Perfect record
COLD SPRING, MN -- Cold Spring Granite's 130,000-square-foot MonuWest plant in the firm's Minnesota headquarters yielded a 100% on-time manufacturing record for 25 consecutive weeks, a rare occurrence in the stone industry, according to the company. Approximately 34,000 memorials and monuments, with different custom specifications, were manufactured on time and delivered to thousands of destinations across the country. Cold Spring is determined to extend this success to all five of its locations in the U.S. and Canada. The firm's Granite West plant held the previous record of 18 weeks, and the Granit Bronz marker plant is going strong with 100% on-time performance over the last 13 weeks. Cold Spring launched its lean manufacturing program in 1999, fashioning it after an existing program started by Toyota and the management methods of the TBM Consulting Group, headed by CEO Anand Sharma, who was heralded as "a hero of manufacturing" by Fortune magazine. Through lean management, which involves eliminating waste through organization, Cold Spring plans to double annual revenues in five years and increase productivity by 15% every year.