For Immediate Release

Donnelly Tapped by Ecowater to be its Short Run Partner

Alexandria, Minn. - June 23, 2008 - EcoWater, a leading manufacturer of residential and commercial water treatment products, recently selected Donnelly Custom Manufacturing Company as its short run supplier of molded parts. EcoWater chose Donnelly due to its expertise in short run manufacturing, project management and large takeover projects.

“Our longstanding reputation as the leader in short-run manufacturing gave EcoWater the confidence to choose Donnelly to assist them with their Outsource 20/80 program,” said Ron Kirscht, president of Donnelly. “Short run molding is not often an easy task and can definitely present significant challenges for most molders. With competition and outsourcing viewed as threats to today’s molder, outsourcing non-core competencies such as short run is a good step in remaining relevant and more profitable.”

After conducting an evaluation and selection process that included some of its current suppliers, EcoWater decided Donnelly was the best choice to handle its short run production needs. Because EcoWater’s molding is 20 percent short run and 80 percent long run, the company believed a change was needed to better streamline their internal processes and optimize their overall manufacturing model.

“By choosing to outsource our short run molding to Donnelly, we are now in a better position to focus our attention on long run production,” said John Prediger, purchasing manager at EcoWater. “Donnelly is a good fit for us and their commitment to providing extensive engineering and project management support has been beneficial in making this a smooth transition.”

While the parts Donnelly is manufacturing have been in the marketplace for years, the company was still able to make significant contributions by reducing press sizes and identifying alternative raw materials that led to lower part costs. Further, the capabilities of Donnelly’s Manufacturing Launch Team put them in a position to perform a complete engineering review of the project as well as manage the tool evaluation, sampling process, dimensional inspection and production launch. Donnelly’s ability to handle these tasks significantly reduced the burden on the EcoWater team, allowing them to focus on their day-to-day responsibilities.

A classic example of a win/win outcome for both companies, Donnelly hopes to continue building upon its relationship with EcoWater and expand into other areas such as assembly work and lean manufacturing initiatives.

About Donnelly
Based in Alexandria, Minn., DonnellyÍs 220 employees are dedicated to setting the standards in the custom injection molding marketplace for ñHow Short Run Is Done.î The companyÍs focus is on providing its OEM customers with value added engineering, manufacturing and customer support services. The companyÍs engineering team, which is headquartered in the Twin Cities, works on-site at customer locations to ensure design for manufacturability and project management, while its agile manufacturing process allows for Just-in-Time short run production. A strong customer service orientation ensures that customer satisfaction levels exceed industry standards at every point of contact.

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