Network Meeting Summary – UtiliTech 5/16/07

Meetings subject: Administrative Lean

UtiliTech Inc. is a service company assisting it’s customer by identifying opportunities to reduce their utility and telecommunication costs and then proceed to apply rebates and rate reductions to costs.

The “tour” was mostly a look at their data and how the team has simplified and consolidated complicated detail in an easy to updat, extremely functional manner (A3 type thinking).

Attending:

  • American LaFrance
  • Yoder Brothers
  • UtiliTech
  • Remcon Plastics
  • Misco Products
  • The Rose Corporation
  • Reading Area Community College

Terry Reed, Representing the “Eastern PA Business Journal” was our invited guest. Terry will be writing the “network story” which will appear in the “Eastern PA Business Journal” in the next few weeks.Not in attendance:

  • Reading Powder Coatings
  • Clean Burn Inc.
  • Insinger Machine

Our next meeting is yet to be scheduled. I expect it to be sometime late June or July. Confirmation and details will follow.

One Comment

  1. Andrew Bishop

    Good meeting Dwight, Steve and the rest of the Utilitech team!

    We hear that the challenge (or one of the challenges) of attacking waste in the services/ administrative setting is that the waste is invisible. The approach that Utilitech is taking to aggregate and simplify information, and color code the status, is making standards (and variance) for lead time visible. They can see the waste, so now they can go after it. Our teachers tell us to “use visual standards so you can see where there is a gap” – tough in the world of monitoring utility bills, but these folks are on the way.

    Brilliant examples of daily, incremental improvement in systems design and support.

    Thanks!

    -ALB

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