Making the Most of It Jim Gilbert finds flaws in local companies’ manufacturing systems and makes them more efficient so they can survive in a tough business environment By SLAV KANDYBA Staff Reporter Jim Gilbert’s job title should really be “business saver,” not “senior consultant.” Gilbert, whose office is at his Stevenson Ranch home, is responsible for helping local small to medium-sized manufacturers become more efficient. Given the state’s unfavorable business climate for manufacturers workers’ comp, insurance costs, to name a few increased efficiency and elimination of waste often is the equivalent of an intravenous line for a business. Gilbert is an employee of the Gardena-based California Manufacturing Technology Center, a non-profit organization largely funded by federal dollars. CMTC is a member of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a nationwide network of consultants, local, state and federal officials, as well as colleges and universities. MEP federal funding was slashed in the last fiscal year, and President Bush proposed to eliminate funding completely. Congress has since restored the 2004-05 appropriations. Gilbert has helped several companies in the greater San Fernando Valley. He has advised companies such as North Hollywood-based Bobrick Washroom Equipment and Valencia-based EFS Aerospace how to churn out more parts with the same number of employees. He spends anywhere from a week to a month conducting workshops and teaching employees skills that enable them to save their companies money and time. In his position, he can see first hand the problems area manufacturers must cope with. Question: What do you do in your capacity as senior consultant for the California Manufacturing Technology Center? Answer: Our mission is to help grow the local economy in Southern California and specifically help the manufacturing sector reduce costs by eliminating waste, which enables them to reduce price, sell more units and hopefully hire more people. My capacity as far as a consultant involves going in and performing assessments, and trying to find opportunities for waste reduction and reduce overall costs. Q: What makes CMTC different from other consultants? A: What separates us from other consulting companies is one year after we finish an engagement, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (under the Department of Labor) gets a third party to call the client. One year later the euphoria is gone and the client can speak about the quality of work. NIST tells us that our customer satisfaction rating is 4.8 on a scale of 5. Q: The federal funding for CMTC was cut significantly in the last few years. What adjustments did you have to make because of this? A: We had seven centers, and I used to work out of the Burbank center. In recognition of all the driving the consultants were experiencing, telecommuting increased our potential for income-producing work. In several ways it was a transition for many consultants, but I had always worked out of the home so I came back to where I was. A lot of consultants didn’t have that experience, because it takes certain personal discipline to work at home. There is also a certain technology with getting everyone set up. It worked out well as far as I know the consultants are more productive, the company is growing, picking up significant accounts and our future looks really good. David Braunstein, our president, has done a good job with replacing funding that was cut with funds from the Department of Defense. We’ve been notified that the House of Representatives reinstalled the full budget back to the $106 million for the system, and they have been an obstacle in the past. So, the funding looks good. And we have become more entrepreneurial. Q: Are you responsible for a certain region or do you travel for projects? A: We have a lot of skilled competent consultants, so we don’t restrict them to a particular area. We try to provide the right resources to the right company. I mostly work with the metropolitan area of Los Angeles. We have a sister MEP branch in San Francisco, but they don’t have the resources we do. We can go anywhere we’re driven more by the skill set than geography. Q: Prior to your current position, what is your experience in manufacturing? A: I built a practice in St. Louis and moved to L.A. in 1996. I have worked with several CMTC sister organizations in the Midwest. I had been doing a lot of work with the U.S. Department of Labor and they encouraged me to contact CMTC. I became a contractor to CMTC providing workshops on activity-based costing and in 2000 got a call to talk about the possibility of employment. It worked out better than I thought. Q: What is your view of the state of manufacturing in the greater San Fernando Valley? A: My first reaction is they are feeling distrust because of energy costs and workers’ compensation costs. Those are the two factors that make the cost of doing business in California very high. We’ve developed a product to specifically address energy savings, and we’re getting some funding from DWP and some other resources. The idea is if we can increase the productivity of the company without increasing energy consumption proportionately, than DWP can produce energy to support a larger economy with the same infrastructure and lower costs per unit. Companies won’t necessarily see a lower bill, but they’ll get more out of their energy. Q: What do companies here have to do in order to survive and thrive in this environment? A: They have to find ways to be more competitive, increase their productivity and grow their business. In our work, we don’t champion job reductions, but rather we talk to companies about the strategic cost of business. We’re only creating capacity. If they’re laying people off, they’re only saving a small portion of their costs. We are actually seeing waste reduction as a strategy to grow business, and companies are becoming more solid. The workers win and the companies win. Q: Lean manufacturing is often talked about as helping to make manufacturers more efficient. Can you talk about that? A: There are a couple of advantages. One of them is having the right resource in the right quantity at the right time that means we don’t have extra. Another piece is we try to get the most out of what we have we don’t often recommend new technologies, new machinery, new solutions, but rather finding ways to use what’s already there. By applying lean principles we almost immediately see increases in quality, reduction in amount of floor space necessary, reduction in lead time and inventory so a company can become the least-cost supplier. Q: Have manufacturers that you consulted shown immediate results? Can you give an example of a company or two that has? A: At Bobrick, we were originally contacted to look at ergonomics of the production line. They wanted to be sure that they won’t incur repetitive motion injuries. We implemented lean manufacturing tools and techniques to eliminate potential risk, and as a direct byproduct, employees produce 25 percent more products. Another company in Santa Barbara had 22 people in their assembly department, and when they ran a job they had 22 people on their same job they were becoming a victim of their own success. They had six major customers and each was growing but they were only able to address only one company’s needs at a time. We put in a lean manufacturing technique, and we went from 22 people producing 250 units a shift to five people producing 225 units per shift. We’re not making them work harder; we’re just getting rid of the waste in the system. I’m told that they turned them around to increase their profitability by a $1 million it’s a small company, that was significant. Q: What manufacturers are you currently working with and on what projects? A: United Defense is becoming a significant customer for us. They make all of the vehicles for the U.S. military except the tanks. There is a new system being funded by Congress, with Boeing as the lead systems integrator. There are 26 subcontractors, and United Defense will provide seven armored vehicles to this system, called the Future Combat System. CMTC has been brought in to help them apply lean manufacturing tools and principles to the design of these seven vehicles. SNAPSHOT: James Gilbert Title: Senior Consultant, California Manufacturing Technology Center Born: Sept. 15, 1945 Education: Bachelor of Science in business administration, University of Missouri St. Louis, 1971; MBA certificate from Freeman School at Tulane University, 2004 Career Turning Point: Deciding to go into consulting in 1982 Most Admired Person: W. Edwards Deming, a businessman who teaches management philosophy Personal: Married, two children
