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Lean Manufacturing Strengthens RCD’s Resistor and Capacitor Competitive Advantage
By Maria Grisanzi, Vice President of Administration, RCD Components, Inc.
environment required us to figure out how to lower our costs, while improv- ing performance. We have to be espe- cially innovative,” says Mike Arcidy, vice president of engineering, RCD. The company is in the process of
O
going lean. “The approach doesn’t just reduce cost and drive productivity, but also increases value to our cus- tomers. Also, once progress is made, it inspires everyone in the company to become increasingly involved in the effort of eliminating waste,” he adds.
Going Lean RCD’s management team em-
braces lean production with a sharp focus on streamlining, eliminating waste and improving employee engage- ment. As a result, Arcidy says that the business grew an easy 20 percent in 2018 and that profits have increased. “The main reason is that we were able to cut our lead times on many of our popular resis- tor, capacitor, coil, and delay lines, and broadened our SWIFT™ (Ship Within Fifty Two Hours) deliv- ery program to include most non-stock and custom product,” he says. The approach, explains Arcidy, is that the company needed to rethink workflow to improve
ne of the great challenges in the electron- ics industry is to push the envelope as to what can be accomplished. “A competitive
productivity, removing potential bottlenecks from entry-level production employees to high-level ex- ecutives.
impact cannot be ignored. “These micro-discoveries can significantly
change the big picture,” says Arcidy. Lean produc- tion advocates for an organizational culture of highly engaged people inno- vating to drive performance, a philoso- phy that resonates with RCD, because as Arcidy puts it, “Our foundation is built on innovation.”
History of Innovation The RCD story began in the 1950s
RCD offers a wide variety of components. Sometimes, seemingly tiny changes exempli-
fy the lean approach. Arcidy said a first-piece in- spector suggested rolling bins with shelving for several production departments saving approxi- mately 30 steps on the line and about seven min- utes per operator per day. Such improvements may sound trivial, but the cumulative bottom-line
and 1960s with Lou Arcidy, Sr., an en- gineering pioneer. Arcidy and his team made significant advancements in re- sistive technology before venturing out in 1973 to start his own company. Achieving new levels of precision and stability, Arcidy’s developments be- came crucial to defense, medical and aerospace applications. Mike Arcidy says, “As we adopt lean production principles, the passion and pioneering spirit infused into our culture decades ago has never been stronger.” “RCD,” stands for the firm’s prod-
uct line of resistors, capacitors, coils, and delay lines and is also the phonetic pronunciation of the owners’ name. “The business and family name are essentially the same, linking the reputations of the two,” Arcidy says. RCD offers one of the broadest ranges of resistors in the industry, from the small-
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Unitech UC-250M-CV Board Cleaner
The UC-250M-CV Board Cleaner offers a dual cleaning feature using a combination of a brush roller with the silicone/adhesive cleaning rollers. The combination dual dust removal system assures better results than a single brush or adhesive roller system. The UC-250M-CV has the ability to clean the top surface of PCB even chip components attached on the bottom-side. Additionally, the cleaner features an antistatic bar (ionizer) to neutralize static and prevent dust from collecting on the top surface of the PCB.
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July, 2019
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