Custom polybags with short lead times: Mission and Vision

6-13-16

A few years ago, we met regularly with the Center of Economic Growth (CEG http://www.ceg.org) here in Albany NY with the purpose of re-setting our mission and vision statements.    Those statements are often long and seemingly in name-only.  We wanted to create a mission and vision statement that was simple,  that would drive our decisions  for years to come and kept us all focused on what was important.   The statements needed to fit who we were and what we were best at doing: supplying custom polybags with short lead times.  The process took a lot longer than anticipated but we were able to develop statements that have driven our business ever since.

Mission Statement:  To help people acquire custom bags.  At first glance, the statement seems simplistic but the words were carefully chosen to fit our company.

• HELP—we are here to help people. Ordering custom bags can be complex.  Getting the construction, print, material type and exact size can only be known through sampling, diagram and interaction with the client.      All seventy people who work at ClearView Packaging know we are here to help in whatever means we can.
• ACQUIRE—people come to us because they have a need. There are times when we can help them acquire bags.  There are times when it is determined the custom polybags they need falls outside our capabilities.  If we cannot make the bags, we will help find a source for the client.
• CUSTOM—we are a custom manufacturer. We are not a stock-house nor are we an importer of generic bags.  We make custom polybags with short lead-times.   We help people acquire custom polybags.

Vision Statement:  3 weeks in 3 years.   At the time of creations, our standard lead time was four weeks.   Our vision was to reduce the lead time on all custom bags we made to three weeks within three years.   Through innovative means of looking at our business in regards to procedures, inventory, machinery and labor shifts, we have been able to accomplish the three week vision with adding on average 20% free capacity.  The 20% capacity allows us to help people in need of rushes.  The added free capacity will stay in place as it reinforces our mission statement of helping people.

The mission and vision statements have been invaluable for us in our quest to be totally focused.  Every decision we make is looked at thru the prism of these two statements.  If a machine buy, potential hire, new procedure etc will not help people acquire custom bags faster, then we decide against the pursuit of that idea.

The mission will remain the same over time.  We need to help people acquire custom bags.  Helping is about speed in getting people get their custom polybag with short lead-times.   The vision will change over time as the business changes.   In a world centered on speed, the feeling is the next vision will be about pushing limits even further to increasing the speed per order and drive down lead-times.

The picture shows the mission statement, vision statement and our guiding values as posted on the manufacturing wall at ClearView Packaging in Albany NY.

Thanks for reading!