UNLIMITED SERVICES

Unlimited Services began in 1982 with an investment from Arthur Schmidt and Marv Schumacher and the electrical supply experience of Mike Williams. Combining wire harnesses with a fulfilment business, Unlimited Services evolved into a wire harness assembly manufacturing operation.

The Company acquired a military contract, the first major contract for the harnesses for the Company. “That was originally going to be a five year contract,” says Bill Kessenich, President of Unlimited Services. “It got extended to ten years and then continued with service beyond that. As a result, we’ve been building that program for over 20 years.”

Many large OEMs used to do their own wiring in the heavy truck industry and started to adopt the automotive philosophy of assembly only. “It’s all about buying modular assemblies that they can plug in and play. That’s really how companies like ours got started. We support the truck industry and provide pre-manufactured assemblies as opposed to the OEM trying to wire by hand,” says Tom Breen, Vice President of Sales.

MANAGING SUPPLY CHAIN THROUGH LEAN

In the late 1990s, the Company began a Lean transformation that was very successful. It doubled profitability and increased productivity four years in a row by over 30 percent. In 1999, the Company won the Manufacturer of the Year Special Award in Wisconsin for sustained earnings gain. Their Lean transformation modelled after the Toyota Production System was as much a culture shift as a new style of production.

“We’re ready now for an extension of Lean beyond just manufacturing to all of our processes as an organization,” says Kessenich. “The two pillars of Lean in the Toyota production system are continuous improvement and respect for people. The continuous improvement aspect of the “lean” philosophy is something many American companies have employed. But a lot of them have not implemented respect for people! That is achieved through teamwork, empowering your people, and involving floor and office people in the decision-making process. One of our stated goals is to become an employer of choice in our geographical areas and we’ve successfully achieved that! So we have both sides of the paradigm in play.”

In early 2003, Unlimited Services used its profitability to leverage growth through the acquisition of Trans World Connections, a company with plants in Lynchburg, VA and Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico that was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. “We were able to fund the acquisition out of our profits from the previous years of success. We leveraged the low-cost labor in Mexico, so we didn’t lose business that we otherwise would have due to the globalization of high volumes work,” Kessenich explains. “We had actually been looking for a couple of operations in Mexico prior to this for offshores capability. This opportunity provided us with an existing wiring harness assembly shop that already had ISO certification.”

Unlimited Services found that the model of Lean transformation was very exportable and were the first to initiate a gain-sharing program in Mexico. “We put our equipment and some of our higher volume work down there and with Offshore International, our Maquila partner,” says Kessenich, “we do not have to incur all of the indirect expenses that we would otherwise have to create in Mexico. They handle the shipping and the people management side and then we do the production according to our methods with our equipment. We’re growing volume in Mexico at this point.”

CAPITAL EXPENDITURES

“We’re always looking for acquisitions that fit us and we always look for faster, quicker, better ways to do things,” says Breen. “If there’s capital equipment involved we’ll purchase that. We’re expanding in various new markets.”

In 2006, the Company acquired Kenwood Electrical Systems, a supplier of wire harnesses for industrial types of customers, such as food processing equipment. From 2003 to date, Unlimited Services has tripled the size of its company through acquisitions and organic growth.

“We basically expanded into three different markets with our acquisitions,” says Breen. “Our expansion plan with our acquisitions was to expand our market focus from just simply the 12 volt truck market giving us more variety in our operations.”

TECHNOLOGY

The Company is currently implementing Syteline, a complete ERP solution, across the whole organization. They’ve implemented it first at the home office in Oconto, WI, and in Lynchburg, VA second. Mexico and Rockford will follow over the next year. The value-added is that the Company will be on a single, modern platform. “We will be able to synergize on the purchase of materials because of the visibility across the whole enterprise,” says Kessenich. “Our inventories and capacities will be more visible throughout all of our locations. It will also help us manage our supply chain a lot better.”

GOING GREEN

The Company adopted ROHS compliant materials such as lead-free solder, as required by the European Union a few years back. Unlimited Services is also part of the Wisconsin Focus on Energy Program that has a plant review and studies how to minimize energy consumption.

“We’re not a high user of energy like many industries. We do use a compressor that powers our air-driven machines with a small amount of electricity,” says Kessenich. “We’re not a power plant that’s generating all kinds of energy from natural gas or other source of energy, so there are only a few small changes we can do that really make a difference.”

The Company is changing the ballasts on their fluorescent lights to reduce costs and improve energy efficiency. They have been looking at wind energy as a potential market they could sell into. They also have considered whether or not a wind generator on their plant could meet their energy needs and actually give them an opportunity to sell power onto the grid.

BEST PRACTICES

Unlimited Services has employed initiatives for best practices at all of their plant locations across the enterprise. They have implemented a program called Gain Sharing to support its team and lean culture. It is a productivity program that pays employees for their value added. “Everybody in the organization benefits by increasing their productivity and getting products out on time with good quality,” says Breen. “What separates our company from others is our flexibility and quick delivery that services our customers’ changing needs. That’s something that’s very critical.”

The Company utilizes a rapid prototyping group that assists engineers at the OEMs and provides harnesses that are still in development on a quick turnaround basis. The Company works with customers that are in the top tier of OEMs in the markets they service, including large national and international customers. “It’s the support of the engineering operation within the OEM companies that we work with that help us add value,” says Kessenich.

Unlimited Services differentiates itself with a very involved, informed and committed workforce in all of their locations. The key to this involvement and empowerment is their decision-making style. “If there’s a decision that’s going to impact you, you will have a chance in our organization to weigh in on it,” says Kessenich. “It doesn’t always mean the decision will go the way you like it to go, but we do use a consensus model. This means that if we’re going to go forward with a commitment to customer,, t the entire team is on board with the decision.”

The consensus decision making model is sometimes difficult for new team members to adjust to. If there’s a strong opposition even by a minority, it’s not just majority rule! The person’s objection needs to be met or they don’t move forward. “It might be a little bit slower early on getting a decision, but we move very quickly in implementation because everybody’s on board,” Kessenich concludes.