Manufacturing Partner
Pulva Corporation – A precision manufacturer specializing in pulverizing and size reduction equipment, Pulva supports a range of industries with high-volume production of critical wear parts, including industrial hammers.
Learn more: www.pulva.com
Challenge
Following a detailed strategic roadmap developed with the Digital Foundry, Pulva prioritized its hammer production line for deeper analysis and operational improvements. The company faced increasing labor demands, an aging workforce, and upcoming capital investment needs. To remain competitive and increase profitability, Pulva sought to uncover process inefficiencies, improve operational consistency, and reduce quality variability.
Solution
The Digital Foundry at New Kensington led a structured Value Stream Mapping (VSM) engagement to analyze Pulva’s hammer line. Working closely with leadership and production teams, DFNK facilitated:
- End-to-end current state mapping of material, labor, and process flow
- Identification of key operational bottlenecks, labor-intense areas, and quality pain points
- Analysis of production data and historical performance
- Education on lean principles and value stream methodology
- A prioritized improvement matrix and future-state flow path
A key focus area identified was welding, a critical operation that significantly impacted quality, efficiency, and downstream consistency. DFNK led a deeper-dive engagement targeting the welding process as a quick-win opportunity. This included:
- An educational assessment of process, weld quality and capital improvement options
- A decision matrix to guide selection of welding solutions
- Development of a weld quality test matrix to baseline current output and assess improvements
The outcome of this initiative was the selection and successful integration of a new collaborative robotic welding cell, enabling improved product flow, quality control, and consistency across the hammer production line.
Impact
This engagement equipped Pulva with both a short-term improvement project and a long-term roadmap for transformation. The welding cell upgrade delivered measurable gains in quality and throughput while reducing operator burden. The VSM process created a structured foundation for continuous improvement, enabling Pulva to align capital investments with operational priorities and mitigate future workforce and production risks.
“The Digital Foundry partnered with our team to develop a thoughtful strategic roadmap built on employee surveys and in-depth discussions, giving us clarity and direction. Their work in mapping one production area, implementing a value stream map, and creating Standard Operating Procedures was thorough, practical, and has already added real value to our operations.”
– Catie Morley, President of Pulva Corporation
