HIGH-SPEED CUTTING, END FINISHING-A MEANS TO AN END

摘要

TUBE fabricator Leading Edge Hydraulics, Rockford, 111., supplies hydraulic tube components to the off-road and construction industry segment. The family business grew rapidly since its decision in 2003 to concentrate on hydraulic tube fabrication, rather than on general-industry tube fabrication. Year-over-year sales growth was 65 percent from 2003 to 2004; 45 percent from 2004 to 2005; and 18 percent is projected from 2005 to 2006. The growth created a challenge in trying to meet customers' demands for a quick turnaround without maintaining a large inventory, according to Vice President Russell Dennis Jr. "We felt like build-to-demand was the best approach," Dennis said. "Instead of creating millions of dollars of inventory of finished goods and worrying about engineering changes, quality, cleanliness, and just managing all those dollars, quite honestly, just sitting there, we wanted to be able to find ways to shorten that lead-time, so that we're building what our customers want when they want it."