The Company
Rusco Window Company Inc. of Salem, VA, has been in business since 1947. The company employs around 60 people with 45 working in the production area. Rusco sells custom window units to the home remodeling industry. These units are sold through building supply houses, remodeling contractors, and directly to individual homeowners. The product line consists of three different families of windows.

The Situation
Having to compete with larger national window manufacturers, Rusco was faced with the critical need to be a low cost producer in today's competitive marketplace. Rusco then realized it did not have the expertise on staff to solve its problems with the introduction of a new line of windows, which caused a decline in sales volumes. These factors led the Rusco management team to seek assistance from VPMEP to help improve their operations.

The Response
VPMEP was asked to provide an independent assessment of the manufacturing operations with recommendations for increasing profitability. A detailed report of the current manufacturing operations was written. This report described the present operations sequence, the material flow, and the labor effort. A list of recommendations, based on Lean Manufacturing concepts, was attached to the report. Suggestions for improved performance included: eliminating specific non-value added activities; reducing batch sizes; modifying the production scheduling techniques; modifying machinery to improve productivity; and developing cross-training programs for workers.

The Results
Rusco's average efficiency rating for the first nine months of 2000 was 32% better than the total average for 1999. The average rating for June through September of 2000 was 46% higher than the 1999 rating. Manufacturing cost decreased 11% in the first month of implementation, and productivity improved by 46% with no increase in capital equipment and no increase in manpower.

Management's Comment
"VPMEP brought to us a level of expertise and knowledge that we did not have internally. More importantly, they addressed the problems and communicated the solutions in a direct, easy to understand language, and they provided resources that are ordinarily not available to smaller companies at an affordable cost," said James Brock, President. "Seeing the new standards accomplished with their (VPMEP) systems energized our people to want to continue raising the bar to higher goals. The results are proof enough of the success of the project. We were so pleased with our initial experience that we are already exploring other projects with VPMEP for the future."

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