Home | About the Arizona MEP | Upcoming Events | Success Stories | Partners & Resources | News | Board of Directors Sign-Up for News & Events | Contact Us | Enterprise Management | Performance Based Training | Supply Chain Management Marley Cooling Towers Eloy, AZ - When Marley Cooling Towers recently needed to increase capacity and improve production flow, assistant plant manager Robert Wallace turned to the Arizona Manufacturing Extension Partnership (Arizona MEP). "We had implemented a flow cell within our facility to increase capacity," Wallace said, "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 Time Wise Principles of Lean Manufacturing." "It made a big difference in our output and the way we do our work each and every day," Wallace said. Marley Cooling Towers manufacturers water-cooling towers for industry and employs about 90 people at its Eloy facility. As a result of the Arizona MEP Lean training, Marley's manufacturing capacity increased from12 to 15 cooling towers per week, an increase in sales of $75,000 per week, which allowed the company to create 24 new jobs. "Our people really enjoyed the training and came back from the training able to identify the gaps we have that need to be filled in order for us to be completely Lean," Wallace said. Headquartered in Kansas, and a division of SPX Corporation, Marley sells about 2,500 cooling towers a year. The employees at the Eloy facility construct the entire tower - from building the box to installing the fan and wiring the control panel to installing heaters so the water doesn’t freeze. "There is a lot to it," Wallace said, "and there are many steps in the building process. Fortunately, the MEP folks took the time to tour our plant and helped us to get our work environment organized." "They even offered us ideas on how to better set up each job and make each area more productive," he added. Finally, the project managers instructed the employees on why each production cell was created and how to improve productivity while reducing inventory. "It was all very impressive, but it took us a couple of months to get the hang of it," said. Wallace. "Once we got it, however, we could see it made sense and made us more productive than we ever were before." In fact, production of towers is now up to 20-24 units per week. Prior to implementing the new measures, only 13-15 units were produced each week. Best of all, Wallace said, the process encouraged participatory discussion among the employees. "The process promoted new thought and generated enthusiasm and participation," he 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."