Success Stories

Kiesler Enterprises, Inc., a high-end custom cabinetry manufacturer, is known for their exceptional craftsmanship. For more than 20 years, Kiesler has made cabinets for private homes and residential complexes, but they also make kitchen, bath, and entertainment furniture of wood and laminate.

Because their designs are so creative and of high-quality, Kiesler’s products are in great demand, resulting in a very busy workplace. In order to keep up with such a demand, Kiesler’s new management team felt that lean training would help transform their work areas and streamline their production process. Click here to read more.


Future Fabricators, a privately held Phoenix-based precision CNC machining prototype-to-production fabricator for the communication, aerospace and energy markets, turned to Arizona MEP to assess its strengths and weakness and to identify changes that would make the company more competitive.

Utilizing the Time Wise Principles of Lean Manufacturing officials at the Arizona MEP looked to create greater production efficiencies through maximizing value-added activities while minimizing waste in manufacturing.

"The Arizona MEP has been an important resource for us," said Ray Rubin, vice president of Future Fabricators. "We expect to see the changes we are making result in Future Fabricators being highly competitive in emerging markets."
Click here to read more.


Sonic Machine & Tool, an ISO certified machine shop that manufactures aerospace parts for clients such as Honeywell, is based out of Tempe, AZ. With official plans to build a new 6,500-square-foot facility, the company’s vice president, Mark Willmering, knew he wanted to follow a Time Wise Solutions® lean approach.

"I heard about the Time Wise Principles of Lean Manufacturing workshops through the Arizona Tooling Machining Association," Willmering said, "and now I recommend them myself to everyone involved in the association."

He continued, "I am a great believer in the process and pretty much the entire management team at Sonic has attended Lean workshops, and we are now in the process of educating our employees in the same concepts."

"There’s no doubt the Arizona MEP has been very helpful with Sonic’s Lean transformation," he added.
Click here to read more.


Marley Cooling Towers, manufacturers of water-cooling towers for industry at its Eloy, AZ facility, recently needed to increase capacity and improve production flow.

"We had implemented a flow cell within our facility to increase capacity," said assistant plant manager Robert Wallace, "but the employees really had very little idea of how to make it work. Fortunately, Arizona MEP project managers knew what to do and took the time to train all our employees on the Time Wise Principles of Lean."

As a result of the Lean training, Marley’s manufacturing capacity increased from 12 to 15 cooling towers per week, an increase in sales of $75,000 per week, which allowed the company to create 24 new jobs.

"The process promoted new thought and generated enthusiasm and participation" Wallace said. "The employees felt empowered by it all and now seem to understand where they want to go with the tools we have made available to them." Click here to read more.


PerryFuld Design and Manufacturing’s chief executive officer, Phil Perry, had one goal in mind: To make his custom furniture and drapery manufacturing facility into a world-class factory.

Tucson-based PerryFuld produces custom furniture and window coverings for high-end residential market and sells wholesale to interior designers and architects. Facing increasing competition from high-quality craft artisans in Mexico, Perry was "looking for something that could provide an improved cost structure and delivery schedule that would distinguish PerryFuld from its Mexican competitors."

Perry is convinced PerryFuld will be a company with a solid foundation when the Time Wise Principles of Lean Manufacturing are completely in place. "Because of all we have learned of Lean techniques and the changes we have implemented, I will not hesitate to look for bigger orders in the future," Perry said. Click here to read more.


Sargent Controls & Aerospace of Tucson, manufacturer of hydraulic valves and actuators for submarines, surface ships, commercial/military aircraft, and specialized, coated, high-load, low RPB ball bearings for military helicopters, was looking to improve its standing with its customers by improving on-time delivery and overall quality.

"The Arizona MEP has been very helpful in getting us involved with Time Wise Principles of Lean Manufacturing and keeping us on track as we continue down the long arduous track of Lean improvement," said Terry Peterson, vice president of operations.

Peterson said one of the real benefits of the program is the input the team is receiving from other employees. "Our people on the floor feel more engaged and empowered to offer ideas and improvements and they now understand the impact of what they do on other departments." Click here to read more.


Spectrum Printing of Tucson’s owner, George Stewart, was looking for new opportunities to make his business more competitive and for ways to distinguish Spectrum from his competitors. He turned to the Arizona MEP and concepts of Time Wise Principles of Lean Manufacturing to assist him.

"Companies that don’t embrace Lean concepts are going to be left behind in cost or in the pricing scheme of things and are not keeping up with what’s happening," Stewart said. The only real way to drop costs is to reduce your margin or become more efficient."

"The Lean Manufacturing processes have allowed us to grow, develop and expand on the efficiency side," he added, "while we have also upgraded out equipment. In short, we can now do more in less time." Click here to read more.


Bent River Machine, a full-service Clarkdale machine shop, designs and builds customized automation machines and also machines parts for the automation group and outside customers. Owner Norela Harrington realized that consistently running late on orders was damaging her business.

Utilizing the Time Wise Value Stream Management System, the Arizona MEP created a material and information flow map of production process and identified that it took an average of 28 days for an order to be entered into the system, planned, programmed and delivered to the production floor for fabrication.

"The MEP was able to graphically illustrate our current process and help us develop a new one that reduced the average ordering processing time to seven days," said Harrington.

"There was a ton of value in what they did," she said. "The VSMS had a big impact and turned out to be a real catalyst for change." Click here to read more.


Young Electric Sign Company (YESCO) is a national leader in the sign making industry. With the help of the Arizona Manufacturing Extension Partnership (Arizona MEP), YESCO's Chandler division is lighting the way for internal improvement and quality upgrades.

Producing thousands of signs a year, the 85 year old company is constantly looking for ways to hold on to their slot as a leader in their industry and stay one step ahead of competition while providing the exceptional quality and service YESCO has become known for. In doing so, YESCO called upon the Arizona MEP to take a closer look at operations, specifically its Chandler division, which was not performing to its full potential and was struggling to meet customer deliveries on time. Click here to read more.