Port City Division Spotlight: Expanding Pace’s Reach

January 26, 2017

Located in Muskegon, MI, Port City Division is the newest addition to Pace Industries. Pace and Port City Division merged operations in July 2015, with great enthusiasm for many reasons. A unique characteristic of this new facility is that it is comprised of several locations – six fully-integrated companies.  This division includes four die casting plants, custom plastics manufacturing and specialty tooling.

Through Port City Division, we are proud to not only continue serving the automotive industry, but we also offer capabilities to the recreational vehicle, meters and lawn & garden industries. No matter who the customer is, we insist on beginning our relationship by assigning them an engineer who will be present during each cycle of their project. Because of this consistency in personnel, we can reduce time and cost for our customers.

Pace Port City Division specializes in full-service supply chain management and providing tooling design and management to customers. Boasting 31 die cast machines, our capabilities include high pressure die casting, complex machining, plastic injection molding, tooling, rapid prototyping, and product design and validation. The products we create range in weight from .05 to 20 pounds. We have a wide range of tools at our disposal, which is what allows us to produce such a variety of products.  We successfully work with flow analysis, thermal analysis, nanotechnology and several other in-house tools. Mirror Image Tool is the specialty tooling company that offers design and construction of secondary machining equipment as well as inspection equipment.

A capability we are particularly proud of is producing complex parts sensitive to specific porosity and cosmetic requirements. It is a task we are good at and, therefore, are often asked to do it for customers. Once we have confirmed that we have supported design work, we efficiently make these delicate parts.

To exceed the expectations of the customers we serve, PCD has a strict Quality Management Systems in place that we are deeply committed to. Whether we are manufacturing aluminum die castings, mechanical assemblies or injected mold plastics, the promise to our customers is the Pace Advantage of delivering the highest quality products in the most efficient amount of time.

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Learning and Growing: Pace Further Adapts Competitive Advantage Strategy

January 5, 2017

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Business Excellence is Pace’s systematic approach to identifying and eliminating waste through continuous improvement and making products that meet our customers’ needs. As its director, Bill Turner is focused on the company’s wins, as well as the growth opportunities that become apparent after setbacks.

As 2016 ended, he reflected on the past year and looked ahead to Business Excellence in 2017:

Strategy Deployment (SD) is a structured process that motivates us to work on those things paramount to the success and longevity of our business, including safety, quality, delivery, inventory and cost. It has been an integral part of our business for 10 years. In 2017, SD will continue to be key in helping us achieve a compelling competitive advantage. Associates from all levels of our company participate on multi-functional teams to achieve the goals established through this process.  From there, teams are empowered to develop and execute action plans, measure progress and resolve problems.  Through this, we build a culture of continuous improvement through associate engagement, teamwork and problem solving.

This year provided evidence that this strategy is positively affecting our work. In 2016, there were several new product introductions across the business, many of which were in the automotive industry. Serving this industry’s customers can be a challenge due to the complexity of the parts and their stringent quality requirements. Despite those difficulties, in 2016, we improved our parts and customer satisfaction significantly increased, allowing for a growth in the automotive segment of our business. Our quality was better though the work was more complex. We consider this a great success story!

So where is Business Excellence going in 2017?  First, we will reinforce our commitment to SD by engaging even more associates in the process. Second, we will be expanding the utilization of ongoing improvement methodologies and tools, including value stream mapping, 5S, standard work, poka-yoke, SMED and kanban.  We need to take advantage of these proven improvement techniques.  And third, we will remain diligent problem solvers.

In 2017, we will be relentless in our pursuit of achieving a compelling competitive advantage.
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A team at Mangas Tool & Die complete a value stream mapping exercise as part of Strategy Deployment.

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