NORTH SYRACUSE, N.Y. – At 155,000 square feet, G.A. Braun’s year-old manufacturing facility has enabled the longtime laundry equipment maker to consolidate its varied operations under one roof and clearly demonstrate its long-term commitment to the textile services industry.
In a plant that is more than twice the size of its two former facilities combined, the company has all the room it needs to design, fabricate, assemble and test its full line of laundry and textile equipment, and to provide associated support services.
On the practical side, Braun has eliminated the physical limitations that revealed themselves as the company expanded its portfolio of products and sought to invest more resources in research and development.
On the personal side, Braun’s entire workforce now works side by side in the same facility and interacts easily in pursuing the manufacturer’s high product-development and customer-service standards.
“From an engineering standpoint, from a sales standpoint, from a service standpoint, from a parts standpoint, you can go out and touch and feel anything, and you couldn’t before,” says J.B. Werner, Braun’s president and CEO. He represents the third generation of his family to lead the company.START FROM SCRATCH
Braun used to manufacture its equipment in two locations: its 60,000-square-foot headquarters in nearby Syracuse was home to production of conventional washing, drying and conveyance equipment, plus its line of tunnel washers, presses, shuttles and data-management systems. Braun’s flatwork feeders, ironers, folders, material-handling devices, and small-piece processing equipment were produced in a 37,000-square-foot facility in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
In 2005, G.A. Braun became the first laundry equipment manufacturer in the United States to receive ISO (International Organization for Standardization) certification. As the company culture embraced this measurement-driven methodology and others in striving to become a more efficient, quality-oriented business, it became clear to Braun’s management team that the physical plant was limiting its growth potential.
The Braun team looked long and hard at relocating to an existing facility, says Joe Gudenburr, chief operating officer, but ultimately decided in fall 2007 to go with new construction.
“We’ve been in every building in Syracuse,” Gudenburr says. “But every factory had environmental issues, or was in rough shape. We finally got to the point where we said, ‘The cost is a wash, so we’re better off finding a parcel of land that has no baggage and just do it from scratch ourselves.’”
In fact, Braun’s staff designed the building, he says, as the company drew input from every manufacturing cell. “They got to see it evolve just like we did. This is as much their company and plant as it is the management team’s.”
“They gave us a wish list, and they got most of what they wished for,” Werner says of the resulting $13 million-plus project.
Six buildings on the site near the Syracuse Hancock International Airport had to be demolished before construction could begin in spring 2008. The company was “under roof” by September 2008, and the office staff relocated from nearby Syracuse in December 2008. Fabrication arrived in January, followed by assembly the following month. It took another three months or so to completely shift the Fort Lauderdale operations.
Virtually every major piece of manufacturing equipment is new. The stockroom, which is gated and secured to protect workers from injury, houses more than $8 million in spare parts. The 24/7 help desk is also located in the new facility.
The plant is laid out into pods dedicated to particular pieces of equipment. Some tasks that previously were outsourced, such as powder-coating, are now handled on-site. Cranes spanning the plant’s ceiling easily move parts and equipment from one side of the facility to the other.
There are extensive testing and process-simulation capabilities in each manufacturing cell, and Braun now has the ability to test equipment in a real-life laundry environment.
Equipment testing in the former facilities had to be done during off-hours or it would disrupt manufacturing operations, Gudenburr explains.
“I’ve seen a whole lot more creativity from the engineers,” Werner says. “Now they know they have the space to do the things they need to do. Every day we walk out of a meeting, somebody has a new idea and everybody is excited because we can do something with it.”
“The first thing that comes to their mind is not why we can’t do it, or what the limitations are in the plant,” Gudenburr says. “That’s totally off the playing field now.”
Braun has started refurbishing and rebuilding tunnel washers, washer-extractors and other equipment, because the recession-conscious market has requested the service, according to Gudenburr.
Yes, the market landscape has changed since the company broke ground on its multimillion-dollar plant two years ago, but the Braun team believes the decision to invest then has positioned it perfectly to capitalize on new business opportunities sure to develop when the economy recovers.
What can the next prospect expect from Braun?
“They’re going to get the latest and greatest in technology,” Gudenburr says. “They’re going to get a level of commitment, ownership and accountability to the products, services and support that we provide them. That’s unchanged. That’s really what we built the business on.
“The facility just helps us enhance what we always have done.”
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].