It was 1994, and I had just started working at Columbia Tech, then the newest
Coghlin company with less than 100 associates occupying just half of our Briden
Street facility. I was managing the warehouse, and Chris Coghlin was working in
the wire prep department while on the path to becoming a Project Manager. Given
the customer-focus and “find a way” philosophy of ownership, I could imagine the
growth that would create the team of over 300 associates working out of five
facilities that we occupy now, but could never have envisioned the evolution we’d
undergo to get there.

ISO registration was the first giant leap, and it cleared the way for us to
build higher level assemblies for industries with greater degrees of regulatory
control. For the materials group that I now manage, growth and evolution began
with one buyer placing discreet orders, becoming a team of ten working with tools
and programs such as Kanban, auto-replenishment, vendor-consignment, and MRP
Share.

It’s been an exciting decade and a half! Chris Coghlin has since become
President & CEO of Coghlin Companies, and we’ve launched sister divisions
DCI Engineering, Coghlin Precision and Cogmedix, our medical device contract
manufacturing division. As I look ahead again, I see our growth continuing and
look forward to the ongoing process of adaptation that keeps us at the forefront
of contract manufacturing working with a team that reacts quickly. Reacting
quickly to changes is good. Anticipating them is even better.

About the Blogger:

Mike Sabatalo is the Director of Materials at Columbia Tech a Coghlin Company .