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CUSTOMER PROFILEForming is King at Pacific NorthwestHeater Manufacturer“The Finn-Power machine has accelerated ourtechnology by 30 years.”When Bob Wilson founded KingElectric Mfg. Company, Seattle, WA,in 1958 in a 9,500- square-footfacility with three employees, he outsourced allthe sheet metal fabrication and concentrated onassembly and sales of a single product line –baseboard heating units.Through the years, the company thrivedand evolved into a full-line heater manufacturerwith such product lines as residential fanheaters, architectural grade fan heaters, electricalfurnaces, radiant convection heaters, andcommercial unit heaters. King Electric’s marketarea has expanded throughout the U.S., Canada,and South America, selling through electricaldistributors such as Graybar and retailers suchas Lowe’s. Today, King Electric is housed in afacility with 100,000 square feet and 110employees. And the company now fabricates itsown sheet metal parts.Bob Wilson’s son Dean rejoined the familybusiness in 2006 after pursuing careerexperiences with other corporations and earningan MBA in Technology. While King Electrichas a proud history of success, at that time thecompany was facing two major challenges:Low-cost competition from China, and evenmore threatening, an emerging customer servicebacklog created by old fabricating equipmentand outdated manufacturing strategies andtechniques.Dean Wilson (left) and Bob Wilson chose the C5 Compact Express to combat the competitive pressures in themarketplace from China that were beginning to adversely affect their operation and also to modernize their outdatedfabrication equipment.China Syndrome & Old EquipmentIn 2006, King Electric took a hard look thecompetitive pressures in the marketplace thatwere beginning to adversely affect theiroperation. “Many of our competitors werestarting to import their products from China,”explains Dean Wilson, executive vice presidentof manufacturing. “We had to find a solutionin order to compete.” Wilson took a two-weekindustry tour of China and spoke to manyChinese manufacturers, trying to determine ifthere were benefits to giving up his company’smanufacturing operation and begin importingits products from China.Wilson also began evaluating an alternatestrategy for modernizing and automating hisexisting facility. “I wanted to select our newmanufacturing strategy before we selected theequipment,” says Wilson. “I believe that leanmanufacturing comes down to two words –eliminate waste.”At the time, King Electric’s metalworkingequipment consisted of hard tool punchpresses, press brakes, and old mechanical turretpunch presses. “One of our problems was thatwe were a batch run oriented shop,” saysWilson. Example: If King Electric had 500heaters to make, there would be several20