Tim
Stansfield received his industrial engineering degree
in 1981 from the University of Toledo. His first eight
years were spent gaining experience, knowledge, and
contacts in the field of manufacturing. IET was founded
in 1989 with Stansfield as its president and sole employee
and as of April, 1999, it employed 110 people full-time.
Stansfield completed his MBA degree in 1989 and also
his doctoral degree in manufacturing management in 1997,
both while working full-time in the field of engineering
consulting.
IET, Inc. is a professional
engineering and consulting company. Initiated as a sole
proprietorship, Stansfield was the single employee for
the first year and begun work in various manufacturing
industries. The primary service provided for clients
was industrial engineering project work to improve the
manufacturing performance of their facilities. Leaving
a successful and stable management position with a large
Engineering/Architectural firm, Stansfield identified
a niche market for the specific services of industrial
engineering. The original strategy was to provide cost
effective and objective engineering services to manufacturing
companies during periods of significant company change.
The difficulties during the first year of service including
selling services beyond Stansfield's original contacts,
designing services that could be duplicated by future
employees, developing a financial strategy to support
the requirements of additional employees and capital,
and establishing a plan to encourage engineers to come
to work for IET.
Special skills include providing
consulting services for major manufacturing companies
to determine manufacturing plant sizes and locations,
manufacturing strategy design, and resource planning.
Stansfield has had work assignments throughout the United
States, Mexico, Europe and China. Stansfield is currently
working on an expert system design for NASA in Cape
Canaveral, Florida.
Stansfield received the Distinguished
Alumni Award from the University of Toledo College of
Engineering in October, 1998. This honor is awarded
to only a handful of alumni each year and is achieved
through selection by the professors and directors of
the College of Engineering.
The title of Stansfield's doctoral
dissertation was, "The Effects of Feedback and Goal
Setting on Manufacturing Productivity Improvement: A
Field Experiment in Manufacturing Cells." Research was
done in a field experiment to improve productivity in
a manufacturing facility through goal setting and feedback.
Specific computer models were developed for this experiment
and were implemented for a one year period. Significant
productivity improvement was achieved through this research
and has been the topic of numerous presentations and
publications by Stansfield.
In addition to founding IET,
Inc., Stansfield has recently entered the retail sales
field by establishing a running/inline skating specialty
store, named ROAD WARRIOR, with plans to duplicate
and franchise the store in the future. He has also established
Midwest Vector, Inc., a flight service company providing
transportation for IET, Inc., and is also co-owner of
a video rental store.
Through a period of ten years
of steady growth, IET now employs 110 people full-time
and has four offices including Toledo (corporate headquarters),
High Point, North Carolina; Grand Rapids, Michigan;
and Middletown, Ohio. Sales for 1998 were $5.5 million
in services and are forecast to reach $10 million in
1999.
A significant obstacle IET had
to overcome was ensuring the same quality of service
from all IET engineers. IET has established formal standards
and procedures for the services provided to ensure that
quality is maintained. This demonstrated history of
results and quality of services has allowed IET to continue
to grow and is further illustrated by IET's recent achievement
of ISO 9000 Quality Certification for the company.
IET has experienced a high level
of sales growth over its ten year history. IET has developed
detailed computer models to ensure consistency of service
and to measure performance of services provided. These
models are used internally, and have been trademarked
and packaged for sale directly to the engineering community.
IET has developed a strategy
of employee development that keeps engineers challenged
and motivated and has been able to match these developed
skills with customer requirements for productivity improvement
and industrial engineering services.
IET has devised a five-year
strategy to develop itself into a $30 million per year
company. This strategy includes: a financial plan to
meet increased payroll, cash flow and capital requirements;
a human resource plan to ensure that employees are challenged,
motivated and educated to meet the needs of the clients;
a marketing and sales plan that will develop new business
and continued repeat customer maintenance; and a compensation
plan for growth incentive.
A technical service plan has
been devised to ensure core competencies are maintained,
innovative techniques are acquired and new technologies
are utilized.
The development of IET into
a $30 million a year company will require a competitive
strategy to maintain costs. IET will continue to add
outside offices beyond its current four to approximately
14. Locations for the new offices will include the United
States and Europe.
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