower employees and management to solve problems quickly, and improve the shipping process. Sires said the company sells zip ties to a wide range of retailers, as well as industrial customers.

The kaizen method was used to improve the assembly and quality assurance areas. Hallet identified issues in those departments, brainstormed solutions with front-line workers, tested possible solutions and then implemented the ones that worked. The result: a 50 percent improvement of productivity in the assembly process.

Hallet Enterprise taught employees in quality assurance how to identify defects at the beginning of the process, and also adjusted roles and responsibilities and put in place measures to identify areas that needed corrective action. The consulting firm developed a strategic approach to systematically improve shipping accuracy and lead time.

Sires said the company started as Bay State Cable Ties LLC in Leominster, Mass, which bought and resold the ties. In 2004, the company started full manufacturing operations in Florida. It changed its name to American Elite Molding last year. That highlighted to the U.S.-made nature of the products, and Sires said some customers want that.

“There are a lot of companies that are going to ‘Made in America,'” he said.

“Since we started in 2004, our focus has been on delivering the highest quality products quickly and efficiently to our customers,” Sires said. “As we have grown by double digits every year, and recently expanded our plant by 20,000 square feet, we wanted to ensure that we were performing at peak levels.”

Hallet Enterprise helped American Elite Molding “streamline our processes and train our employees to be powerful problem-solvers,” Sires said.