Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership

SCI Icon Systemic Continuous Improvement

Achieve world-class productivity through Lean manufacturing and other methods.

WMEP and its partners offer an extensive suite of services that can help your company do more with less. We've been helping manufacturers develop and sustain Lean Culture since 1996, and our manufacturing specialists provide real-world solutions and processes that save time, money and materials.

Read how Wisconsin manufacturers are using leveraging the power of systemic continuous improvement to help their organizations do more with less, and ramp up quality and reduce delivery times.

  • Jor-Mac Reclaims Work from China with Lean

    SCI Icon Jor-Mac Gets Lean and Gets Work Back from China

    Back in 2005, Paul Luber, CEO of Jor-Mac Co., thought there was a glitch.  A job came into the metal fabrication company with prints in Chinese. But then it happened again.  OEMs who had outsourced work to...

  • Strategic Planning Sets Course for Bachhuber

    SCI Icon  Strategic Business Planning and Lean Reveal Profit

    Bachhuber Manufacturing Corp., a Mayville company employing 25, is a contract manufacturer and maker of press automation equipment.

    The Issue

    They wanted to grow their press...

  • Berntsen Reaches New Summit with Strategic Planning

    SCI Icon  Berntsen International Reaches New Summit

    At the summit of Mount McKinley, there’s a survey marker made by Berntsen International. Placed there by an 8-man expedition team in June 1989, the brass disk marks the summit’s true elevation, 20,320 feet above sea...

  • Marsh Electronics Surges with Enterprise Business Transformation

    Enterprise Business Transformation (EBT) prepares Marsh Electronics for post-recession growth

    In early 2009, Marsh Electronics of Milwaukee was feeling the full effects of the recession. Like many distributors and assembly firms, Marsh Electronics went in survival mode – instituting layoffs, salary and benefit reductions and a range of other cost-...

  • GenMet Corporation Revs Up Sales With Lean

    SCI Icon GenMet Revs Up Sales With Lean

    GenMet Corp. of Mequon, a custom metal fabricator, has powered through the recession and is thriving in the face of global competition with the help of a strategic partner – WMEP.

    GenMet’s transformation started in 2003, when...

  • Centerline Machine: Lean Culture = Triple-digit growth

    CFI IconCenterline Machine Drives Growth with Lean

    In 1996 Charlie Leiby started Centerline Machine in his garage in Waupaca with one milling machine and a vision to build his own company. His first customers...

  • Dalco Metals: Lean Office Cuts Processing Time 50%

    SCI IconDalco Metals Gets Leaner with 5S

    Sustaining the Lean journey produces strong results

    Since 1973, family owned Dalco Metals of Walworth has been a premier supplier of flat-rolled...

  • Design Specialties, Inc.: Lean Reduces Inventory by 80%

    SCI IconDesign Specialties Wins with Innovative Partnerships

    A strategy for growth focused on diversifying its customer base

    The employees of Design Specialties, Inc., a Milwaukee-based...

  • Gusmer Enterprises: Reduces Setup Time by 70%

    SCI IconGusmer Enterprises Saves with Quick Changeover

    A four-day set-up reduction blitz generates lasting benefit

    Gusmer Enterprises, a third generation family-owned business, operates...

  • Sadoff & Rudoy Scraps Waste & Gets Lean

    Goal: Increase production by 30%

    Sadoff & Rudoy Industries LLP (SRI) has been at the leading edge of its industry – recycling scrap metal – since its founding in 1947. The family-owned company became known for its innovations in handling and processing scrap, and by 2005, SRI had six scrap metal processing operations in Wisconsin and one in Nebraska employing a total of more than...

  • J & R Machine China-proofs its business

    Intense competition from manufacturers in China nearly drove J&R Machine Inc. out of business, but company ownership and management realized in the nick of time that somewhat drastic changes needed to be made in order to save the company.

    Founded in 1992, J&R got its start by manufacturing simple items such as bushings and...