On August 10th O’Neal Manufacturing Services (OMS) employees from Indianapolis, IN participated in the Habitat for Humanity Home Build at the Indiana State Fair.

This is the second year that the team has volunteered for this initiative. The Indianapolis group spent their Saturday caulking and painting houses for Jatio Skinner and Lillie Glenn.

Jatio is mother to son JayCeon (4). She is currently enrolled in the Accounting program at Ivy Tech Community College and needed affordable housing. Jatio wishes she could be more financially stable and improve her credit score, which are things Greater Indy Habitat assisted her with. Jatio stated, “I would like a home for my child to grow in and have stability. We’ve been in and out of places since he was born. We’ve been evicted, kicked out, and forced to stay in motels, however I would say it was all worth it in the end. I have accomplished a goal that I would have never thought would happen this soon in my life.” Now, Jatio can have peace of mind for her son growing up and focus on her schooling.

The second house that was built was for Lillie Glenn. She is employed at Eskenazi Health and is the caregiver for her father who was battling cancer and is now in remission. Lillie holds family at the top of her priority list and always puts them before herself. She said, “I’m looking for a clean, nice environment to start my life and feel proud that I have a place I can call mine. A home my family can come and relax and enjoy. A place I can love, fix up and never have to leave.” Lillie’s mother is currently a Habitat for Humanity graduate that has had her home for over 18 years and counting.

We applaud Indianapolis employees for continuing to prioritize and be involved in their area’s community service. Thank you, OMS Indianapolis! # LetsBuildThings

To learn more about Habitat for Humanity in Indianapolis, visit: http://indyhabitat.org/ag-build-info/

By design all O’Neal Manufacturing Services (OMS) locations are in, or near major manufacturing hubs such as Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Monterrey, Houston (and more) allowing single day travel. This coordinates project development and/or face to face meetings.

Each location is ISO 9001:2015 certified and contains a base package of equipment, with knowledgeable staff to support multi-step processing of steel plate fabrication and contract metal manufacturing. Many of our facilities have specialty equipment after years of supporting geographic concentrations of industry; others have become advanced by aligning with a single customer. Our services continue to develop from a capability standpoint based on strategic alignment with our customers. Our guarantee is simple- in exchange for your long-term commitment, we commit the full backing of our collective resources to help you go to market.

What makes a great state for manufacturing? It takes a combination of factors: an existing industrial base, the availability of talent, investment incentives, and favorable tax and regulatory environments. Global Trade magazine reveals the state of Texas has one of the most competitive incentive programs in the country. The Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) uses cash grants as a financial incentive to close deals that bring remarkable job creation and capital investment to the state. TEF has created more than 80,000 jobs since 2004 by investing $600 million across several industries. In 2015, the state passed a 25 percent reduction in the franchise tax, which frees up capital for companies to invest in their operations. Texas also offers sales tax exemptions on equipment and machinery. The state is positioned to provide its manufacturing industry with highly skilled workers from its population of one and a half million college and university students.

Louisville, Kentucky is another metro area with a growing, diverse range of industries. According to Forbes magazine, Louisville is listed as the eighth largest city where manufacturing is thriving in 2018. Our Louisville facility spans 125,000 square feet and focuses on multi-step processing of components and welded fabrications for long-term OEM partners. Another OMS facility in Cedar Falls, Iowa was part of a 2012 acquisition. Iowa Laser serves as one of the oldest laser processing facilities in the United States and today is one of the Midwest’s leaders in laser-based fabrication for equipment manufacturing. In addition to our locations in the United States, we expanded our team to Monterrey, Mexico, where leading industry expertise and product launch expertise is supplied to support customers in multiple industries. As one could imagine, how do we communicate with a language barrier? Many of our teammates at OMS Monterrey are bilingual and can easily translate for those who are not. We strive for easy communication between all our facilities and to our customers.

All OMS locations have been strategically placed to best serve those in need of manufacturing services. As our company continues to grow, we hope to expand near other major manufacturing hubs across North America. 

This week Marshall Trogdon celebrated 40 years of service with our O’Neal family!

Marshall works at our facility in Greensboro, NC as a QA Technician. He was born and always has lived in the Greensboro area. Marshall and his wife Janet have been married for 40 years and have 4 children: Toni, Mindy, Erica, and Marshall Jr.

