Brazeway Delivering Results with Process Based Leadership
Brazeway, Inc., a privately held company, is the world’s largest producer of frost-free evaporator coils and a leading global supplier of aluminum heat transfer tubing and components for Appliance, HVAC, and Automotive Air-conditioning.
The Challenge
Upon recognizing the need to make performance improvements, Brazeway’s senior leaders determined the need to leverage their employees’ strengths via business-focused work teams and a robust communication process. They set sites on “being the best” and creating a culture of empowerment and personal accountability. Additionally, they determined to set their strategic goals based all the criteria laid out by Industry Week for Top 5 Manufacturers.
The Solution
Working closely with senior leaders, CSI helped Brazeway develop a comprehensive plan to implement a business alignment system called Process Based Leadership® (PBL). The plan included a transition to a team-directed workforce, the implementation of accountability processes, the creation of a business scorecard, and the development of a meeting-driven communication process.
Some of the tactical components of Brazeway’s PBL implementation include: weekly communication meetings focused on performance, business scorecards for every team in the organization providing connectivity to the bottom line, team problem-solving and decision-making processes to guide performance improvement efforts, all paired with auditable processes to drive business results.
Brazeway aligned all these processes in such a way that all employees have become business performance experts resulting in business-focused decisions made at the appropriate levels by the appropriate people.
“Our employees are our greatest asset. Empowering them with bottom-line business accountability has been, and will continue to be, the key to our growth and success,” proclaims President and CEO Stephanie Boyse.
The Results
During a six-year period following the implementation of Process Based Leadership®, Brazeway’s sales tripled and their profits grew by 260%. Brazeway shares its financial success with all of its employees through a bonus plan based on the company’s profitability and individual or departmental objectives that are tied to the company’s annual return on net assets. All employees feel like they are true owners in the company.
“We should be very proud of what we’ve accomplished, yet never satisfied that we have reached our potential,” adds Ms. Boyse.
Industry Recognition
Brazeway, Inc. was named one of Industry Week’s Top 5 Manufacturers. They sit in good company with other award winners, such as Toyota, Merck and Nestle.