OnLine
A Publication of MESA Products, Inc.
August 2001
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
A very wise person once said, “you can’t see the future through a rearview mirror”. I can guarantee you there is no one at MESA looking in the rearview mirror. We are too busy meeting the challenges of the future so we can continue our growth and success. Thank you to our customers for your business and support as we move into the future together.
One of the key issues we are currently facing is our existing production capacity. Having experienced a volume increase of over 30% in the past two years, we are now operating at almost maximum capacity during peak seasons.
We know this because we have established and measured two key performance indicators for almost three years. The two performance goals against which we measure ourselves are 75% three-day shipments and 95% on-time shipments. This means that we expect 75% of all orders to ship in 3 days or less and that 95% of our orders will ship within the time quoted.
Historically, we’ve been able to maintain a 3-day shipping rate of over 80%. However, this year that number has slipped to around 70%, even with the addition of a second shift in our manufacturing operations. Although we’ve been able to maintain our on-time rate, we feel our performance is an indication that we are approaching maximum capacity. For this reason, we are beginning a three-phase expansion that should be completed by mid-2002. Further details on the expansion are outlined in our newsletter article, “Building For The Future”.
Two other major initiatives that are underway are the development of a formal Training Program and the expansion of our CP Design Center. The Training Program is aimed at increasing the effectiveness of our employees in serving our customers. The CP Design Center is targeted at increasing the effectiveness of our customers in creating application solutions. Both initiatives will contribute to MESA’s position of leadership in the cathodic protection industry.
Even with all this activity, we rose to the challenge of overcoming a one hundred-year flood. No one would have predicted we would have a flood in our future like we experienced in our Houston office (see the “Not Business As Usual” article further on in this newsletter). Challenges like this keep us on our toes and keep our everyday work life from becoming too dull.
Terry F. May
President, MESA Products