Wilson Tool Canada shows off its mastery of Lean at facility grand opening

Wilson Tool customers receiving a tour of the new manufacturing facility.

On April 27th, Wilson Tool Canada’s punching and stamping division celebrated the grand opening of its new manufacturing facility at 5590 Finch Avenue East in Toronto. About 40 guests joined the Wilson team for the celebration, including suppliers, customers, and representatives from the City of Toronto.

Judy White, general manager of the facility, welcomed guests and congratulated the whole team on the successful and efficient move of 120 pieces of equipment and the full office from the company’s former Kennedy Road facility. The Finch Avenue facility is home based for 63 employees. Five Canadian sales engineers and 10 representatives from the Wilson Tool offices in Minnesota were on hand for the opening as well, including the CEO and president.

The new facility at 46,000 sq. ft. is not substantially larger than the old facility. However, it is one open manufacturing space, whereas the old facility had been expanded upon six times during the company’s 40-plus years there, which meant there were many obstructions and challenges with respect to adapting the shop to meet the company’s lean manufacturing goals.

“The biggest advantage that has come from the move is the flow of our process,” said White. “The new configuration makes production a lot easier for us.”

Wilson Tool started introducing lean principles into its Canadian operations shortly after its purchase of Exacta Precision in November 2010. The new facility has allowed them to take those efforts further. Now, raw material comes in one end of the facility and finished product leaves at the other end – a simple flow that the old facility couldn’t accommodate. The shop floor boasts 8-ft. aisles allowing for easy movement of materials and equipment throughout the facility. The shops lathes and mills are corralled in groups to allow two or three operators to run a number of machines at once without having to walk far. And in many work cells, employees operate two CNC machines and one manual machine, reducing down time.

The company is also organized in such a way that when an order is placed, it prints out at the station at which it will start its production. This allows an order potentially to be completed about 20 minutes after it is made, with only two people “touching” the job.

Lean manufacturing is key for a company that prides itself on offering same day or next day service for its customers.

“With this new facility, we are showing both our employees and our customers that we want to invest in the future, and that we are here to stay,” said Chris Lawless, president of Wilson Tool International. “Years ago people said we couldn’t keep manufacturing here in North America and that we should be sending production overseas. But all of our seven facilities have been placed in the markets we want to serve, close to the businesses we are supplying, because we offer that same day or next day service. And we continue to thrive. In fact, Canada is more profitable than ever, and we continue to add to and invest in that business.”

John Alderdice, manager, business retention and expansion, economic development & culture, business growth services, City of Toronto, congratulated the Wilson Tool team, saying, “Yours is a very good news story, and one that we don’t take for granted.” He went on to praise the company’s innovative business practices and its ability to thrive in such a competitive economy.