Workbenches Improve Assembly Efficiency and Productivity
When talking about humble origins, Hypertherm Inc. can match stories with anyone. The company began 30 years ago in a small garage. Now, the Hanover, NH, based company employs more than 400 people and has subsidiaries in Germany, Singapore and the United Kingdom. It produces a variety of plasma cutting equipment that cut most metals and can be used in many manual and mechanized applications.
New product introductions have helped Hypertherm become one of the leading manufacturers of plasma arc metal-cutting equipment. These achievements have contributed to the company’s 15 to 20 percent growth per year. To accommodate this growth, the company recently doubled the size of its main facility to 135,000 square feet. However, this expansion was undertaken for reasons other than additional facility space. The company wanted to implement continuous flow cells and just-in-time delivery. "Batch mode manufacturing would be replaced by a continuous flow mode," says Bruce Altobelli, business team leader. "Productivity would be increased, while inventory would be reduced."