St. Paul-based
Synovis Life Technologies received the
Manufacturers Alliance Association's 2011 Manufacturer of the Year Award not so much for what it creates, but how it produces it.
The diversified medical device company makes implantable biomaterials, devices for microsurgery, and tools used in surgical repair and reconstruction of soft tissue damaged or destroyed by disease or injury.
The annual award, now in its 15th year, recognizes companies that use lean tools and techniques in their manufacturing. Synovis won in the mid-sized manufacturers' category.
""We started looking at lean five or six years ago," says Brett Reynolds, Synovis' chief financial officer. Synovis switched to the Kanban (or "just-in-time") product scheduling system, reducing its on-hand stores of inventory from 17 weeks to just eight weeks.
Furthermore, work cells organized by product line increased efficiency, says Reynolds. As a result, Synovis has been able to stay in its 65,000-square-foot facility despite an average annual growth of 25 percent over the past five years, and its on-time shipping rate has gone up to virtually 100 percent, says Reynolds.
The MAA award recognizes not only innovation in manufacturing, but a company's willingness and efforts to share those ideas and practices within the industry, something Reynolds says Synovis has been active in doing.
Its operations team shares ideas at conferences, and companies and educational groups tour the facility to see the manufacturing process, he says.
Synovis was founded in 1985 with $300,000 in revenue, a number that grew to almost $69 million last year, says Reynolds, who expects $80�85 million in 2011. Of its 300 employees, 200 work in St. Paul at University Avenue and Highway 280 on the border of Minneapolis.
Source: Brett Reynolds, Synovis Life Technologies
Writer: Jeremy Stratton