Investments in Continuous Improvement Prove to Be Critical to Meeting Future Manufacturing Requirements
Company Profile
Founded in 1965, Analog Devices, Inc. specializes in solving the engineering challenges associated with signal processing in electronic equipment. Headquartered in Wilmington, MA, Analog Devices, Inc. is a world leader in the design, manufacture, and marketing of a broad portfolio of high-performance analog, mixed-signal, and digital signal processing (DSP) integrated circuits (ICs) used in virtually all types of electronic equipment by over 100,000 customers worldwide. These signal processing products play a fundamental role in converting, conditioning, and processing real-world phenomena such as temperature, pressure, sound, light, speed, and motion into electrical signals to be used in a wide array of electronic devices.
Situation
March 2021 - During a conversation with Eric Simmons (production manager), while assisting him with the quarterly survey, he told Impact Washington that Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) faced having to close one of their facilities. The choice came down to either their plant in Milpitas, California facility or the one here in Camas, Washington. The decision came down to which facility was more profitable, efficient, and produces the best quality. Eric shared that after a comprehensive review of the company’s future manufacturing requirements the ultimate decision was to close the California plant as the Camas facility was outperforming them.
Results
Analog Devices, Inc. embraces the 70-20-10 development model; 70% is experiential, on-the-job learning mentored by the industry's best minds; 20% are stretch assignments or cross-functional innovation sprints, and the last 10% is traditional structured learning.
“The partnership with Impact Washington was a direct contributor to our success and ultimately the decision to keep the Vancouver plant. “The equipment and positions were relocated from the closed California plant to the Vancouver facility, adding to the growth and development of our facility and employees.” - Eric Simmons, Manufacturing Operations Manager at Analog Devices, Inc.