On January 27th, Rohrer broke new ground at its existing Wadsworth, Ohio facility. This expansion project would add an additional 20% to the building, increasing its manufacturing footprint to 200,000 square feet. That was certainly big news. But there was bigger news. This expansion would transform Wadsworth into Rohrer’s first Center of Excellence. As of September 2020, the project was complete, and Wadsworth opened its doors to showcase its world-class operations.
What Exactly is a Center of Excellence?
A Center of Excellence (CoE) is a model that represents industry-leading standards of knowledge, technologies and workflow efficiencies. It can be found in any sector – healthcare, education, manufacturing, etc. It is a real bricks-and-mortar place, not just some lofty-sounding ideal. If you have ever walked into a Center of Excellence, you would see the best-of-the-best not only for that organization, but also within that industry. When the bar is set that high, it’s a real game-changer. Because everything else that follows will be measured by its corresponding CoE. It’s a tough act to follow. But for Rohrer with their new CoE well established at the Wadsworth location, it’s just the beginning of a whole new era of exemplary quality, speed-to-market, pricing, and sustainability – enterprise-wide.
Rohrer’s New Go-to-Market Strategy
The Center of Excellence initiative is only part of a bold go-to-market strategy for the future, fueled by a new Rohrer mission and vision. Simply stated, Rohrer believes TRUE PARTNERS make the perfect package through industry-leading value, quality and solutions while fostering a culture of empowerment and growth.
Everything that was built or implemented into the Wadsworth print platform expansion supports Rohrer’s go-to-market strategy. It was developed to not only service customers’ current needs but more importantly – anticipate their future needs. The multi-million-dollar investment benefits its customers in terms of higher quality, pricing, and speed-to-market.
Components of Wadsworth’s Center of Excellence
As previously stated, a Center of Excellence brings together industry-leading knowledge, technologies and workflow efficiencies…and Wadsworth more than qualifies for its CoE distinction with the following:
State-of-the-art equipment and technologies: The manufacturing ‘muscle’ is powered by the very latest and greatest eco-friendly equipment and technologies that have been developed over the last two years. This translates into increased productivity of 40-50% to service our customers that much faster!
Sustainability: With the installation of the “greener” equipment, the facility uses less energy and produces less waste. Wadsworth also added a new recycling center to process paper waste.
ecoCombo®: As of April, Wadsworth began producing the same overall packaging solutions with the addition of the industry’s first post-consumer recycled content program, ecoCombo®. Priced similar to Rohrer’s ezCombo® shared tooling solution, ecoCombo® also supports Rohrer’s CoE sustainability initiative.
New jobs – empowered training: Rohrer’s addition of the latest technology is matched only by its investment in job creation and employee training. Approximately 20 of the 40 new jobs have been filled to date.
Continuous improvement: The facility is already ISO certified, but the floor plan will adhere to Lean Manufacturing methodologies to optimize workflow via the whole manufacturing value stream – from raw materials in the door through finished goods out the door. In particular, Wadsworth has a Continuous Improvement (CI) manager onsite that leads a CI team. They are charged with identifying and rolling these out across our other manufacturing facilities.
Virtual customer approvals: As part of Rohrer’s go-to-market strategy, Wadsworth empowers customers with a virtual approval process. For example, if a customer has a large campaign that needs an expedited sign-off pre-production, they can do so virtually. This option also supports how Rohrer is meeting the need for virtual interactions during the pandemic.
Built-in Sanitation and Safety
As construction was well under way in early spring, the pandemic hit – and Wadsworth wasted no time with implementing safety protocols. The fact that they were in the midst of construction, enabled sanitation processes to be literally built-into the facility’s infrastructure.
Wadsworth…and Beyond
Rohrer’s first Center of Excellence at Wadsworth is actually a springboard…a model to be duplicated for future expansion. So, stay tuned as Rohrer breaks even more ‘go-to-market’ ground guided by its new mission and vision.
