Sixty-Six Year Old Manufacturer’s Breakout Success Exemplifies Revitalization of U.S. Industry

May 6, 2014 - PRLog -- WINONA, MN, April 22, 2014– Miller Ingenuity, an industry-leading component solutions designer, manufacturer, and distributor, today announced it has achieved multiple notable corporate milestones, including quadruple growth, innovation initiatives, a successful rebranding, and several key acquisitions. These and other progress benchmarks reflect that the company is helping lead the charge of the overarching manufacturing sector recovery as well as the extent to which it is spurring needed change in the transportation sector in which the company directly operates.

“Our impressive growth and success on multiple fronts reflects not only our own resiliency, aptitude, and adaptability for weathering macro and micro economic shocks, but also demonstrates what’s possible as executives collectively seek to turn the tide on the once bloated and broken American manufacturing sector that was rife with figuratively fat, dumb, and happy CEOs who had undermined industrial progress at large,” notes Blue. “The environment is ripe for U.S. manufacturing to be bigger than ever, and my ‘lean operations’ model has transformed our own company, the railway and transportation sectors, as well as the manufacturing industry overall. The rest of the industry has both the opportunity and ability to follow suit, and it’s imperative it does if America is to stay competitive in today’s cutthroat global marketplace.

“I do not want to see even one more American company get eviscerated by a foreign predator,” notes Blue. “I am on a crusade to revive American manufacturing and save American jobs.  I’m personally educating others in the industry on how exactly to fix bloated and broken companies, how to make good companies great, and how to make great companies greater.  Until these lessons are learned and well-utilized, America will continue to lag amid burgeoning international threats.”

Miller Ingenuity’s recent achievements include, but are not limited to, the following:

1)    Acquires Larry McGee Company

On March 31^st, Miller Ingenuity acquired the Larry McGee Company, based in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. Miller Ingenuity brings additional engineering, operations, and sales resources to support the Larry McGee range of products and services, which has served the railroad industry, manufacturers, and government entities for over 30 years.  Of special interest to Miller Ingenuity is Larry McGee’s DTMF Activator, which provides a simple method of remote control for gates, lights, switches, etc.  This innovation will make railroad crossings safer, providing for safer roadways and reducing the number of incidents that, despite regulations and additional safety efforts, has increased by 7.9% since 2009 (1,934 incidents to 2,087), according to the Federal Railroad Administration.

2)    Announces sweeping innovation initiatives

In alignment with the new innovation focus developed with former QVC Chief Culture Officer Steve Van Valin, corporate brand specialist Gerry Lantz, and led by the executive team, the implementation of a number of sweeping innovation initiatives is underway. Among these, Blue recently announced the first winners of the Miller Ingenuity Innovation Award, which is a program that recognizes the efforts of employees company-wide for developing ideas and solutions that increase accuracy, customizability, and speed to market relating to the company’s product line.  Additionally, Blue announced two significant initiatives for 2015: First, Minnesota’s first corporate “Creation Station,” focused on ingenuity, a facility extension designed to allow team members to spend time thinking about customer challenges and developing solutions through brainstorming, creating, and collaborating on innovative ideas.  Second, the company announced Ingenuity University™, which will serve as an innovation institute for mid-size company executives in the manufacturing and transportation industries.

3)    Engineers and executes innovative solutions for international clientele
One of Miller Ingenuity’s major growth initiatives has been expanding the company’s international footprint.  In the last year, the company furthered those efforts by providing customized solutions for customers in Poland and Kazakhstan.  In Poland, the company helped modernize a fleet of Russian-built locomotives that used old-style metal pedestal liners.  Miller Ingenuity adapted a Versylon Pedestal Liner, creating the perfect solution and resulting in additional orders.  In Kazakhstan, a state-owned railway was experiencing reliability problems with its motor and wheelset assemblies on Russian-made ТЭ10 locomotives manufactured in the 1960s.

4)    Rebrands the company to honor its heritage, better reflect company culture, and focus on clients

To maintain the Miller Ingenuity family heritage of the last 66 years while updating the name to reflect its history of innovation, one word was changed to encapsulate aspects of the modern company’s culture, operating philosophy, and service to customers:  “Ingenuity.”   The new Miller Ingenuity logo strongly asserts that the company invents solutions to customers’ problems, designs products with expert engineering, and delivers on customer expectations. The classic locomotive is a symbol of the company’s heritage—the forward thrust of the image and the typeface figuratively leans into the future—it’s all about accelerating forward motion.

5)    Creates a phone mobile APP to help clients stay up to date on product line innovations, anytime and anywhere

Continuing the company’s commitment to rapid client response, Miller Ingenuity launched a branded APP that allows current and potential customers to readily view the product line and query product specialists, also serving as a convenient service for inventory managers.

6)    Continues efforts to be socially conscious
Miller Ingenuity focuses on strategic business decisions that are also socially conscious to protect, care for, and sustain the local communities where it does business. While the company is now developing a formal corporate social responsibility program, it also looks to Blue to take an active role in the community through his pro bono work on boards and committees, including theWinona Health Board and Executive Committee as well as a special committee created for the purpose of building a new YMCA in the local area. Additionally, Miller Ingenuity executive Randy Skarlupka serves on the Board of the local United Way.