K-Tec in the News
K-Tec approaches material handling with a systematic approach which leverages lean concepts. Our industrial carts, material handling lifts and conveyors have been specifically designed to address ergonomics as well as efficiency during the manufacturing process. This lean process design methodology has been featured in a variety of publications.
Lean Thinking in Lean Times
Material Handling Management
April 2010
With an eye to the bottom line, many manufacturers think first of cutting costs by slashing shifts, reducing inventory and delaying buys. Larry Tyler, co-founder and principal of K-Tec, encourages management to place material handling at the top of the list. Typically, the movement of material throughout the plant or DC is the last lean frontier to get attention and, more importantly, allocated investment dollars.
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Modern Material Handling - Blog Feature
Bob Trebilcock recently featured K-Tec in a blog post titled "Materials handling: Going green with carts"
Bob writes...
I’ll admit, it’s pretty hard to get all lathered up about something as basic as a cart, but I had a conversation with Larry Tyler, the founder of Kinetic Technologies, better known as K-Tec, last week that I found pretty interesting. Read More...
K-TEC supports American Signature Expansion
Material Handling Wholesaler
February 2008
American Signature, Inc outfits new 625,000 square foot warehouse and distribution center with K-Tec Industrial Carts. K-Tec carts pull furniture orders from high rack storage. American Signature, Inc. does business under the American Signature and Value City Furniture brands.
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Assembly in Action - Carts Aid in Lean Transition ...view .pdf
August 2007
R.W. Beckett manufacturers oil burners for commercial and residential heating applications. An upgrade to U-shaped work cells and industrial carts significantly improved ergonomics while generating an 85 percent inventoy reduction.
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Handling with Care ...view .pdf
Industrial Maintenance & Plant Operation
Anna Wells
March 2007
K-Tec focuses on saftey in the plant with its fork-free material handling product line which supports lean manufacturing principals. K-Tec designs and engineers material flow solutions that work to push fork trucks off the main part of the floor.
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K-Tec enjoys rise without a forklift ...view .pdf
News Herald
Brandon Baker
February 21, 2007
K-Tec focuses its team on the design and manufacturing of forklift free solutions. The team builds seven types of carts in the standard line but has experienced tremendous growth through its engineered to order product line
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Material Handling Company to Invest in Move ...view .pdf (47kb)
Crain's Cleveland Business
David Benneett
August 7, 2006
Kinetic Technologies Inc., a company in Willoughby Hills that makes customized material handling carts for the automotive and appliance industries, is moving to Wickliffe and is preparing to spend nearly $900,000 to expand its operations.
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Kinetic to make systems for GM ...view .pdf file (46 kb)
Business Diary
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Kinetic Technologies Inc. has been selected to design and manufacture forklift-free systems for the new General Motors Corp. six-speed front- wheel-drive automatic transmission facility in Warren, Mich. The Willoughby Hills company also has received a contract to supply the first forklift-free assembly line systems for Whirlpool Corp.
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Roulston capital invested in K-Tec
Business Diary
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Kinetic Technologies Inc. in Willoughby Hills has received an unspecified amount of venture capital from Roulston Ventures Management LLC in Fairport Harbor. Founded in 2002, K-Tec makes material- handling equipment and products designed to replace forklifts and other conventional equipment. Roulston Ventures typically invests between $500,000 and $1.5 million, mostly in private Northeast Ohio companies.
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Willoughby Hills-Based Company Turns Dollies into Dollars ...view .pdf file (66 kb)
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
Christopher Montgomery
Plain Dealer Reporter
Even Larry Tyler seems a little surprised by the success of Kinetic Technologies LLC, the company he co-founded with John Neumann two years ago.
"We've quickly grown from nothing, from vapor," said Tyler, 56, the firm's president. "And we're not software. We're good old-fashioned manufacturing."
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Road To Recovery by Tom Andel ...view .pdf file (101 kb)
Reprinted with permission permission of Material Handling Management
Copyright Penton Media, Inc. (August 2003)
The art and science of material handling are shifting gears from evolutionary to revolutionary -- and you're in the driver's seat. Here's a sector-by-sector report on how the industry is helping you plot your course toward 2004 and beyond.
So what’s the purpose of a mid-year industry report? Isn’t this kind of thing more appropriate as an end-of-year wrap-up?
