IDEX: Connecting Operational and Commercial Excellence

The challenge: connect controlled processes to market-led growth

IDEX’s diversified industrial businesses included Health & Science and Fire & Safety. The program covered more than 40 global sites and a workforce of approximately 5,000 through a multi-year Operational Excellence rollout, integrated with a corporate Commercial Excellence program.

Vertically integrated operations combined shared machining resources with mixed-model final assembly. Six Sigma had improved quality and process control. Leadership saw further opportunity in connecting those controlled processes into flow, then linking the resulting capability to customer-led growth.

• Shorter, more reliable lead times across shared resources and mixed models.
• Visible normal and abnormal flow, with practical responses at every site.
• A formal Voice of the Customer process to direct released capacity toward organic growth without adding cost, space or headcount.

What Duggan did

Value Stream Design at scale

End-to-end flows connected engineering, machining, assembly and test through product families, FIFO lanes and Guaranteed Turnaround Times.

Make flow visible

Line-side signals and standard material routes enabled people to see abnormal conditions and correct them directly, rather than relying on meetings to establish operating status.

Educate to implement

Employees received real Operational Excellence responsibilities before training, giving the learning an immediate application and accelerating capability development.

Connect operating and commercial work

A formal Voice of the Customer process focused leadership on innovation, solutions and new markets. Operating reliability and released time gave that commercial work capacity to proceed.

Implementation at IDEX Health & Science

At Rohnert Park, California, mixed-model and shared-resource flow connected precision machining with assembly. Visual scheduling and standard replenishment routes supported execution.

• Production control was reduced to two people.
• 70% of products were built using visual signals, without office rescheduling.
• Supervisor firefighting fell from three to four hours per day to approximately 30 minutes.
• Released time was directed toward value-stream improvement and new product launches.

Implementation at Micropump

At Micropump in Vancouver, Washington, formal Operational Excellence stabilized mixed-model flow and shared resources. Leaders redirected time into a structured innovation funnel.

In one deployment, product redesign reduced the customer’s system cost by 40%. The operating work and the innovation process were connected through a deliberate focus on customer problems.

Results: corporate growth and distinct site-level gains

IDEX corporate

Against market growth of 7%, IDEX achieved 12% organic growth and 14% overall growth. The combined operating and commercial program enabled growth without adding cost, square footage or headcount.

IDEX Health & Science, Rohnert Park

• Growth at three times the market average.
• 35% of prior-year sales came from new systems and products.
• Three all-time monthly sales highs.
• Leadership spent 60–70% of its time on offense, including improvement and new product introduction.

Micropump

• Growth at four times the market average.
• 162% increase in revenue from new products and markets.
• 125% increase in innovation time.
• 240% increase in innovation-funnel value.

Why it worked

Flow was designed before tools were selected. Normal and abnormal conditions and standard responses gave employees a shared way to see and correct the work. Visual controls and turnaround commitments reduced recurring scheduling disruption and management intervention.

Operational Excellence and Commercial Excellence then reinforced one another: the operating system freed capacity and leadership time, while Voice of the Customer focused that capacity on the customer problems worth solving.