XRDi - Beaufort, South Carolina
Information Technology / Professional Business Advisor Program

THE OVERVIEW
XRDi designs and builds prototypes of two-stroke and four-stroke engines and related engine technologies.

THE CHALLENGE
XRDi's management team knew about SCMEP and called the organization for assistance with a few specific company needs.

As a Professional Business Advisor (PBA) to XRDi, Pete DuBrule, manufacturing specialist with the SCMEP, spearheaded the efforts of several external expert resources to bring the highest quality services to XRDi. Managing these resources, SCMEP was able to keep the "big picture" of XRDi's growth as the primary goal of the project.

THE SOLUTION
First, one of XRDi's customers had requested design and prototype of a new product. SCMEP developed a project implementation schedule to help keep the XRDi team operating at a quick pace. SCMEP collected all relevant information on personnel, materials, funding, and resource availability, then developed a time-phased rollout with balanced responsibilities to produce the order on time and within budget. The completed project schedule was a good benchmark for XRDi with which they compared actual time in order to measure efficiency.

Secondly, SCMEP assisted XRDi in selecting a new information management system. SCMEP brought in the necessary resources to evaluate the company's technology needs and determine which system would best serve those needs and keep costs low. SCMEP further helped XRDi by selecting an appropriate resource to guide the company through ISO 9001 registration. Beyond compliance with the quality standard, this resource also provided XRDi with documentation assistance and personnel training. XRDi also used SCMEP's Questline service to obtain important information about domestic and foreign manufacturers.

THE IMPACT
The company has seen results in many different areas:

• Ability to benchmark actual performance against an aggressive project schedule
• $100,000 cost avoidance in selection of an appropriate information management system and ISO 9001 compliance
• $65,000 capital investment in its facility enhanced business plan facilitation of relationships with other manufacturers for long-term partnership development.

XRDi's 10,000-square-foot research and development facility is the anchor building in a new industrial village in Beaufort.