W.A. Brown & Son of Salisbury Thrives on Common Sense

Paul Brown’s great-grandfather founded W.A. Brown and Son in 1910 to make commercial grade freezers and coolers. They’re still making them today (using different methods) along with houses, garages, commercial car washes, campground cabins, and a contemporary one-of-a-kind energy efficient home created by a local architect certified in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).

Cool beginnings

While the company has been around almost 100 years in the same town, it hasn’t stood still. “We’re constantly changing,” Brown said. Several years ago they discovered that the insulated panels they made for freezers and coolers, with structural and finish modifications, could be used to make exceptionally energy efficient and durable Structural Insulated Panels (SIP) walls for any building. A more recent change has been to embrace lean manufacturing methods and philosophies to make both product lines successful.

Since that first lean session with IES lean specialists at their company in April 2007, the W.A. Brown & Son team has embraced the concept and training so effectively that they have freed up enough space to rent a portion of their warehouse, and associated services, to one company with two more in the planning phase. This was made possible by cutting the work-in-process (WIP) from five days down to one day of inventory.

Dollars and sense

Their goal was to become more competitive in the marketplace by finding internal savings without affecting their customers’ expectations of the delivered product. They estimate they have protected more than $2.5 million in sales and an estimated $600 thousand in savings by taking the lean training thru to implementation.

“I call it common sense manufacturing,” Brown said about his company’s lean journey. He heard about lean from other Salisbury companies and knew there was an interest in the business community for more information. He used his involvement with the local Chamber of Commerce and the Industrial Association to put together a seminar for Rowan County manufacturers. He assembled representatives from companies with lean experience from several years down to six months and had IES specialist Gene Beneduce act as the moderator for the meeting. It was an open question and answer session for all to participate.

Brown had decided to try lean at his family’s company in early 2007, especially when he understood that lean didn’t mean cutting employees, but instead involved empowering employees.

Pride of ownership

Working at W.A. Brown & Son is a family affair for more than the Browns. Manufacturing Manager Randy Hoffner has been with the company for more than 23 years, just like his father before him. He strives to maintain the lean progress they’ve made.

One evening after the shift ended and everyone left, Hoffner took digital photos of work areas that weren’t in keeping with the recently implemented “5S” (sort, straighten, shine, standardize and sustain). He shared the photos the following morning with the employee team and they have kept things in order since. They know that there is continued follow-up and positive feedback on the methods.

“A mind set is the hardest thing to change,” Hoffner said. “But (lean) has gone across better than expected. The employees took hold of lean and now generate ideas.”

That doesn’t mean there weren’t doubters and dissenters. Management started with them. “We took the naysayers first,” said Frank Preolette, Total Quality Manager,“ and once they put their hands on it, saw that it worked, they became promoters.”

The success of one work cell inspired the others. Now, instead of cutting metal for the week, they cut enough for the next day, showing the conversion from the “push” to “pull” philosophy. By reducing the times the sheets of metal are handled by 30 percent, quality has improved. Once metal is scratched or dented, it typically becomes scrap. Customers want their appliances pristine.

“Where we used to have 16 days of WIP, we now are down to one day,” Brown said. Weekly batches are now daily batches. More than 10,000 square feet of warehouse has been opened up that is now rented out to a local firm.

“We have got to give credit to Steve Laton,” said Brown of the IES lean specialist. “He didn’t mind the challenge and got down to where the work was.” Brown also appreciates the Incumbent Workforce Grant from the Centralina Workforce Development Board that subsidized the work with IES.

Laton returns the compliment. “People on the team were focused and into it,” he said. “They used what they were taught. Sometimes that doesn’t happen.” IES lean specialists led five lean sessions at the plant that first year. More than 100 employees took part in the different training sessions.

Evolving with demand

W.A. Brown has been adjusting to customer requirements since their beginning. Their Siptex panels, which have a Class 1 rated polyurethane foam core, give these 4.5-inch thick insulated panels an insulation value of R-30. Typical house wall insulation provides a value of R-13. They make durable, energy efficient buildings for any use a customer can think of: car wash, utility buildings, or campground cabins that survived Hurricane Katrina.

They sell the SIP product directly to their customers. By having the panelized product produced in a controlled manufacturing environment, the fit and finish are exact and eliminate the need for extensive field cuts and modification. That speeds up the on-site assembly time and reduces scrap at the job site.

Pete Bogle, a Salisbury LEED certified architect, demonstrated that the panels can make an impressive, one of a kind house that “sips” energy. Several W.A. Brown & Son employees helped with the assembly.

“We’re efficient and effective with our lean process,” Brown said. “We can make a wide variety of products for any of our markets using the same methods and philosophies. And we’re always looking at other opportunities.”