Marshall started his career with Carolina Steel in 1979 as a Material Handler. Since the beginning of his career he has had many responsibilities such as: Overhead Crane Operator, Saw Operator, Shop Lead Man and then Metallurgical Test Engineer. In 2000 Marshall joined the Quality Team as the Southeast Region Lead Quality Auditor! Today he programs, operates, and trains others on the Romer CMM Inspection process.

In his spare time Marshall and Janet enjoy travelling and live entertainment. Marshall still loves coming to work everyday and appreciates the many good people that he has met and worked with at O’Neal Manufacturing Services (OMS). 

Everyone from OMS celebrates Marshall for being a hardworking, trusted, and loyal employee. Thank you for your service. #LETSBUILDTHINGS

Please help us to congratulate John Spencer, Production Control Manager, at our Pittsburgh, PA facility for his hard work and dedication!

We took a minute to ask some questions on what it’s like to work for O’Neal Manufacturing Services. Here’s what he had to say.

Where is your hometown? Monaca, PA

What motivates you to wake up and go to work? Being a result driven individual, I enjoy the daily challenges of an ever-changing production environment.

What do you do at our company? Production Control Manager.  I am responsible for our Production Supervisors, the downstream processes after raw material is consumed and the shipping schedule.

What does a typical day look like for you? I start off every morning by checking current orders to the plant that was put in place from the day before.  Then identify what will need completed, either in shipping or supervisor support.  Communication is critical, to ensure that everyone knows what the endgame is.  Then our team will work to confirm that freight is being maximized, and that the plant schedule will not fail.

What has been your favorite project so far? Implementing a shipping schedule that encompasses production planning and execution.  That also includes bridging the communication gap between Sales, Production and Shipping.  We have achieved this by laying out a shipping plan in advance and creating a standardized production scheduling method.

What’s something most people don’t know about you? I am in my tenth season as a PIAA Football Official.  I have officiated at both Heinz Field and Robert Morris for WPIAL Championship games.

How has OMS helped you in your career development? By demonstrating the importance of accountability and communication.  I am lucky to work with managers that are always setting challenging goals and planning the next step for a better result than the last.  “There is only one way to coast, and that’s downhill.”-Gus Cassida (General Manager- Pittsburgh)

What advice do you have for prospective OMS candidates? Everyone knows safety is important, but you must believe it and live by it.  Never think “it won’t happen to me”.  Also don’t be afraid to get out of your comfort zone, if a job opening comes up, don’t be afraid to bid on it.  Ask for help when you need it, or suggestions to make the process better.

What have you gained from working at OMS? A well-rounded understanding of what is needed in our business from all aspects.  And an understanding of the different cause and affects with decision making.

What is your proudest moment at OMS? Successfully keeping the plant in full production mode and not delaying shipping with the Epicor Conversion.

What does true leadership mean to you? True leadership is a way of life.  You cannot be a leader on a part time basis, meaning you must always lead by example.  You cannot expect someone to do something that you wouldn’t do.  Leadership is understanding and identifying spots for improvement, then working together toward a solution.  Motivation is key to successful plan, and a level head will always prevail.

You’re happiest when? When anything that is in my control is complete and I know I have given everything I could to it.

Thank you for your communication, planning, and focus John. Way to go!

O’Neal Manufacturing Services’ Houston facility is having a great year so far!

The team is currently adding a new 6’x12’ 9kW Amada Fiber Laser in August with full tower automation. This machine is capable of cutting 1” thick Mild Steel, Stainless Steel, and Aluminum and can run unattended through the weekend. Additionally, the new machine is more energy efficient, utilizing up to 90% less electricity per cutting watt than a traditional laser, with well over double the weekly output of our current machines!

While new machinery is being added to this facility, our Houston team is prioritizing zero accidents first. Safety Manager, James Roch, has been leading numerous projects to improve the safety of our employees and visitors. For instance, James added a safety slideshow at the entry into the office with a sign-off sheet that vendors and visitors must complete to enter the building. Increasing awareness is a key factor as the facility pursues zero accidents.

Our Houston facility is right in the center of energy, rail, heavy equipment, and general fabrication manufacturers and contractors. Eric Simpson, OMS-Houston’s Assistant General Manager, believes Houston’s greatest strength is “working out exceptionally cost-effective solutions for customer needs” not only in Texas, but in surrounding states as well.  The sales and engineering group is also creating value for our customers by collaborating on cost-savings that improve manufacturing abilities and optimize processes – the current projects are so successful that we anticipate that they will continue well into 2020.

