Success – Idaho Wrecker Sales

New Product Development & Operational Excellence, Idaho Wrecker Sales

Mountain Home, ID

IWS Thrives on Product and Process Improvements

Idaho Wrecker Sales (IWS) of Mountain Home is a towing equipment manufacturer. Owner Chuck Ceccarelli was developing a new “Side Puller” when he called TechHelp, a member of the MEP National Network™, at the suggestion of an acquaintance. TechHelp’s New Product Development team quickly helped Chuck verify his design specifications and thus began a relationship that spanned new product development and operational excellence.
Projects

• Produced product and process documentation for all IWS side puller products.
• Specified and installed a CNC high definition plasma cutting table and created product drawings loaded to the new machine.
• Conducted an on-site Lean Manufacturing workshop to ground the IWS staff in the principles of Lean.
• Created design specifications, documentation, and an operations manual for the new IWS Speed Dolly product.

Results

•  The IWS Lean Manufacturing transformation led to reductions in inventory, lead time and work in process (WIP), and saved IWS from having to purchase two new buildings to accommodate growth.
•  The new Plasma cutting table allows the company to produce parts quickly,  as per customer demand, and redesign on the fly resulting in better quality, less inventory, less scrap, and much better lead time.
•   IWS reduced lead­-time on Side Pullers from 30 days to 4 days, creating a sales increase of 42% and improved customer service.
• Creating product and process documentation allowed IWS to improve product quality, service, and sales.