POSTED: Monday, Aug. 10, 2009

Kaizen Assembly streamlines business operations, strategies

Each week The Bellingham Herald takes a closer look at a business. This week: Kaizen Assembly

What's new: Kaizen Assembly is having a record year in clients and sales. Clients and sales have continued to grow by 20 to 30 percent annually since Chris Ortiz founded the company almost five years ago in North Carolina. The company, which relocated to Bellingham two years ago, had more than a dozen active clients last year. Currently, Kaizen Assembly is working with 18 clients in the Pacific Northwest region and throughout the country.

In addition to an increase in business, Ortiz and his staff will be featured on national television on CNBC and Headline News. Ortiz has not been notified of exactly when the show will air, but it will appear on 15 different regional networks throughout the country 17 times within the next couple months. Shooting the film segment took place in June on-site at two of Kaizen's local clients' in Whatcom County.

What it does: Kaizen Assembly identifies and removes what Ortiz refers to as "The Seven Wastes," which are caused by problems regarding overproduction, over-processing, motion, transportation, inventory, waiting and defects. Kaizen focuses on eliminating those wastes by going to work with clients from anywhere from one day to three years-as long as it takes to create a less wasteful, more efficient, "lean" business strategy that the client can eventually do on their own.

Ownership: Founder Chris Ortiz has been the owner and president of the company for almost five years.

Marketplace: Ortiz's staff travels across the Pacific Northwest, throughout the country and to Puerto Rico for clients, whose companies represent a gamut of different industries. Clients include businesses that specialize in fabrication, food production, food storage, hardware and lighting. They range in size from Fortune 500 companies and small independently-owned companies. It doesn't matter what they make or how they make it, Ortiz said. Waste is in every company, and its Kaizen's job to come in and find which lean tools and techniques will be able to transform the business.

Employees: Four, including consultants, engineers and administrative staff.

Claim to fame: It's the hands-on approach which have made Kaizen successful, Ortiz said. "For instance, we don't just go out and teach it," Ortiz said. "If we have a project we show up and do it with them. My engineer and I are just heading back from working with Hexcell Corporation in Burlington. The whole week I was in jeans and t-shirt getting dirty with everyone else to improve the shipping process, looking at the company's amount of motion and transportation."

Kaizen Assembly, Inc.

1440 10th St. Suite 101-B

Bellingham, WA 98225

360-715-2129

kaizenassembly.com

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