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news announcementS enVista Helps Leading RV Manufacturer, Teton Homes, Handle Growth and Increase Productivity LOS ANGELES - July 1, 2003 - enVista, a leading provider of tailored logistics and transportation cost management solutions, recently partnered with RV manufacturer, Teton Homes, to gain operational efficiencies in their manufacturing facility. Based in Casper, Wyoming, Teton Homes is a leading manufacturer of luxury fifth-wheel Recreational Vehicles (RV). Last year they enjoyed a record year, fueled by the strong regain in popularity of the RV industry post September 11, and the expansion of its target market - the 50-65 age group. Teton had developed a reputation for quality and durability over its 36-year history, and its reputation had even reached Hollywood as several stars specifically request Teton Homes luxury RVs for filming on location. The company was growing out of their 100,000-square foot manufacturing facility and it looked like more materials would need to be stored in the adjacent 25,000-square feet warehouse to support demand. In addition, the growing trend of full-body painted RVs was pushing Teton Homes toward the acquisition of a new paint booth, and it looked like a new building was going to be necessary to house it. Before making a significant capital investment in additional building space, Teton Homes wanted to make sure that there were no alternatives. Teton Homes utilzed enVista's services to look at their operation and facility and develop and implement a plan to accommodate their rapid growth. enVista first analyzed the flow of materials involved in building Teton's RVs and the current layout of the manufacturing facility. enVista discovered three things: a large proportion of materials were handled several times before final installation; there were no fixed storage locations for many of their components; and the storage location for a lot of parts was too far from their point of use. "Teton Homes is no different than a lot of manufacturers facing growth. It's the kid's bedroom syndrome: if space exists, it will be used," said Michel Babineau, Manufacturing Principal, enVista. "Management feels that the company is running out of space, while in fact there is a lot of it. It is also very hard to determine the time needed to build a unit when assemblers spend a significant - and variable - amount of time chasing parts around the facility." Hoping to avoid the cost of building additional space, Teton Homes partnered with enVista on a facility redesign project. First, enVista helped Teton Homes determine the optimal storage location for each major component as close as possible from its point of use, and established a "one-bin Kanban" methodology borrowed from the Just-in-Time concept. Components frequently used are ordered automatically as their level drops below a pre-determined level. Second, enVista helped redesign several storage areas to make critical components easier to access. Finally, enVista recently helped put in place a "kitting" process where all components, tools, and accessories necessary to build a RV will be brought together to the assembling station before each task. Teton Homes is already seeing efficiency with increased productivity and decreased labor costs. "I never realized how much space we had in this facility until we started this project. We've moved the storage location of most of our components from the warehouse to the main assembly plant and we were able to build the paint booth directly inside the warehouse," said Tony Ingram, CEO, Teton Homes. "I feel like we've only scratched the surface. We've only redesigned the storage locations in the first few stations on the line, and we've already seen a significant reduction in labor costs, in addition to avoiding the cost of a new building." About enVista
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