CASE STUDIES

KAM Plastics Corp

KAM Plastics increases labor efficiency by 10% with support from Intouch Monitoring

KAM Plastics Corp. is an employee-owned injection molding and assembly specialist based in Holland, Michigan. Established in 1994, the company has grown to serve a broad range of sectors including automotive, furniture, consumer, military, and electrical industries

KAM Plastics Improves Operational Efficiency Thanks to Intouch

Known for its engineering excellence, flexible approach and commitment to quality, KAM Plastics combines innovative design, advanced manufacturing and assembly expertise to deliver reliable, high-performance plastic components.

As customer expectations and industry standards continued to rise, KAM Plastics recognized the need to improve visibility and control across its production operations. Leadership identified that achieving greater process stability, faster changeovers and more proactive quality management would be key to meeting customer demand and strengthening competitive advantage.

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The challenge

Before implementing Intouch, KAM Plastics was facing increasing challenges with data visibility, efficiency, and process consistency.

KAM Plastics lacked the live visibility and reliable data it needed to manage efficiency. Downtime was poorly tracked, OEE wasn’t calculated, and there was often a delay of several days before the team discovered performance issues.

Measuring efficiency was proving problematic as existing processes could only provide actionable information a week later, slowing down decision-making and negatively impacting margins.

To remain a supplier of choice, KAM Plastics needed a way to reduce waste, increase uptime, and deliver consistent, traceable quality – all without adding headcount or complexity to its production processes.

Identifying a solution

KAM Plastics began by conducting a comprehensive review of its entire production and inspection workflow – from mold set-up and processing through to assembly.

After evaluating several Manufacturing Execution System (MES) options, the team selected Intouch Monitoring for its intuitive interface, proven performance in plastics manufacturing, and ability to integrate seamlessly with existing machines and ERP systems. The goal was to create a connected production environment where real-time data could be accessed and acted upon instantly.

Intouch’s cloud-based platform provided live dashboards, automatic downtime and scrap tracking, and the ability to monitor OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) across all machines. The system would enable supervisors to identify and respond to inefficiencies as they occurred, while operators gained visibility of performance targets directly at the machine.

As one operations manager explained:

“We needed more than a reporting tool – we wanted a system that helped us act in real time. Intouch gave us that visibility and control. Within weeks we could see where time was being lost and make changes immediately.”

Greg Smith, Operations Manager explains: “We were in the market for an MES system because we just did not have good visibility of our operations and whether we were winning or losing. We had really poor downtime data. We did not understand our OEE. Efficiency was only able to be reviewed the week after. A lot of the information we had was rear-view mirror data. We needed real-time data that we could take action with.”

'We were in the market for an MES system because we just did not have good visibility of our operations and whether we were winning or losing. We had really poor downtime data. We did not understand our OEE. Efficiency was only able to be reviewed the week after. A lot of the information we had was rear-view mirror data. We needed real-time data that we could take action with.'

Greg Smith, Operations Manager

The Benefits

The introduction of Intouch Monitoring delivered measurable results within months. With faster feedback and automatic alerts, supervisors could now intervene early, preventing small problems from escalating into major stoppages.

24/7 Visibility has delivered real value for the business. Greg highlighted that “Too often we’d come in in the morning and there’d be a downtime event overnight that caused us to lose time on a machine, but there wouldn’t be good visibility of what happened. Now we can easily go into the system, look at what happened across all three shifts, and know exactly when it went down, why, and how long.”

Summary of key benefits for KAM plastics

10% increase in labor efficiency. “I’ve got to believe that Intouch was a big driver in that” says Greg.
Accurate downtime, changeover, and OEE data driving continuous improvement
Full shop-floor visibility through dashboards, large displays, and mobile access
Easy to implement and simple for operators, engineers, and leaders to adopt

The impact was clear within months as highlighted by the following improvements:

Improved responsiveness: “Before Intouch, we relied on our operators going and finding a technician or a team leader if their machine went down. Now the system gives us that information, and we can respond immediately. That’s been a huge benefit.”
Data-driven decisions: “We can run a production report for any time frame and see by shift, by job, by day, what performance was. There’s so much information at our fingertips now that we can use to drive action.”
Customer service: “I’ve been really impressed with the customer service that Intouch provides. More often than not, I’m getting feedback and closure to my ticket within 24 hours. Very impressive team.”

How did KAM Plastics implement the software on their factory floor?

Key Outcomes

With Intouch now fully embedded, KAM Plastics has achieved its goal of improving delivery reliability.

KAM has rolled out the Intouch system to all its machines, creating a consistent, data-driven approach to performance management.

Perhaps most importantly, the adoption of Intouch has fostered a cultural shift across the production floor — from reactive problem-solving to proactive performance management. Teams now view data as an everyday tool for improvement rather than a retrospective report.

Intouch’s mobile access has delivered the visibility that KAM were looking for. Greg says: “The Intouch app on my phone is another very useful tool that allows me, even when I’m not in the office, to know how the operations are running. You’re literally connected all the time.”

Conclusion

For KAM Plastics, implementing Intouch Monitoring transformed visibility into action. The project delivered operational excellence and has facilitated continuous improvement. By combining real-time data with empowered teams, KAM Plastics has achieved measurable results.

As one leader summed it up:

“Intouch has taken the guesswork out of production. We can see what’s happening, act immediately, and focus on the things that make the biggest difference.”

For other manufacturers facing similar challenges, KAM Plastics’ story shows that the right visibility tool can unlock both productivity and profit — creating a foundation for long-term growth.