The positioning of the lamp filament on the power terminals is particularly delicate; the operator cannot just view the filament position through the glass, because that distorts too much. Instead, welding must be done using a shadowgraph, a process that requires highly trained and experienced operators to carry off with a high level of reliability.

Reliability is the name of the game with this product. The more than 60 different bulbs that Blue Grass manufactures are all destined for mission critical applications; an aircraft bulb that fails can ground a plane. And reliability is what Blue Grass delivers.

Before it came to Blue Grass, the line was being manufactured in Mexico. Quality levels were low - the CPK was hovering at about 0.1. In addition, turnaround time was unacceptably long. Expensive parts had to be shipped to Mexico, assembled there, and then shipped back. The entire process required that 4-6 weeks worth of product was tied up in inventory; that's expensive and risky. A change in GE's manufacturing schedule typically took a month or longer to implement at the supplier end.

When we took the line over, our engineers identified a number of problem areas, involving equipment that had gone too long without adequate maintenance, inefficient fixtures and tooling, and poor manufacturing techniques. We solved those problems, and in the process, we saved GE a lot of money and a lot of headaches.

Blue Grass has brought the inventory period down to 5 days or less. Scheduling changes are implemented next day, not next month. And we've used statistical process control to gain a significant improvement in quality levels. The CPK for the lamps we manufacture is typically held to 1.33 or better, and the quality cost has dropped from almost 40% of the revenue stream to less than 2%.

Most significantly, we've improved productivity on this highly profitable line by several orders of magnitude. The plant in Mexico was producing about 20,000 bulbs per week; when GE brought the job to Blue Grass Manufacturing, they were hoping for an increase of 5,000 per week. We accomplished that easily, with significantly improved quality; then we did it again, and again, and again. We're now turning out more than 70,000 bulbs per week, when GE can sell them, and they almost always can.