Epec Engineered Technologies (New Bedford, Mass.) is the recent winner of a manufacturing award for overall excellence from the Providence Business News’s 2018 Manufacturing Awards.

Throughout 2017, Epec improved its supply chain management by consolidating small package air freight into a Hong Kong UPS warehouse.

“This consolidation helped us increase speed of our shipments arriving in New Bedford, adds an extra level of package inspection and verification and allows us to ship at higher volumes,” president of Epec Kendall Paradise said.

The company also expanded its employee numbers by adding inspectors and engineers in its China facility.

Epec changed its approach to lean manufacturing in 2017 as well. It now includes implementing a visual workplace, employee cross training and multipoint inspections. Doing so allowed the company to double its manufacturing staff in a few years.

“All our processes continue to evolve as we focus on bringing more value to our customers. Every employee has a goal to find a way to automate or cut out steps in the process so that we can have everyone epsning more time on activities that the customer finds valuable,” Ed McMahon, CEO of Epec, said.

Epec was one of 13 other manufacturers to win a manufacturing award from the Providence Business News. The ceremony was held in Providence, R.I. on March 8.