he I-Power continuous improvement business system has paid off in a big way for Garden State Brickface, Windows & Siding, in Roselle, New Jersey. In the four years that the construction company has been using the program, it has more than doubled revenue to become an $11-million-a-year business. And sales are still growing. Besides increasing business, I-Power has...

Substantially reduced turnover.

Improved productivity.

Boosted spirit among employees.

Reduced absenteeism.

MODEST BEGINNINGS

In 1991, after several years of declining business and mounting losses, the family-owned business was forced to file for bankruptcy. A year later, Garden State's president, David Moore, bought the meager assets of the business from the bank... and slowly, but steadily, brought Garden State out of bankruptcy.

By early 1994, Garden State had been out of bankruptcy for only a few months. David was intensely eager to find new ways to save money, and to make his people more efficient.

To the rescue: I-Power, the very simple -- and very effective -- business management system. I-Power has been adopted by companies of all kinds throughout the country. I-Power brings everyone in the company into the process of improving the way the company operates. Improvement suggestions are rewarded with small amounts of money or other incentives... regardless of how big or small the ideas. This quick, though modest, recognition motivates everyone to think creatively and to act on new ways of performing their jobs.

For Garden State's David Moore, I-Power was a major discovery. In the beginning, I-Power produced two key ideas at Garden State -- both of which gave the company new reason to feel good about its future...

Tough job eliminated: For years, Mondays had been a dreaded bottleneck, as master schedules and backup documents for each of the week's projects were prepared -- and additional folders were carefully assembled for the branch office nearest to the job. Many employees were tied up for hours preparing these numerous documents. Monday nights, many people worked late to meet a weekly deadline.

But -- once in Chapter 11, Garden State's branch offices were consolidated or eliminated. Thanks to I-Power, someone came up with a plan for streamlining the scheduling process.

Result: Nearly 100 hours of employee time was saved each month, giving several employees new opportunities to focus on productive work.

Little things mean a lot: In an I-Power meeting -- where six or seven employees discuss their improvement ideas and rank them on significance -- a Garden State administrative assistant said she had found a way to eliminate five computer keystrokes from every contract she typed up.

She normally types up an average of 40 contracts a week, so, while this idea may save her only a couple of minutes each week, it showed everyone that they were starting to think in a focused way about improvement.

I-POWER TAKES OFF

From these early "breakthroughs," three wonderful things happened...

More than 1,000 ideas flowed in from the core staff on the original I-Power team... in just the first year.

Modest monetary awards -- $10 for any time-saving idea -- even if the idea saved only one second... and $10 for any money-saving idea -- even if it saved just one penny. These awards further boosted the total number of ideas that were submitted.

The rest of Garden State's 88 employees were brought into the I-Power program. Gathering everyone in the warehouse, David gave each employee an I-Power idea pad, and $21 as a "down payment" on their ideas. Ideas zoomed in the second year -- and they are still climbing now.

SOME OF THE IDEAS RECEIVED

Rebuild the engine on one of our old, abandoned trucks. Result: Another production crew can now go out each day. And -- the company saved $50,000 -- the cost of a new truck.

Have one of our vendors deliver the materials we order -- rather than use an outside trucking company. Saving: $4,500/year.

Design and use a damage report to be signed by customers prior to starting a job. Result: Damage claim discrepancies are minimized.

Renegotiate medical insurance renewal premium based on in-house record-keeping. This lowered the increase from 10% to 3% -- an annual saving of $16,800.

Call repair customers the day after repairs are made -- to give customers a better sense of the company's commitment to follow through.

Stop printing out unnecessary invoice, disbursement and job-cost summaries for accounts payable's monthly closing. Result: A savings of three hours per month.

I-Power also led to the Larry Award. This is an incredibly gaudy, four-foot-high trophy, which -- with $20 -- goes to people for "heroic acts," such as performing a service for a customer that results in a letter of appreciation... or helping a team member with a difficult problem with exceptional speed and skill. The trophy sits on the winner's desk... until someone else wins it.

I-Power is an established part of Garden State's culture now...

If someone says there's a problem in the company, Garden State employees now say, "Great! Let's I-Power it this week."

If someone ridicules someone else's I-Power idea, the idea's originator automatically gets $10.