To boost its efficiency and improve its chances for long-term growth, Oostburg-based Dutchland Plastics Corp. is consolidating its local operations into one 160,000-square-foot facility.
Until about one month ago, Dutchland had its operations inside a 145,000-square-foot facility on the west side of Oostburg and a newer 77,000-square-foot building on the east side of town. This spring, in response to the slow economy, the company went through a lean assessment of its operations with the Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership (WMEP).
“We saw a great opportunity during tougher times to gain market share. We wanted to solidify our strategy,” said Jeff Van Straten, chief operating officer. “The whole point is that we wanted to have a unified strategy of what we wanted to chase.”
Dutchland is one of a few plastics manufacturers in the United States that does both blow molding and rotational molding. As a contract manufacturer, Dutchland produces more than 3,500 different plastic products, including oversized products such as kayaks and components for the lawn and garden market.
With the assistance of WMEP, Dutchland’s management decided to focus on doubling the company’s size by 2014, embracing lean manufacturing, and attracting and retaining top talent. Part of its lean transformation has been consolidating its operations into one facility.
Because the company’s original facility had been added onto about 12 times, it was not suited for a modern manufacturing facility with optimized work flow, said Carl Claerbout, president of Dutchland.
Instead, the company’s 77,000-square-foot facility on the east side of Oostburg was expanded to about 160,000 square feet.
The company began moving employees and machinery to the expanded facility in September and expects to complete the move by April, 2010. The Claerbout family, which has owned Dutchland since it was opened in 1967, has not yet decided what to do with its other building.
In early 2008, Dutchland had about 320 employees. After two rounds of layoffs, the company now has about 190 employees, even after calling a few back.
Although a lean transformation process can be difficult for employees to embrace, Dutchland’s workforce has embraced the concept, Claerbout said.
“We’ve had excellent buy-in with employees,” he said. “It was a tough pill for them initially, but they showed their character.”
Dutchland has also recently increased its sales force from one to six people as part of its transformation, moving several long-time employees to sales and marketing functions.
“We’re a more balanced company now,” Van Straten said. “This has been a great opportunity to look at all aspects of our business. We’re feeling good about where things are headed. We’re getting a lot of opportunities to quote on a lot of business and we’re landing some of it.”
“These challenging economic times may be the best thing that ever happened to us,” said Daven Claerbout, sales director and co-owner of the company.
