2024 IndustryWeek Best Plants: Two-Way Accountability Drives Excellence at Hoffer Plastics
Most manufacturing is high volume-low mix, such as automotive parts where companies crank out millions of the same thing constantly, or low volume-high mix, such as machine shops that make a few copies of a part before moving on to the next job.
Back to its product diversity. William Hoffer, chairman of the company and son of founder Robert Hoffer, says many plastic injection molding companies pick one industry, such as automotive, and schedule all production on a narrow set of products for a few key customers.
“We’re anything but that,” William Hoffer says. “We are at the most 60% packaging, and then a lot of consumer industrial and then a smaller portion in automotive.”
Driving that ability to service lots of customers in radically different industries is a set of core relationships, internal and external to Hoffer.
On-Time Delivery
IndustryWeek Best Plants Award judges gain access to in-depth, proprietary data on facilities being considered for the program, looking at everything from profitability to safety to inventory management. With Hoffer Plastics, one statistic that stood out was 99.4% on-time delivery rating for 2023 – based on the dates that customers requested material, not when Hoffer promised to deliver it.
Co-CEO Alex Hoffer (each of William Hoffer’s three children carry that title, see more about that in the sidebar at the bottom of this article) says when supply chain problems hit in 2021 and 2022, the company was able to continue on-time shipments because of its long history.
“We have some really strong relationships with people in the resin market. We've built that trust with partners,” Alex Hoffer says.
Co-CEO Gretchen Hoffer Farb adds, “We didn't shut anyone down during the largest supply chain crisis in our markets’ history, because of relationships and because the team came together and troubleshooted around it. It all comes down to transparency and communication. We worked with the customers, telling them that we needed accurate dates.”
With achievable delivery target dates, she adds, Hoffer’s team was able to negotiate with suppliers and employees to reach those. None of that would have worked without those key relationships internally at Hoffer and between the company, its suppliers and its customers.
William Hoffer adds that on-time delivery is one of those old-school metrics that has always been important.
“That’s one of those things that was not only a requirement, it was a necessity,” for much of the company’s history, he says. “So, I think we maintained that mentality: ‘Why can't we? Let's make it happen.’”
Internal Transparency
On-time delivery wasn’t the only area where Hoffer Plastics stood out. Simple methods to engage with employees show a dedication to the core lean principle of showing respect for people.
An example: During the visit in August, some carpeting in the office had bunched up in an area, creating a minor tripping hazard. Simple paper signs with a familiar cross-pattern explained what was going on to employees. In the top-left quadrant was an explanation of what was happening—carpeting was being replaced. In the lower-left, an explanation of why—the tripping hazard. On the upper-right, when the work was being done—the following weekend. On the lower-left, who would be affected by the work—the departments working in and around the space where the carpet needed replacing.
Similar signs were all over the plant, telling employee why and when aging equipment would be replaced or when new lanes would be painted on the shop floor. Jeff Klabunde, plant manager and vice president of operations, says the four-quadrant signs are simple, cheap, easy to digest and show employees exactly what’s going on around the facility in detail.
“People always want to know what’s going on and why, and if you don’t tell them, they’re going to imagine what they think is going on,” Klabunde says. Showing the why, when and who for each change in the plant, no matter how minor, Hoffer Plastics avoids needless speculation.
The signs also provide accountability for the company to its employees. If the sheet says a potential safety hazard will be fixed by Saturday, employees expect something to be different when they come in to work on Monday.
Another form of accountability comes from how Hoffer collects continuous improvement suggestions from employees. Like most modern manufacturers, Hoffer Plastics’ employees clock into work electronically, but the company still has four giant racks around the plant used to store paper employee time cards. Those racks now serve as a visual tracking system for how quickly management responds to employee concerns.
When the manager finishes studying the problem, they will respond on the card and move it another slot to the right. If Hoffer Plastics decides to make a change based on the suggestion, the card moves another slot to the right. So, at a simple glance, employees can see how many change recommendations they and their peers are making, how far along the process those suggestions are and what impact those suggestions are having on operations.
“We’re showing people every day that we value their input, and that it’s not a suggestion box. We’re holding ourselves accountable to considering every suggestion and showing progress,” Klabunde says.
Vision Systems, Cobots, AGVs, Oh My!
While creating simple, direct signs in Microsoft Word and hitting print or using old timesheet racks are examples of inexpensive, low-tech approaches to operational excellence, Hoffer Plastics has embraced high-tech, advanced manufacturing as well.
The company maintains a robust capital expenditure program to replace aging injection molding machines, standardize equipment for toolmakers and improve material handling. Nearly every injection molding machine has a camera-based inspection system attached, taking pictures of every part to check its accuracy to geometric tolerances. Robotic systems move material between machines and handle most physical tasks.
Klabunde says the technology allows the plant’s workforce to spend more time on inspection, machine tending and similar tasks. On one product line handling parts that Hoffer Plastics’ engineers developed internally, collaborative robots handle much of the packing operations, and autonomous guided vehicles deliver empty boxes to the line and take away the filled ones.
Adam VanMeter programmed much of the complex system, despite not having been a warehouse employee and shift supervisor working the late shift until two years ago. During the pandemic, VanMeter spent much of his downtime watching YouTube videos about cobots and automation and started talking to his supervisors about the potential for such systems at Hoffer. Some training followed, and Hoffer promoted him to automation project manager.
“One of the things that I learned that I brought to the company was that automation was getting easier. It wasn’t about programming G-codes anymore; it was about moving the robot arms around and teaching them what to do,” VanMeter says.
Klabunde adds that supervisors were aware of VanMeter’s interests and able tap into his growing expertise because of how Hoffer Plastics structures its operations.
Plants Within Plants
All of Hoffer’s operations in Illinois are under one roof, but management and employees talk about nine different plants. Each of the facility’s large manufacturing spaces considers itself to be a separate plant with its own managers and supervisors. Each of those sub-plants focuses on specific product lines.
