Malcolite Elevates Lighting Performance and Customer Affinity
Thursday, August 5th, 2010Sustainable Approach Enhances Core Efficiencies and Productivity
Malcolite, an award-winning business-to-business lighting component manufacturer, is using sustainable, new technologies to advance performance, efficiency, cost savings and hassle-free service.
The Northbrook, Ill.-based company, founded in 1962, manufactures replacement fluorescent light covers, easy-install retrofit kits and LED and natural day lighting diffusers. Malcolite serves all types of commercial and public facilities nationwide, including schools, healthcare, nursing homes, property management, food processing, retail and municipalities. In 2002, ownership of the business shifted to current president Jason Howard, a LEED® Accredited Professional who offers an entrepreneurial, progressive vision that is transforming the company.
Malcolite’s new management embraced the opportunity to revitalize the company and enacted improvements in product design, customer relations, operational efficiencies and environmental consciousness. With its mission to give customers all the light they’re paying for, the company measures success by carefully monitoring its performance, value and service.
Malcolite first confronted the challenges it faced in managing inventory, shipping and logistics for a growing list of 8,000 product variations, while honoring its commitment to timely customer service. The company converted to a Web-based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system and moved more than 80 business processes – such as accounts payable and receivable – to this new platform.
The conversion was the result of a rigorous planning process, and improvements were substantial. Malcolite achieved virtually paperless processing, reduced order pricing turnaround times and substantially improved its order response time. The company now offers its customers immediate access to order status with automated order processing. Real-time order visibility and an innovative supplier program helped Malcolite reduce carrying costs, with an increase in inventory turns of 66 percent. The new process also generated product design improvements by allowing the company to more easily source and track components for complex lighting assemblies from multiple vendors.
“The improvements we made in our internal systems permeated our organization,” Howard says. “When we started drawing new connections from the hub of our systems, it touched every process and relationship we have. Now, our employees work smarter, our customers receive better service and more useful information, and our designers are free to think and plan without constraints on parts acquisition and inventory challenges.”
This system upgrade enabled Malcolite to drastically reduce order quoting and processing times and provide immediate access to order information. Customers now see a real-time, thorough picture of their account status, boosting their ability to efficiently plan, budget, allocate and install.
The enhancements in processes, deliveries and support are tailored to highlight the core of Malcolite’s business: providing well-designed, long-lasting, highly efficient lighting components to thousands of facilities across the country. Customers benefit from better performance, superior light quality and an innovative, healthful design – all with an energy savings of up to 78 percent. The company strives to improve the functionality of a customer’s existing lighting and enhance working conditions by reducing glare and providing visual comfort.
Malcolite’s pre-wired, pre-assembled retrofit/replacement lighting kits significantly minimize waste and installation time and cost by allowing installers to replace only necessary fixture components. Lower energy costs, a shorter payback period and utility company rebates also contribute to improving customers’ operations. Malcolite lighting systems maximize value with trouble-free service for many years after installation. Because its products offer a longer life, they initiate fewer replacement cycles.
“It is rewarding to see Malcolite grow and witness the increasing satisfaction from our customers, vendors and staff,” Howard says. “We stepped into this with the goal of giving customers all the light they’re paying for, and it’s paid off for everyone in ways we couldn’t have imagined.”
Malcolite is a recipient of the 2010 PM100 Progressive Manufacturing Award from Managing Automation Media, for incorporating multiple levels of innovation into its business practices. For information on Malcolite, please visit www.malcolite.com.
