Company Profile
Kenyon Industries (now Brookwood Finishing) boasts 300,000 square feet of cutting edge fabric processing technology and over seventy-five years of experience in the dyeing, finishing, coating and printing of woven synthetic fabrics.
Kenyon Industries is a leading finisher of woven nylon fabric for many diversified end uses for the consumer, industrial and military markets. From its facility in Rhode Island, the manufacturer operates three continuous shifts using state-of-the-art finishing equipment, from atmospheric and pressure beams, jigs and jets, continuous dyeing and scouring lines, and solvent and aqueous coating lines, as well as specialized drying and pad finishing frames.
Kenyon’s parent company, Brookwood Companies, is the largest supplier to the military of nylon fabric (particularly Old Glory Red, White & Blue nylon fabric), most of which is processed at Kenyon.
Situation
Kenyon has a physical testing lab on-site necessary to test finished fabric to the customer’s specification.
The company is a leading finisher of over 60 types of military fabric from basic duffle bag fabric to high performance fabric such as camouflage printed and coated fabric for military tents and shelters. All fabrics produced to a military contract must meet contract specifications for many fabric performance characteristics such as tear strength, water resistance, breathability, breaking strength, shrinkage, and many others.
Most military fabrics have as many as 20 physical test requirements that must be met using prescribed test methods developed by the ASTM (American Society for Testing Methods), AATCC (American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists), and FTMS (Federal Test Method Standards).
In late 2009, certain government contracts began to include a provision that all lab test reports must be produced by an ISO certified testing lab. Kenyon’ss lab was not ISO certified.
IMPACTS
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Received ISO 9001:2008 certification and retained valuable business | |
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Acquired 2 government contracts | |
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Maintained Jobs | |
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Can now produce lab reports in a more timely and economical manner |
“With the help of [Polaris MEP Project Manager] John Gilheeney we were able to take on the ISO certification challenge and meet it successfully.”
Joanne Bagley, President
Solution
The solution was obvious; attain ISO accreditation. But it is extremely difficult for small or medium-sized companies to afford the type of staff necessary to embark on such an endeavor. Consulting services are generally extremely expensive and out of reach for companies like Kenyon.
Kenyon’s President, Joanne Bagley, contacted Polaris MEP. Polaris MEP provides expert training and consulting services at affordable rates.
“With the help of John Gilheeney of Polaris MEP we were able to take on the ISO certification challenge and meet it successfully,” stated Bagley.
On September 29, 2010 Kenyon received notification of their accreditation to the ISO 9001:2008 standard. Kenyon’s lab certification resulted in the retention of valuable business. It also positions them for ongoing success — the ISO-Certified lab is prominently featured in Brookwood Finishing marketing communications.
Two contracts alone involved 81 government lot presentations requiring test reports which Kenyon could not have produced without ISO certification. Losing those two contracts would have meant eliminating one full-time lab technician. Most important is Kenyon’s ability to produce lab reports in a timely and economical manner for their customers.
“Our internal turnaround time is 3.5 days” noted Bagley. “Utilizing an outside lab, test results can take up to two weeks to obtain. This would not be satisfactory to our customers, would increase costs, and would most likely result in loss of business.”