Kathleen Le Scouarnec and John Zubchenok own Firefly Lighting, Inc., a fifteen-year-old company located north of Santa Fe that designs and crafts UL-listed lighting products. Firefly Lighting has developed a niche market among aficionados of their custom designs, and although their products are sold internationally, their strongest market is in the Santa Fe area.
In 2008, the company reached sales of almost $1 million due to larger contracts, including one from Hilton Hotels for the Buffalo Thunder Resort. The company struggled with managing these larger projects, and felt like they were flat-lining during a time they needed to grow. To expand their market, Firefly Lighting wanted to increase production of their line of standardized fixtures while retaining high levels of craftsmanship and customer service. Kat LeScouarnec approached Val Alonzo of the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce for help, and Alonzo introduced her to NMSBA.
Through the NMSBA Program, the New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NM MEP) provided training and operational assessments to help them improve their operations and position them for expansion. NM MEP Innovation Director Andrea Holling and Center Director Ron Burke worked with the company to find ways to produce more with existing resources by eliminating waste, organizing work space, developing an ordering system for materials, and streamlining administration practices. Since Firefly Lighting has a predominately Spanishspeaking workforce, NM MEP utilized an internal bilingual resource, Claudia Serrano, who translated for employees so that everyone could be involved in the transformation process.
Firefly Lighting turned out to be an ideal client. Holling explains, “With enthusiastic employees and motivated management, Firefly was able to transform from a small custom shop to a manufacturer very quickly.” Overall, Firefly Lighting has seen an increase in productivity on all levels and an increase in profitability of their products, including a 10% increase in sales and a 30% improvement in on-time delivery of orders. Their streamlined manufacturing process has also put them in a good position to meet the increased demand resulting from their e-commerce web site.