Recently, O’Neal Manufacturing Services (OMS) was featured in a news release in The Fabricator, a publication of the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, for our use of automated deburring to improve productivity, quality, and safety in the workplace.

As laser, plasma, and oxyfuel cutting technologies are used on our shop floor, our “safety-critical” products sometimes require multiple hands on deck. For instance, four or five people used to be required in the grinding area, and the work was often divided amongst eight people in three shifts to complete a job. Our Indianapolis facility was impacted by this “tedious” task, as strenuous workers were put at risk of injury by manually grinding and a pile up of parts began to overload the team. Located in one of the top U.S. manufacturing states with a low unemployment rate, OMS Indy was not able to hire from a large pool of available workers. How did our Indy facility respond to a small demand of workers amid a high staff turnover?

Daniel Webster, OMS Engineering Manager, conversed with colleagues in Indy to assess the productivity of the grinding process. As the current tactic led to a staff shortage, demand overload, and safety risks, a new course of action was to be made. It was soon decided to transition to automated deburring.

Several deburring machines by ARKU were inspected before our Indy team decided on the EdgeBreaker 4400. This machine allowed our employees to run diagnostics under real production scenarios instead of relying on performance figures to make decisions. The EdgeBreaker 4400 can deburr parts from 0.03 to 3.94 in. thick double-sided, which enables a variety of equipment parts to be produced for customers of different industries.

The EdgeBreaker 4400 quickly resolved an overflow of products as it was installed in October 2018. In record time, the machine operates 1.5 shifts a day, saving the manual labor previously incurring 3 shifts. As a result of this investment, higher output is achieved, the quality of parts has improved, and the safety and time of our employees is better delegated.

We are honored to be featured on The Fabricator and celebrate our Indy facility for their smart investment!

To read the full article, visit https://www.thefabricator.com/news/safety/metal-fabricator-improves-productivity-quality-and-safety-with-automated-deburring. #LetsBuildThings

In an industry where materials are being shipped out every day, high on-time delivery rates (OTDRs) serve great importance to a manufacturing company.

On-time delivery (OTD) is the main metric used to measure the efficiency of supply chain processes in an organization. It is an indicator of how capable your organization is to meet customer demand in terms of the requested delivery date (RDD). Failing to meet your customers’ requests can lead to all sorts of negative outcomes. Worst case? You lose your customers to competitors.

At O’Neal Manufacturing Services (OMS), we take pride in our exceptionally high on-time delivery rates in Indianapolis, Indiana. In order to appreciate high OTDRs, it is important to first understand what OTD encompasses.

A multitude of measurement factors influence OTD, these being working days vs. calendar days, ship date vs. dock date, promise date vs. required date, original promise date vs. revised promise date, percent of line item vs. percent of quantity ordered, and purchaser vs. supplier data. There is often confusion regarding these measurement factors, and it is important for customers and suppliers to be on the same page to ease the delivery process. Common questions include “Do five days early include weekends and holidays,” or “Does OTD date refer to the shipment date or date received?” When scheduling a delivery, a decision must be made to go by the working day or calendar day to settle misunderstanding regarding weekends and holidays. To determine the OTD date, the most common practice is to use the dock date, when the item is received. As deliveries can lead to easy confusion, communication is key between suppliers and customers.

According to records on The Fabricator, a publication of the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association (FMA), OTDRs have remained in the mid-80 percent range for years now. OMS Indianapolis has blown these numbers out of the waters with an OTDR of 99%.

Federico Fraga, General Manager, shared some insight on how Indianapolis operates and maintains such high OTDRs. Fraga expressed that Indy follows their sales and operations planning (S&OP) process each month and plans accordingly with resource forecasts such as machining capacity, personnel, and material. The facility then sends information from these forecasts to suppliers who will prepare for the required volumes. Indy’s production control team schedules orders according to due dates, while they monitor machine availability and capacity every week. Fraga shared that OTD and past dues are monitored daily, while weekly group analyses are conducted to distinguish what is produced and what is past due. If the team is ever behind on an order, they catch back up by placing more resources on the machine or working overtime.

As The Fabricator indicates, majority of companies struggle with OTD because of demand spikes or miscommunication with customers. Fraga ensures our facility in Indianapolis is stocked with the necessary resources to meet demand, while maintaining constant communication with customers to prevent confusion. In fact, a daily production meeting is conducted to discuss orders and priorities with customer service representatives (CSR) for clarification.

