Kansas Company Increased Productivity, Quality to Keep Up Competition.(Originated from The Kansas City Star, Mo.)

Aug. 5--SOR, the Lenexa company that Lew Goetz manages, makes products that measure pressure, temperature and flow for the process industries, like the oil and gas industries.

But there is a by-product of its work that affects every consumer in the country. SOR is also producing low inflation.

SOR is not a large or high profile company. The 51-year-old privately owned business operates from a 110,000-square-foot facility in an industrial park. Its has 250 people worldwide, most of them here. It generates about $30 million in revenue and has seen steady growth.

But SOR may be a textbook example of how U.S. companies are becoming more productive and how that is helping the economy. Six or seven years ago, facing mounting international competition, SOR embarked on a program to modernize its operation to differentiate its service and to keep its prices competitive in its international market. The company introduced just-in-time delivery, flexible work teams and specialized compensation plans.

Part of this focus on improvement has been increased productivity, Goetz said. And increased productivity, some economists are saying, is why the U.S. economy has reached the holy grail of economic indicators -- low inflation. Through June the rate has been 1.4 percent this year, half …