Acme Industries has accomplished a major milestone in its 66 year history by helping one of its customers improve the life of one of their products. Seeking a way to help one of its customers differentiate its product, a new product innovation was developed to significantly increase its life.  The new technology should help Acme’s customer dramatically increase its market share. The opportunity to help Acme’s customers enhance their products is another example of Acme's Beyond Precision philosophy.

One of Acme’s customers had a product that in many respects was a commodity compared to its competitors’ products. Its design was almost exactly the same and its field performance was comparable. Once the supply of the product satisfied the demand of the marketplace, the typical downward price pressures of commodity products were being encountered. The customer was challenged to differentiate itself from its competition.

Acme’s operation and engineering team sought a way to help its customer enhance their product so that it would last significantly longer in the field. By combining process, material, and product changes, the team produced a product innovation that was unique and could increase the product’s life by an order of magnitude. After completing engineering analyses, lab tests, and production process reviews with its customer, Acme built test parts for field validation.

ACME INDUSTRIES’ VALUE:
On its own initiative, Acme found a Beyond Precision solution to its customer’s product commodity dilemma.  Once the field tests validate the significant life extension for the product innovation, Acme’s customer should be able to significantly increase its market share and differentiate itself in its marketplace.

Acme Industries is making good progress in its integration of the Bley acquisition that was announced in June 2014.  Shown in the picture is a large locomotive engine component for a new customer that was gained in the acquisition. Three machine tools have been added to the Bley facility in order to handle the load of another customer that Acme gained subsequent to the acquisition.

There is a sequel to the Scaling Up to Meet Market Opportunities case study (link to case study) as shown in the picture. Four new machines are being added to Acme Industries’ Chase South facility to further expand the capacity available to meet the growing market opportunity of one of Acme’s customers.

Acme is able to provide the capability to machine a wide range of part sizes for its customers so that a complete family of parts can be sourced. This picture shows a family of parts used in the top drive of an oil rig.

At a recent Caterpillar Supplier Conference, Acme Industries was recognized for having achieved perfect quality and delivery metrics. The Acme Directors of Supply Chain (Yong Chu), Operations (Jack Korenkiewicz), and Quality (Otto Miessner) are shown holding the recognition plaque.

During the recent election campaign, Bruce Rauner visited Acme Industries where Warren Young, Chairman, and Guy Cassidy, CEO and President, gave him a tour, explaining the challenges and opportunities of manufacturing in Illinois.