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BRILLION, Wis. – Ariens Co. announced today that the company is making a $6.5 million capital investment in the company’s production and training this year. Part of an ongoing effort to improve production efficiency, much of the investment will be focused on reducing delivery lead times for the company’s walk-behind power equipment products, beginning with its popular Sno-Thro machines. The new production cells are scheduled to be operational for the 2006-2007 Sno-Thro® production season, which will begin in May 2006.
“This investment will allow us to take on the challenges of worldwide sources of supply,” says Dan Ariens, president of Ariens Co. “It will allow us to continue to provide consumers and commercial landscape contractors with a truly American-built product.”
Part of the capital investment will go toward implementing four new powder-coating systems in the company’s Plant 3 location, allowing Ariens to convert raw materials to finished goods in a single location for all of the company’s walk-behind power equipment products, including Sno-Thro machines, walk-behind mowers and wheeled string trimmers. To fully utilize the efficiency of the new powder-coating systems, the company is also making location changes within its plant operations that allow for fully integrated one-piece flow manufacturing.
“We’re right in the middle of a fairly inclusive move across the company,” Ariens told Lawn & Landscape in an interview on Wednesday. “A lot of systems will be moving within our plants and that’s going to require a lot of effort and man power, but it will help us be much more productive overall.”
About 40 percent into the move that will be completed in late June, Ariens notes that other plant upgrades will include the creation of a new state-of-the-art production and engineering training facility. Upon completion of the training center, each Ariens plant will have its own independent learning centers.
“The addition of this third training facility provides opportunities for all of our associates to learn the techniques of the Ariens Production System in a classroom setting, reinforcing what they are learning as part of hands-on training,” says Ariens. “It will also be used to teach the company’s 15 Guiding Principles of the Ariens management system as part of new employee orientation.”
In terms of timeline, Ariens tells Lawn & Landscape that the new powder-coat systems will be installed in late April, brining them online by the end of May. “We’re anticipating an early start to our snow season and having those new systems in place this spring will help us stay on top of demand for the Sno-Thro machines, especially,” Ariens says. The new systems are expected to shorten delivery lead times between 35 and 40 percent, according to Ariens.
Other product lines also will be positively affected by the changes. With the new powder-coat lines up and running, the company will be able to move the production of its ride-on products to the existing line.
Ariens tells Lawn & Landscape that the company will launch some new products in 2006, the company’s 90th anniversary year, but customers won’t have to wait until trade-show season to see them. “We’ll do some in-season launches this year, so we want the industry to stay tuned,” he says.