To better serve our customers, HTG is reducing operating costs by consolidating two of our manufacturing plants. Our Brazing & Metal Treating Division, East 55th Street, Cleveland, OH is moving into our larger, Lakeland Blvd, Wickliffe, Ohio Thermal Treatment Center facility.
Our objective is to increase efficiency while positively impacting customer service and process integrity. The equipment, people and processes will largely remain unchanged. Existing customers will be individually advised when the location change will affect their particular items.
First of Five Continuous Brazing Furnaces Moved and in Production.
Beginning in 2018, HTG developed a plan to consolidate these two operations, to maximize benefits, and minimize operational risks and costs by:
- Analyzing and comparing financial and operational impacts of consolidation into each of the locations
- Summarizing the economic impact of the consolidation
- Creating a detailed floor plan for the consolidated plant layout that minimized reconfiguration of existing operations
- Developing an implementation plan to support the physical move while mitigating potential risk that defined timelines and ownership for each activity
- Baselining the current performance of the two plants to understand production processes, current and projected volumes/mix, cost performance, capacity/utilization, labor, infrastructure, supporting capabilities, and more
- Assessing risks and developing a proactive risk mitigation plan
Cole Coe, HTG President, stated,
“This consolidation is logical because both plants perform thermal treatment processes. This measure will enable us to take another step towards an optimized and cost-efficient group structure, enabling us to focus on areas where we can achieve a sustainable market position with innovative and leading processes. This will result in a better customer experience for current and future customers.”
Phase 1 Consolidation is completed – With the first of five continuous brazing furnaces moved and producing parts. The total consolidation is expected to be completed by November 30th 2021.
December 2021 Update – The consolidation of Brazing and Metal Treating (BMT) was completed 12/2/2021!
Following our plan for future investments, HTG’s Wickliffe plant – Thermal Treatment Center will be a state-of-the-art operation with world-class processes in line with lean manufacturing principles for production, development, quality, logistics and customer support.