08. Aug, 2016
Tony Stefanelli, VP of Business Development
Elegant refinement doesn’t mean we’ve gussied up our work shirts with cufflinks and bow ties. We’re talking about more refined and sophisticated product design.
The technical definition of elegant is something that is, to paraphrase Einstein, “simple as possible, but no simpler.” For Spee-Dee, that means fewer—but better—parts. A part that’s not on a machine is one that never needs to be cleaned or inventoried, is never out of stock and it will never break.
Over the last few years, we’ve made elegant refinements to our drive heads and many of our accessories. Parts are now easier to make and to assemble, and some of them perform more than one job.
But we’ve been careful not to lose the forest through the trees, remembering that elegance needs to apply to maintenance as well: five simple machines that all need their own specialized tools and equipment aren’t simple at all.
Minor modifications and tiny tweaks might not sound impressive on paper, but they all add up to a more fine-tuned design. Elegant refinement means Spee-Dee fillers are easier to assemble, clean and service. Looking through the lens of elegant refinement has helped us tighten up other processes as well, like communication and tracking. This can lead to reduced lead times and lower product costs.
When a customer looks at their new machine and thinks, “that’s a nice looking machine,” and the people servicing them think, “this machine is easy to work on,” and when the assemblers think, “that was really easy to put together” — that’s elegant refinement!