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KEEN ON LEAN - In a sluggish manufacturing climate two brave Clevelanders are poised for success ...view .pdf file (75 kb)
By Carol Lazerick, Lazerick and Associates 7/07/03
A Gutsy Beginning for a New Cleveland Manufacturer. In industry-rich Northeast Ohio, local news broadcasts a bleak picture. Daily headlines announce massive cutbacks. Manufacturing jobs are being lost. Established industrial giants that once formed the fabric of Cleveland are moving, closing and selling out. Against this grim backdrop two homegrown entrepreneurs, Larry Tyler and John Neumann, have launched a unique Cleveland-based business in-step with today’s manufacturing challenges.
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LEAN, MEAN, AND FORKLIFT FREE ...view .pdf file (67 kb)
Reprinted by permission from American Machinist 02/01/2003
Forget about forklifts. That's what Kinetic Technologies LLC (K-Tec), Willoughby Hills, Ohio, is telling shops. And it has a supporter in General Motors Corp., which is ditching forklifts in its new Tonawanda, N.Y., engine plant.
General Motors bought approximately 90 K-Tec KT2 carts, plus scissor lifts, as part of a lean-manufacturing strategy. The automaker needed a simple and flexible material-handling system, and, for safety reasons, it also wanted to eliminate the practice of using forklifts to deliver large pallets of components to the engine line.
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DUO PUSH NEW LEAN, MEAN PARTS MACHINE ...view .pdf file (65 kb)
Reprinted by permission from The Plain Dealer Nov. 22, 2002
Thomas W. Gerdel
Two Cleveland entrepreneurs want to hitch their wagon to the lean-manufacturing trend.
Their fledgling company, Kinetic Technologies LLC, is using an old inner-city plant to build wagons for carrying parts and materials inside factories instead of using lift trucks.
John Neumann and Larry Tyler say the simple steel wagons can help speed the flow of materials to the assembly line and are designed to reduce physical strains on workers.
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GOODBYE FORKLIFT, HELLO DOLLY ...view .pdf file (72 kb)
Reprinted by permission from Crain Communications Inc., Oct 07, 2002
By DAVID PRIZINSKY
Kinetic Technologies LLC, a recently formed provider of material handling equipment in Willoughby Hills, is about to close a big sale to General Motors Corp. that would help the automaker phase out the use of heavy forklift trucks at one of its plants. Kinetic is selling 92 material handling carts to GM in Tonawanda, N.Y., near Buffalo, where the automaker is expanding an engine assembly plant. Kinetic also will supply the Tonawanda plant with special lifting devices that will be married to carts at points on the assembly line. The first 60 carts are to be delivered in November. The rest will be delivered around the first of next year.
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LIFTED BY AN IDEA ...view .pdf file (72 kb)
Reprinted by permission from The News-Herald, May 31, 2002
(440)-951-0000
By Dave Truman, Business Writer
CLEVELAND (May 31, 2002) - Forklift-free factory floors could be coming to an industry near you. According to John Neumann, the trend is rooted in the growth of lean manufacturing techniques proven in Toyota auto plants, and since copied by manufacturers in industries from automotive to aerospace. Neumann and partner Larry Tyler have designed prototype material transport vehicles to capitalize on the demand for increased safety and efficiency in manufacturing. Unlike large, bulky, forklifts, these transports are more like a scaled-down and miniaturized flatbed car seen being pulled by a train. Their company, Kinetic Technologies LLC in Willoughby Hills, was founded Feb. 2 and already has made great strides toward putting the K-Tec brand non-powered transports in factories.
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COMPANY FORMED TO OFFER MANUFACTURERS IMPROVED MATERIAL FLOW ...view .pdf file (82 kb)
Cleveland-based firm develops modular, non-powered material transport vehicles
CLEVELAND (March 28, 2002) — A new Cleveland-based company has been formed to bring creative solutions to manufacturers’ needs for improved material flow. Kinetic Technologies, LLC, operating under the brand "K-Tec“," was founded on February 2, by principals Larry Tyler and John Neumann.
K-Tec designs and manufactures modular, non-powered, heavy-duty material transport vehicles that reduce or eliminate material flow constraints on the plant floor. Currently, many factories rely on costly forklifts to move their products around the production floor. K-Tec vehicles offer manufacturers significant flexibility by enabling operators to move heavy loads manually, providing ergonomic positioning in the operator’s work cell. These modular vehicles can be reconfigured in-plant using a selection of "standard special" upper frames that allow loads to be easily manipulated in a wide variety of ways. The vehicles can also be used in tugged trains using multiple steering configurations to accommodate varying aisle widths and turn-around areas.
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