Long journey, short term results Paper Converting Machine Company got serious about getting lean shortly after it was acquired in 2005 and has since turned in some of the best financial years in its history. Keith Regan learns how the journey is viewed as ongoing, but one capable of producing powerful results along the way.

Be prepared┬áThings donÔÇÖt always go exactly to plan, so having a fallback position is an essential requirement for survival, as Alan T Swaby learns. Coping with adverse trading conditions calls for strategies that have additional benefits to the customer or that set one particular organization apart from the rest. Sometimes they need to be created; at other times they are already in place and simply need switching on.Take the Opus Corporation as an example.

Building a better system together┬áA decision to merge what were once seven hospitals under two systems helped pave the way for London Health Sciences Centre and St. JosephÔÇÖs Health Care, London, to begin a wave of construction that continues today, Keith Regan learns.  Nearly a billion dollarsÔÇÖ worth of new construction and renovation is coming together on the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) and St.

The proactive approach┬áGood labor relations are really quite simple. OPSEUÔÇÖsWarren Thomas tells Gay Sutton about the secrets of effective negotiation and putting issues rather than demands on the table. The world of trade unions has changed enormously since the bad old days of full-on confrontation, when old-style head butting polarized management and workers into opposite and conflicting camps.

Everybody wins┬áNorthern Quest Resort & Casino provides much more for its community than just entertainment, Gary Toushek discovers. In the 1990s the Kalispel Indian Tribe was so financially destitute it expected to file for bankruptcy before the decade ended. As a last resort, with low expectations, the tribe applied for a casino license.

Finding needles in a haystack┬áMineral exploration is a high risk business with more failures than successes, but one Canadian company is hoping to hit the jackpot by using a different model, as Bill Botham learns. Everyone is familiar with the dramatic rise in the price of gold. Over the past decade it has tripled in price. What may be less well known is that platinum at one point actually outstripped the price rise of gold.  In 2007ÔÇô08 it skyrocketed to $2,000 per ounceÔÇôalmost twice the gain of gold.

Bridging borders┬áKeith Regan learns how ongoing investments by the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission in three spans over the Niagara River reflect a long-term mission to provide the infrastructure necessary to make border crossing as streamlined as possible. Niagara Falls is one of the worldÔÇÖs most popular vacation and honeymoon destinations, a natural wonder to which millions flock from around the world each year.

Where the rubber meets the information highway┬áIn its quest to improve traffic flow, the Missouri Department of Transportation has embraced the use of technology as part of its comprehensive outreach effort, Keith Regan learns.  ItÔÇÖs been nearly 275 years since the state of Missouri built its first sanctioned roadway, Three Notch Road, which went into use in 1735.

Adapting to new realities┬áMeggitt Fluid Controls North Hollywood has long been a leading supplier of highly engineered valve and control components to the aerospace and industrial markets. As those markets go through changes, the company is reacting by embarking on a continuous improvement journey, as Keith Regan reports. The North Hollywood, California, division of Meggitt Fluid Controls (MFC) began more than 50 years ago as the William R. Whittaker Company.

From the ground up┬áMainline Contracting is an entrepreneurial company started by Randy Garrett, who developed it with financial director Gina Moore and director of estimating Doug Greenlee into North CarolinaÔÇÖs premier groundwork specialist. John OÔÇÖHanlon talks to the fourth shareholder, COO Les Basnight, about plans to expand. Mainline Contracting of Durham, North Carolina, was always the first contractor on the site, because that was its specialtyÔÇösite preparation and utilities, with a special fondness for storm drainage, sewer and water lines.