Success Story: Greno Industries Partners with CEG for Supply Chain Enhancements

The Overview

Greno Industries is a 63-year-old CNC precision machining shop that provides CAD/CAM, kitting and welding services. With 38 employees at its facility in Scotia, New York, the manufacturer serves industries for steam and gas turbine generators, oil and gas compressors, the Department of Defense, transportation, and pulp and paper.

The Situation

In 2017, with support from the Center for Economic Growth’s (CEG) Manufacturing Solutions, a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) center, Greno became one of the first manufacturers in the country to be ISO AS9100D-certified. While the improvements Greno had implemented to comply with the new ISO standard bolstered the manufacturer’s supply chain management practices, it still had challenges with late deliveries from suppliers and other issues.

The Solution

To fortify Greno’s supply chain, CEG engaged with the manufacturer for a supply chain assessment and consultation, utilizing its sister MEP, TDO (Train Develop Optimize). For this project, CEG secured for Greno a $7,500 New York MEP grant to assess and strengthen the manufacturer’s supply chain practices.

TDO’s senior project manager, Don Lynch, conducted and completed a supply chain assessment of Greno. The purpose of this project was to identify and prioritize supply chain management process improvement opportunities. To do this, TDO conducted a confidential, two-hour session with Greno representatives to compare their current supply chain management practices to 59 best practices in nine categories: supplier pricing controls, collaborative planning with sales and operations, supply chain continuous improvement, communication with suppliers, supply chain controls, transportation and logistics, inventory management, inventory control, supply continuity planning.

The assessment found Greno complied with many supply chain best practices, in part, because of improvements the manufacturer had implemented to receive its ISO certification. However, TDO did recommend Greno adopt practices for more carefully monitoring suppliers’ financial stability and taking additional steps to reduce shipment delays. That included having Greno’s purchasing manager meeting with suppliers on a weekly basis and also encouraging them to put more realistic dates on purchase orders. The types of supplies that Greno relies on include plating, finished parts, hardware, raw materials, and machine parts.

As a result of Greno’s post-supply chain assessment:

• On-time deliveries have improved. Each quarter of 2024 (through Q3) has shown year-over-year improved supplier OTD performance.
  • For example, whereas 75 percent of deliveries were on time in Q3 2023, 80 percent were on time for Q4 2024.
• TDO also identified a potential supplier that Greno with which Greno may contract after one of its current suppliers retires.

“CEG is really important to us. They’re a great community partner. Greno has leveraged CEG for apprenticeships and other operational improvement programs, and this supply chain assessment just further enhanced our competitiveness,” said Patrisia Sheremeta, Greno’s human resources manager.