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Also mentioned here is the link between Ross(Reiser make Ross machines) and Wal-Mart ....

Lean and mean
Innovative techniques key to success for Ross Industries
By Paul Smith - Staff Writer 06/10/04
He admits the company grew too fast for its own good.

Payroll hit a peak of more than 250 employees; job orders kept escalating, and another manufacturing plant opened to handle the overflow.

"It was a turnaround situation when I took over," says Phil Tribel, in his third year as president and chief operating officer at Midland-based Ross Industries. "We’re taking a lot smaller steps now."

Ross designs, builds and sells meat packaging and processing equipment. Last year, it topped $23 million in sales.

"Eight years ago, we had this market to ourselves. Now, we’re competing on a worldwide scale," says Materials Manager Bob Gilbert, son-in-law of company founder Henry "Bud" Ross and a 30-year employee at the plant.

To combat competition, Ross relies on developing innovative equipment.

"Our goal is to continue to upgrade our current products line and to introduce three of four new machines each year," Mr. Tribel says during an interview in his office. Scads of brochures touting machines that slice, tenderize and package meat fill a nearby conference table.

He notes that 17 employees, including seven full-time designers, support the engineering department on the packaging side.

Jamie Hutchins, a design engineer who formerly worked for a Faixfax-based company engaged in the research and development of advanced materials, started at Ross 18 months ago.

Mr. Hutchins says Ross engineers follow through on any new product, going out on the floor during testing.

"I like it here because we do a lot of different things and it’s always a challenge," Mr. Hutchins says. "We’ll attend trade shows trying to find new ideas, and obviously, we do a lot of research."

The 70,000-square-foot Ross plant, next to the Warrenton-Fauquier Airport, has a maze of hallways leading into an assembly and manufacturing area. Fields surround most of the countryside plant off Midland Road.

"We’ve had a lot of expansions and renovations here," Mr. Tribel says. "My office used to be a garage."

On a tour of the plant last Thursday, Ross Chief Financial Officer Jim McFarland confidently talks about "a more efficient business operation."

"We’ve started the concept of cellular or lean manufacturing," Mr. McFarland says, pointing to various workstations separated by vinyl curtains. "We’re using the ‘pull’ system."

Traditional manufacturing plants use a "push" production strategy. Production schedules are developed for each area based on sales forecasts, and each area runs at maximum capacity, pushing material downstream. In an effort to maximize the utilization of each process, mountains of inventory appear between workstations, interrupting material flow, disconnecting workstations and lengthening production lead times.

In a "pull" system, material flow is triggered when a customer order "pulls" equipment from finished goods inventory. Through a signaling process, the preceding workstation produces a replenishment supply and that work center signals its upstream work center to produce more units and the process continues up the line. Production is always triggered by demand from the next work center. This manufacturing method seeks to simplify production scheduling, minimize lead times and inventories.

Colorful placards hang throughout the Ross Industries plant, denoting horse racing venues: Colonial Downs, Emerald Downs, Canterbury Park, Rockingham Park and Delta Downs.

"We’re going with the thoroughbred theme," says Mr. McFarland, who commutes an hour each way from Clarke County. "Lean and mean." He has worked at Ross for 19-1/2 years.

The approach, only a year old, seems to be working.

"Our sales for May were just under 2-1/2 million dollars," Mr. McFarland says.

While Midland remains home to the packaging division, the 20,000-square-foot plant in Culpeper County near Elkwood specializes in processing and portion control.

Parts for processing and portion control equipment are made in Midland but assembled at the Elkwood plant.

Ross cranks out 250 to 275 processing and packaging machines each year, including the "granddaddy" InPack S Series tray sealing machine. The S90X, a stainless steel gem, seals 90 units per minute and sells for about $250,000.

The modified atmosphere packaging technology allows Ross to add "two to five days" to the shelf life of fresh meats. Trays are tightly sealed at the edges, instead of using the wraparound approach.

"The wraparound tends to leak," Mr. Tribel says.

Ross sells its slicers, presses, packagers and other equipment to meat processors such as Tyson Foods, Smithfield Foods and Cargill Turkey.

"Wal-Mart was the catalyst for ‘case ready’ packaging," Mr. Tribel says. "They made us all step up to the plate."

Ross and its competitors, many from Europe, needed to develop equipment that eliminated wasted time and fulfilled Wal-Mart’s standards for freshness, quality and increased production.

From humble beginnings, Mr. Ross built a revolutionary machine to tenderize meat in the late 1960s. The Ross 501 prototype used pressure-sensitive blades, instead of rigid needles, to tenderize bone-in meats by making 32 T-shaped surgical incisions per square inch without distorting shape or downgrading quality.

Mr. Ross moved the pioneering business from his home workshop to the current site in 1972. He sold the majority of his interest in 1991 to Robert and George Reiser of Boston. Robert Reiser & Co. remains a leader in tray wrapping equipment.

Despite this year’s projected revenues of $25 million, Mr. Tribel remains cautious.

"It’s competitive out there. We can’t let our guard down."