Posts by C.A. Lawton
6S: A powerful engine for improvement at Lawton
An organization is like a machine and its departments are like the cogs that make it run. In order to function effectively, it requires proper tools and maintenance. At The C.A. Lawton Co., departmental 6S audits are one of the Lean tools we use to maintain continuous improvement. It enables us to operate like a…
Read MoreMiracle League is a home run for Lawton employees
Miracle League is an organization that gives children ages four to 19 with cognitive or physical disabilities the opportunity to play baseball. Several Lawton employees who have volunteered to help the Fox Valley Miracle League say the experience is a home run. Miracle League began in Georgia in 1998 when Rockdale Youth Baseball Association’s coach…
Read More9 industries that rely on castings
Metal casters can develop complex shapes in many sizes using a wide variety of materials with unique properties that serve many different purposes. That’s why metal castings are vital to many key industries such as agriculture, healthcare, and mining. Without castings, these industries and the role they play in our everyday lives wouldn’t be the…
Read More5 challenges facing Wisconsin manufacturers
This article from the St. Norbert College newsletter highlights five challenges that Wisconsin manufacturers are likely to face in the years ahead. It features the expert opinion of Marc Schaffer, associate professor of economics at the Donald J. Schneider School of Business and Economics at St. Norbert College, whose thinking closely parallels that of Lawton’s…
Read MoreThe importance of the casting industry
Many people are aware that manufacturing is important, but far fewer people are aware of how important the casting industry is. It’s responsible for parts that fuel everyday life, the economy and many other industries. As we celebrate this year’s Manufacturing Month, we wanted to take a closer look at the casting industry and all…
Read MoreHands-on learning styles drive success at Lawton
According to educator Edgar Dale, who invented the Cone of Experience, we retain about 20% of what we see, 40-50% of what we see and hear and 90% of what we see, hear and do. That’s why hands-on, experiential learning is a staple in employee success and satisfaction at The C.A. Lawton Co. Although the…
Read MoreMetal casting industry fun facts
A large part of continuous improvement culture is continuous learning. Many people don’t know a great deal about the casting industry or how important it is to our everyday lives. Here’s an opportunity to learn more about it. According to the American Foundry Society (AFS), in an article entitled Metalcasting Facts and Tidbits written for…
Read MoreThe relationship between safety and sustainability
Our number one priority at The C.A. Lawton Co. is safety. When you focus on it as much as we do, you tend to notice how intertwined safety is with other important areas like sustainability. Noticing these connections is very beneficial because it allows Lawton to better integrate sustainability into our everyday work. We want…
Read MoreLawton holds 4th annual e-waste recycling event
Every year, The C.A. Lawton Co. likes to go above and beyond to help our big, beautiful planet. One of the ways we do that is through our annual e-waste recycling event, which was held in August for the fourth time. It’s a day when employees can bring in electronics such as televisions, phones, laptops,…
Read MoreLean and green at Lawton
At the core of both sustainability and Lean is the concept of waste reduction. Lean focuses on reducing process waste. Sustainability focuses on reducing environmental waste. By acknowledging the similarities between these two frameworks, we open new doors for how organizations can integrate both Lean and sustainability into the workplace. In order to successfully employ…
Read MorePuerto Rican workers fit right in at Lawton
In a previous article, we talked about how we were bringing in 16 employees from Puerto Rico to help support our team here at The C.A. Lawton Co., and to help them support their families in the hurricane-ravaged country. This was made possible through an organization dedicated to connecting U.S. companies with workers from Puerto…
Read MoreCustomer benefits of LEAN
LEAN. When we remove the culinary connotations of the word and apply it to manufacturing, we are referring to the idea of maximizing customer value. Therefore, to title this blog as Customer Benefits of LEAN represents a level of redundancy that even Monty Python would admire. But let us describe how the principles of LEAN…
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