CASE: CUSTOM FABRICATORS, INC.—FROM LEAN MANUFACTURING PARTNER TO
CONTRACT MANUFACTURER
As Ben Lawson, CEO of Custom Fabricators, Inc., drove back to his home
in South Indianapolis, he thought about the day.
I’ve done a lot of business with Orleans Elevator in Bloomington over
the years but just wonder how long this will continue. I have much
invested in my manufacturing plant located right next to their plant,
but now that United Technologies [the parent company of Orleans] is all
into this FreeMarkets Internet purchasing system, I just wonder how long
they are going to be interested in keeping me in the supply-chain loop.
It’s been a good business over the past few years. I was in the right
place at the right time when Orleans got into just-in-time and lean
manufacturing in the late 1980s. Initially, I was just making the
control panels for the elevators. It was interesting to walk into a new
building, get on the elevator, and see my company’s handiwork in that
beautiful stainless steel panel that houses the buttons for the floors
on the building. I could take a lot of pride in the craftsmanship even
though it was largely a technology thing. That new numerically
controlled machine tool that I purchased in 1985 made making the holes
in those custom panels easy. We are still making beautiful panels.
Since that time my company has gotten a lot of other business from
Orleans. We now make all kinds of special brackets and panels for the
plant. This has been great for us over the years. We have set up a very
efficient process for fabricating exactly what the plant needs in these
parts with very little lead time. For most items, Orleans simply gives