Posted by Ben Harrison on Tue, Apr 27, 2010
With the 1st quarter well behind us, most business leaders have gone through the “numbers” with careful attention. While the earnings reports from Wall Street have been favorable for the most part, and many economic indicators are suggesting that expansion is finally upon us, now is the time to gauge the all-important strategic plan and make certain your organization is doing what it said it would do. “Plan, do, check act,” as Dr. W. Edwards Deming utilized so successfully, helps make goals and objectives that will yield profitable growth for the organization and keep it on track. It’s the senior leadership team that’s responsible for making sure the plan is executed and not sent to the Board Members and Bank once a year and then put away on a shelf to collect dust until next budget season. Do what you said you would do!
- Ben
Posted by Ben Harrison on Fri, Apr 23, 2010
Kaysun brought home the trophies once again this year from Rockwell Collins at its annual supplier event, winning both the Plastics Supplier of the Year Award and the prestigious capstone Lean Initiative Award. (Here are links to the news releases Rockwell Collins and Kaysun issued for the 2009 awards – the 2010 announcements are forthcoming.) Winning both awards for the second year in a row is a huge accomplishment for Kaysun and is a testament to the hard work and commitment of all Kaysun employees to our Mission of being the Supplier of Choice (to our key customers). It was an honor to receive these awards and especially sweet to be honored two years in a row!!
- Ben
Posted by Ben Harrison on Fri, Apr 23, 2010
Interesting note earlier this week in Sabic’s Q1 earnings announcement. The company reported a healthy profit – and also noted that its plastics business has made a “huge improvement,” based on increasing market demand. Sabic is a strategic supplier to Kaysun – so we see this is as a positive sign for our industry and for the overall economy. There’s still a long way to go, but it looks like we’re headed in the right direction.
- Ben
Posted by Ben Harrison on Mon, Apr 12, 2010
Very interesting
article in
Medical Products Outsourcing magazine asks the provocative question above. And true to form,
MPO takes an in-depth and informative look at this topic. Our experience has shown that medical devices are becoming more complex and often more compact, meaning higher demands for tight-tolerance parts and absolute precision and consistency. But more OEMs are finding they can achieve machine-like finishes without the time and cost of machined metal parts – by replacing them with precision injection-molded plastic parts. And they are benefitting from lower costs, speedier production time, with the highest levels of precision and consistency. Highly engineered plastics can make the difference in the intense competition to be first-to-market with the latest medical equipment. Click
here to read the entire
MPO article.
Posted by Ben Harrison on Sat, Apr 10, 2010
Kaysun will be at the
Plastics in Medical Devices conference in Cleveland April 12-14. Sponsored by
Plastics News, this event will provide a forum for pharmaceutical companies and device designers to lay out their requirements for plastics in the medical sector. It will also offer workshops on “Plastics processing for the medical market” and “Polymer considerations in medical device design.” Watch this space for a show report.
Posted by Ben Harrison on Sat, Apr 03, 2010
More evidence of the growing appeal of “ruggedized” products that use advanced materials to improve durability and protect sensitive electronics. At the recent CTIA show for the wireless industry, new rugged mobile phones and devices generated lots of buzz, including Casio’s GzOne phoneand BlueAnt’s T1 headset. This followed similar announcements at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year, with Kodak’s rugged Playsport video camera and Olympus’ Stylus Tough still digital camera. As we’ve noted here before, Kaysun is seeing increasing demand for ruggedized product designs in all the markets we serve, especially defense and medical. We’re ready to apply ourexpertise on your next project!
- Ben
Posted by Ben Harrison on Sat, Apr 03, 2010
Check out the “engineering materials” blog by Doug Smock on the Design News site. Lots of interesting plastics news and industry analysis.
FYI, I just added a comment to a recent post by Doug on long-fiber thermoplastics (LFTs) gaining momentum in metal replacement applications. The short story is that we agree – and I wanted to share some of the key lessons we’ve learned over the years designing and manufacturing LFT components and assemblies. You can read my reply here.
- Ben
Posted by Ben Harrison on Sat, Apr 03, 2010
Kaysun Corporation is starting the New Year by adding blogging to keep in touch and expand our horizons. Over our 60-year history, we have evolved from first designing and manufacturing plastic toys and house wares to now delivering highly engineered plastic products for the automotive, defense, medical and consumer/industrial markets. We will use this forum to share the insights and ideas of the Kaysun knowledge workers who made this transformation possible – and encourage you to join the discussion with comments, questions or suggestions for topics. I’m sure we’ll both learn a lot – and make 2010 the start of something great.
- Ben Harrison, President & CEO
Posted by Ben Harrison on Fri, Apr 02, 2010
The April 2010 issue of Modern Plastics Worldwide includes Kaysun in its annual list of “Notable Processors,” which “highlights processors around the globe who are doing their part to bring this industry forward.” This year’s list includes 15 manufacturers from 8 countries, including Canada, China, Denmark, Iran, Japan, Poland, New Zealand and the US. See below for the Kaysun profile and a link to the full article.
Ben Harrison President and CEO, Kaysun Corp.
The best defense against a tough market is proving to be, among other things, a strong offense in bidding for and winning defense-related applications, according to Ben Harrison, who runs Kaysun Corp. (Manitowoc, WI), a family-owned custom injection molder. The company has been successful in a number of markets, but of late is seeing especially strong demand for its services from the defense and medical industries. Having these two industries in its corner also has helped it avoid some of the “heavy migration [of work] to low-cost manufacturing countries,” notes Harrison. “We’ve found the way to be successful is to provide the customer with more, and to be involved in difficult projects,” he adds.
That focus paid off big last year when his company, which employs about 150, won two supplier awards (Lean Initiative and Plastic Supplier of the Year) from Rockwell Collins, the only one of the communications and aviation electronics OEM’s 20,000 suppliers to win two. “We’ve done a tremendous amount of value-stream mapping and made some big changes, which led to a drop in lead times” for that customer, explains Harrison.
Kaysun wasn’t always so progressive. “Years ago, we just had molding machines and people,” he recalls. But over the years (it was founded in 1947) the company has seen that its customers grow to depend on it increasingly for its engineering resources. Recently, he adds, it has been especially aggressive in employing automation for tasks such as welding, machining, and potting to keep quality high, direct labor costs low, and to maintain high output. “We like to be on the cutting edge of technology,” notes Harrison.
The company also is leading the social media charge, with its own blog (which actually gets updated) and a LinkedIn page. “We’re doing quite a bit of social networking,” he agrees, and says it is starting to reap benefits for the molder. It also started its Partners in Progress program last summer, a series of technical presentations offered as webinars to its customers. “Our clients welcome the help,” he says, noting it’s another way to ensure his firm gets called on for those difficult projects.
Click here to read the entire article.