Through superb communication skills and production monitoring, OMS Indianapolis continues to sustain high on time delivery rates. Way to go! #LetsBuildThings

Back in 1998, O’Neal Steel (OMS’ sister company) expanded outside of the United States to open a facility in Monterrey, Mexico.

This 240,000 square foot plant specializes in the production of complex weldments and assemblies. Our team in Monterrey has extensive knowledge on lift truck and construction weldments and offers leading industry expertise and product launch expertise to support customers in multiple industries.

In December of 2018, OMS Monterrey began partnering with Pequitas de amor, a non-profit organization that supports childhood cancer through altruistic blood donations. The founder of the group is the mother of a childhood cancer survivor, and she established the group as a result of the lack of blood in the hospital during her child’s battle with cancer. Members of the organization visit kids in the hospital every weekend and engage in fun activities with them. Twice a year, on International Children’s Day (April 30^th) and one day during Christmas time, a party is organized at the hospital in which volunteers dress up as clowns, mimes, princesses, and animals while the children open gifts and munch on candy.

Pequitas de amor reaches out to schools, universities, and enterprises who are interested in donating blood in support of the cause. All necessary equipment such as couches and tables are provided to ease the donation process. Additionally, a small team of nurses and doctors attend the blood campaigns to check the health of the potential donator for their eligibility to participate. Our Monterrey facility has participated in two blood campaigns thus far, with 25 and 41 employees in attendance at the two events.

OMS Monterrey hopes to continue their partnership with Pequitas de amor through future blood campaigns and other activities the organization has in store. #LetsBuildThings #LetsBuildPartnerships #LetsBuildACure

O’Neal Manufacturing Services (OMS) in Greensboro, North Carolina celebrated their first Employee Appreciation Event. We celebrated many major accomplishments including six months without a lost time injury, under PPM goal, and on time delivery goals. We did this while preparing for our new ERP system that went live on July 1st. OMS takes pride in the hard work of our employees and the dedication they bring to work everyday. Nothing makes us happier than to give back to them on this day.

We would like to thank our customers and suppliers for their donations to help make this event more special. Partnerships between our employees, our customers, and our suppliers is what makes the environment at OMS so great. We strive to better our performance in the coming months, and look forward to many Employee Appreciation Events in the future. Our President and CEO, Kent Brown, came to show his appreciation for our teammates as well as other department heads at the Birmingham, Alabama central office. Big thanks to Matt Moon, General Manager of OMS Greensboro, for hosting the first of many Employee Appreciation Events.

Take some time to check out these awesome pictures of the event that we captured. #LetsBuildSafety #LetsBuildPartnerships

Federico Fraga, General Manager for O’Neal Manufacturing Services (OMS) in Indianapolis, Indiana, has been working with our team for over 14 years now. He shared at his facility, employees prioritize safety, quality, and delivery. One of Indy’s strengths is having a very diverse workforce, from tenured employees with 40 + years of experience to new employees that bring fresh ideas to the team. This has allowed the facility to become a learning organization that values teamwork, continuous improvement, and employee participation.

OMS Indy specializes in many industries including Energy, Elevators, Construction, and Agriculture. Fraga revealed that Indy has recently welcomed in new machinery such as angle lines, lasers, machining centers, and blasting machines. Additionally, new safety committee teams are in order to prevent worker injuries.

Darius Nettles, OMS Sales Manager, has instantly picked up on the passion from Indy’s employees in the short time he has been with our team. Our Indy facility takes pride in connecting with customers and helping others in the community. Within the past year, the team has participated in Habitat for Humanity and the Laundry and More initiative. OMS employees donated supplies such as trash bags, fabric softener, and laundry soup to account for about 2000 loads of laundry. RTV6 with ABC News aired the story in late May, as Laundry and More founder, Abby Vesga, shared that since OMS’s donations, new organizations have come by every week in support of the cause.

As a part of the OMS team, our Indy employees have celebrated fun times together at facility events like Chili Cook-offs and Christmas lunches. Future gatherings are in store for summer cookouts and Top Golf. 

When asked where the future of Indianapolis is going, Fraga believes that we will achieve “world-class operation excellence” that will allow continuous growth with current and new customers. #LetsBuildThings