Industry: Diversified industrials (Fluid & Metering, Health & Science, Dispensing, Fire & Safety)
Footprint: 40+ global sites | 5,000 employees
Scope: Multi-year rollout of Operational Excellence (OpEx) across all sites, integrated with a corporate Commercial Excellence (VOC-led growth) program

Challenge


IDEX’s businesses are vertically integrated with shared machining resources and mixed-model final assembly. Earlier Six Sigma work improved quality and process control, but leadership saw bigger gains were possible by putting controlled processes into flow- and then tying that flow to market-back growth. The goals:

  • Shorter, reliable lead times across shared resources and mixed models
  • Visible, self-healing operations (normal vs abnormal flow) at every site
  • Link OpEx to Commercial Excellence (formal Voice of the Customer) to drive organic growth without adding cost, space, or headcount

What We Did

  • Value Stream Design at scale: Designed end-to-end flows (engineering > machining > assembly > test), with product families, FIFO lanes, and Guaranteed Turnaround Times
    (GTTs).
  • Make flow visual: Line-side signals, standard material routes, and “see-with-your-eyes” management to correct abnormal flow immediately (not via meetings).
  • Educate to implement: Employees were assigned real OpEx responsibilities before training, creating immediate application and rapid capability building.
  • Link to growth: Rolled out a formal VOC process (Commercial Excellence) and freed leadership time to work “on offense” (innovation, solutions, new markets).

Implementation Highlights

IDEX Health & Science (Rohnert Park, CA)

  • Mixed-model/shared-resource flow across precision machining & assembly
  • Visual scheduling and standard replenishment routes
  • Production control reduced to two people; 70% of products built by visual signals (no office rescheduling)
  • Supervisor firefighting cut from 3-4 hours/day to 30 minutes/day, freeing time for value stream improvement and new product launches

Micropump (Vancouver, WA)

  • Mixed-model flow and shared resources stabilized via formal OpEx
  • Leaders redeployed time to innovation (structured “innovation funnel”)
  • Product redesigns reduced customer system cost by 40% in a real deployment

Results

Corporate

  • Markets grew 7%; IDEX grew 12% organically (14% overall), with OpEx enabling growth without adding cost, square feet, or headcount.

IDEX Health & Science (Rohnert Park):

  • Grew at 3× market average; 35% of prior-year sales from new systems/products
  • Three all-time monthly sales highs; leadership spending 60-70% of time on “offense” (improvement, NPI)

Micropump:

  • Grew at 4× market average
  • +162% revenue from new products/markets
  • Innovation time +125%; innovation funnel value +240%

Why It Worked

  • Flow before tools: Designed normal/abnormal flow and standard responses first, then taught everyone to see and fix flow.
  • Self-healing operations: Visual controls and GTTs removed daily scheduling chaos and management heroics.
  • Linked engines of growth: OpEx freed capacity and leadership time; VOC focused that capacity on the right customer problems- turning reliability into revenue.