Address: 1600 Airport Road, Waukesha
www.metalera.com
Industry: Manufacturing/Wholesale Roof Edge Systems
Employees: 70
New construction levels hit all-time lows in 2009, but thanks to lean innovative thinking, a dedicated team and investments in technology, Waukesha-based Metal-Era, Inc., has more than weathered the downturn.
“In 2008, we experienced a record year, like most of the industry,” Tony Mallinger, president of Metal-Era, said. “Despite the fact that much of the commercial roofing industry experienced as much as a 40 percent decrease in revenues for 2009, we were resilient partly because of the products we offer. We only experienced a 9 percent decrease from 2008. We’ve continued that pattern of success and have increased company revenues nearly 25 percent since the downturn.”
Metal-Era manufactures engineered solutions for the commercial roofing industry and has done so for the past 32 years.
Recently, the company released an entirely new product line of airflow solutions for the sloped roof markets.
The new product line has contributed to the company’s success, but its investment in new lean processes and robotic technologies has helped even more, Mallinger said.
“We invested in new robotic technology that has allowed us to get quality, leading-edge products out the door faster,” Mallinger said. “Our four robotic cells have allowed us to shift staff to more labor intensive areas of the plant.”
Due to the investment in lean processes and the new focus on the more stable, re-roofing industry, Metal-Era landed a seven-year contract with McDonald’s Corp. to do all their new remodels and new construction. Additionally, Lowes and Target Corp. already use Metal-Era products exclusively.
Metal-Era is a family-run business. After doing things a certain way for more than 30 years, Mallinger, his two brothers and his father have started to think outside the box.
“Our goal was to shift the culture of the company to get the employees to start thinking of better ways to improve the business,” Mallinger said. “They are the experts at what they do, so we ask them to look at things differently and propose two ideas for improvement and implementation.”
The new rewards program has generated close to $70,000 in savings in just four months, Mallinger said.
