While northern Ontario mining service and supply firms look at how to ride out the recession in the coming year, Sudbury's Jeff Fuller has his own solution for the downturn, and it's one with proven results.

The answer, says the president and CEO of Fuller Industrial, lies in the principles of "lean manufacturing."

"It really does make a difference, and it's well worth the effort," said Fuller to a packed hall at the Sudbury Area Mining Service and Supply Association's (SAMSSA) annual general meeting at the local Howard Johnson on Dec. 9.

Inspired by a book about the industrial philosophy called The Toyota Way, Fuller contacted author Jeffrey Liker and was pointed in the direction of Pierre LeBlanc of the Quebec-based Sento Consultants Inc.

With 18 months of LeBlanc's help, Fuller's business has seen big changes: productivity has doubled, while simultaneously improving customer satisfaction and profits.

At the SAMSSA meeting, LeBlanc outlined how much of the strategy involves the elimination of wasteful practices and tapping into the old adage of "working smarter, not harder."

With a client list including Boeing and Africa's Alcan Ghana, LeBlanc says the process can sometimes involve deliberately creating problems to highlight the hidden root causes behind corporate inefficiencies.

It's up to company leadership to make the case to employees so that each one becomes an independent "lean ambassador," rather than relying on a strictly top-down push, he says.

Inspired by Fuller's results, SAMSSA is looking at the potential for creating a broader regional partnership with Leblanc's firm in the coming year, according to Dick DeStefano, SAMSSA's executive director.   

The project would lead to a sort of "Sento institute," and would initially bring in a handful of local companies interested in pursuing this system.

Such measures become increasingly important as local suppliers have seen an estimated average workforce reduction of 25 per cent across the north.  

This drop has found many other suppliers seeking their own solutions for how to emerge from the recession, a question posed to SAMSSA members at the meeting.

Continuing a theme long embraced by the association, DeStefano encouraged local suppliers to consider casting their gaze to other markets beyond the Sudbury basin.

"Stop looking at the smokestacks," he said. "There are other places, and there are lots of good things happening."

This was reinforced by Sault Ste. Marie's Dave Rector, of Rector Machine Works, who says the solution to survival in the coming year is simple: "Diversify as much as you can."

It's a strategy that newly minted SAMSSA president Marc Boudreau hopes the 100-plus members of the association will take to heart, not only on an individual basis but as a greater whole.

Boudreau, who also serves as president of Bestech, says local companies need to look at how to work together, and determine where non-competing firms can complement one another to flex their business muscles on the international stage.

"It's true that we can compete locally, but we got to get over that, because the bigger prize is the global economy," says Boudreau. "That's coming this year, and we have to learn to deal with that, and the best way to do that is to collectively understand the strengths of the various companies, team up and go after the world."

Sudbury's mining community certainly has the ability to do so, says Fred Stanford, former president of Vale Inco's Ontario operations. Local firms have every reason to be confident about their ability to compete globally, he says.  

"The angst and upheaval always fascinated me because this is the best collection of supply and service companies in the world."

Stanford, who is currently working with Laurentian University to help develop a school of mines, was recently appointed president and CEO of the Vancouver-based Gleichen Resources.

There, Stanford hopes to move a four-million-ounce gold resource at its Morelos Project in Mexico to 10 million ounces, a move which may well involve tapping into Sudbury's wealth of knowledge, he says.

((Article by Nick Stewart, from sister publication Northern Ontario Business.))