Kroy Building Products, Inc.

Company Profile:
Kroy Building Products Incorporated produces a full line of vinyl material to make virtually any style of fence or railing with extruded in-line color having no need for painting which is especially useful for outdoor applications. Kroy’s fencing offers years of maintenance free service and is backed by a lifetime transferable warranty. Kroy employs approximately 100 employees at their facility located in Fair Bluff, NC within Columbus County in southeastern NC which is an area of particular need for economic development and job growth.

Situation:
Kroy’s NC facility encompassed a total of 250,000 ft2 of which approximately 180,000 ft2 needed facility analysis and rearrangement to accommodate additional machinery and worker for new manufacturing lines to produce a new wood/PVC composite product. For such a large facility re-layout (180,000 ft2), Kroy requested industrial engineering assistance to optimize space utilization to enable adding new equipment and workers while ensuring efficient material flow logistics and sufficient storage space.

Assistance Project:
To provide solutions, NC State IES’s regional specialist Bill Coddington arranged a project in which and NC State engineering student, Lance Hardin, worked under the direction and guidance of Dr. Joe Davis, NC State IES specialist for industrial engineering and ergonomics.

The project involved on-site engineering analysis including the following.

Existing Facility Layout Baseline Analysis
1. AutoCAD drawings of existing equipment, input/output access, material storage, people, and workflow paths.
2. Space utilization spreadsheet of allocations for workstations, people, equipment, access, storage, aisles, etc.
3. Material and logistical flow analysis table showing existing travel distances for major product categories.

New/Optimized Facility Layout and Additional Capacity Analysis
1. AutoCAD of optimal locations for equipment, input/output access, material storage, people, and workflow paths.
2. Space utilization spreadsheet of allocations for workstations, people, equipment, access, storage, aisles, etc.
3. Material and logistical flow analysis table showing optimized travel distances for major product categories
4. Additional percent capacity via new/optimized facility layout.

Results:
All engineering analysis (as described above) was successfully completed on schedule The project produced an economic benefit of approximately $60,000 (recurring annually) by improving workflow efficiency, space utilization, and revenue from new output capacity.

Testimonial:
"NCSU’s inductrial extension service successfully provided technical assistance to help us maintain economic stability and our capability to increase jobs in NC. We recognize and appreciate the value of the technology assistance that thas been provided in the project and that we anticipate needing for additional projects in the future.”
    Larry Gates
    Plant Manager
    Kroy Building Products, Inc.
    April 15, 2003




April 2003