Established in 1987 and headquartered in Willsboro, New York, General Composites, Inc. or GCi is a designer and manufacturer of advanced composite products; specializing in the production of custom components for a variety of markets.
The Company’s founding intent remains strong today and is focused on leveraging the benefits of the composite materials themselves rather than on any specific market or manufacturing method. As such, active customers range widely from medical device providers, to automotive to aerospace to recreation. GCi also combines the performance of custom aerospace processes and certifications with the cost and manufacturing-cycle benefits of traditional production practices found in commodity industries. Result…a unique high-performing and cost-effective customer offering. Much of this is a result of the foresight and leadership of the company’s President, Mimi Lane.
Mimi came to GCi in 2005; a Biomedical Engineer and holder of three patents, with extensive experience in medical product and quality process development. At the time, quality management was a recognized need at GCi and that’s what Mimi, as the new Quality Assurance Manager, and her colleagues delivered. She implemented self-directing teams with clear goals of working cooperatively. She reorganized the company structure reducing overhead to increase profitability and converted production lines to lean production cells resulting in a 22% increase in output. In two years Mimi was promoted to plant manager and then President within the course of four.
As President, Mimi is responsible for oversight of all aspects at GCi, she develops the company’s strategic objectives and translates these objectives into action. Her thriving teams are held accountable for three main areas: attendance, performance and quality/delivery. Additionally, each team focuses on at least one “improvement initiative”.
Under Mimi’s guidance these teams, operating as a single unit, offer customers three primary avenues for program development:
- Build to Print: A traditional approach leading to composite manufacturing of a product designed to a customer’s print.
- Composite Consulting (including design support): This approach provides support for design or process development as agreed to between the customer and GCi, which may or may not lead to manufacturing production by GCi.
- New Product Introduction: In these cases GCi provides proprietary development. This would entail full design activities where the final responsibility for form, fit and function qualification rests with GCi, leading to manufacturing production.
Today, as a result of everyone’s hard work and adherence to quality guidelines, General Composites can claim the following certifications and compliances:
- ISO 9001:2008, ISO 9001:2015
- AS9100 Compliance
- AS13485 Compliance
- International Trafficking in Arms Regulations (ITAR)
- Export Administration Regulations (EAR)
- S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Device Registration: Department of Health and Human Services quality standard CFR Title 21, Volume 8, Part 820 Medical Devices, Quality System Regulation
- Sensitive Operations’ Customer Requirements: As required by a Customer, typically due to highly sensitive or highly valuable intellectual property.
With her eyes focused on the future and growth, Mimi strives to maintain the pioneering edge that started the company. This is being done through initiatives like custom software innovation designed to improve consistency and reduce waste and through pushing out newer processes of Continuous Resin Transfer Molding, Hybrid Molding and advancements in Thermoplastics.