Managing Growing Volumes at Mary Kay Inc.

"It requires a lot of folding, and that limits total output," explains Hopson. "Typical folding jobs run at about 25,000 per hour, and can reach 60,000. But on a job like this, output goes down to about 5,000 per hour. We have a single-shift operation, so with 325,000 pieces to fold, it ties up the machine for several days."