(Continued from Lean e-News Vol. 5, Issue 2, March 2006)

To Roberts, one of the best lessons learned from Productivity’s LMAC program that was also passed on to Aquarium supervisors, was a reinforcement of the traditional saying, “A place for everything, and everything in its place.” In the end, that was what led to the dramatic turnaround in their facility, both on the shop floor and within administrative areas as well. For example, Aquarium’s Kaizen teams:

▫ Organized the Raw Material warehouse to instantly relieve congestion and provide a secure place for QC to sample incoming material

▫ Purchased roll around carts to more efficiently store tools for maintenance people, and replaced nuts and bolts with quick adjust knobs that reduced changeover time by one third and saved 750 man hours/year

▫ Helped the Customer Service team perform Value Stream Mapping and cut wasted time by eliminating 25% of the steps in the customer service area

▫ Created dedicated stocking bins for the entire Finished Goods warehouse and eliminated paperwork to save $15,000 in resources and manpower

▫ In the Master Test Line, developed easy to follow visual prompts, a consolidation of inspection forms and WIP min/max bin locations to increase productivity by nearly 20% while improving process quality

▫ Implemented a 5S reorganization of the MRO stockroom and streamlined inventory procedures to reduce the regular Inventory Report from 71 pages to 17 pages.

The list of time savings and cost savings goes on and on. “The question we ask ourselves every day is, ‘What would I change to make my job easier,’” says Roberts. “Although the Lean methods we learned from LMAC can result in major changes, I believe that most gains are made incrementally – small improvements experienced every day.”

An Oasis in the Middle of Columbus

Tri Palm International’s Oasis brand is a recognized leader in the design and manufacture of pressure and bottled water coolers. This Columbus, Ohio-based company sells products in more than 100 countries throughout the world, and timely delivery is particularly critical to their customers. Oasis was looking to continue improving product quality, but was also very familiar with the methodologies of Lean manufacturing. From that, it sought to enhance its product value streams throughout its entire operation.

Value Stream Mapping has become a powerful tool in today’s business environment. It is used to visually map out both the material and information flow for any manufacturing or administrative process. You learn to “see the flow,” or value stream, of your product from start to finish, and based on your value stream map, you can streamline work processes, thereby cutting lead times and reducing operating costs.

Paul Bedell, Director of North American Operations at Oasis: “Lean Manufacturing had been on our radar screen since 2001. But once it was determined that Oasis planned to create a dedicated Continuous Improvement Office, I was off to Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business and Productivity’s LMAC program in order to become the mentor of our Lean team.”

Bedell was excited just recalling the improvements his company experienced during the LMAC homework assignments. Two things came to mind - one was the application of a value stream mapping tool in one of their high volume production cells. The impact of seeing value added vs. non-value added work really made them reconsider their operation and what changes were needed. Secondly, a problem-solving session focusing on set-up reduction in their blow mold department allowed them to reduce set-up times by 52%, and then by half again after the next event, while also reducing on hand stock by 60% in six weeks for that area.

After graduation, Bedell and the Lean team targeted for improvement one particular family of products that had been characterized by enormous product backlog, long lead times, lengthy changeovers, excessive overtime and only a 70% schedule attainment level. Oasis implemented an in process kanban with the goal of eliminating the effects of “push” type of production. Kanban is one of the cornerstones of Lean Manufacturing; it is a visual scheduling system that enables workers to easily view production requirements of individual parts and machines.

For Oasis, the results were these and more. One morning for example, Oasis quickly trained their people using a manufacturing simulation, and then prepped the line to allow one workstation and one output per operator. They committed to try this for one hour before deciding if it was the path they needed to take. The results were outstanding, with the team achieving 90% of the planned production for the first time in years. From that point forward the new process became a way of life on the line, and has helped Oasis achieve 98% production levels. Improved output was so successful, that the company was forced to look backwards to recognize that the Steel Shop, the primary supplier to the assembly area, couldn’t keep up with the new output levels. Therefore, a second event was conducted to improve set up reduction, and the result was not only improved deliveries to the assembly area, but an opening up of capacity for other departments as well.

Oasis then broke down the history of their product family and found that only six of their total 300+ SKU’s made up 80% of the volume. From that, they developed a Fixed Repeating Schedule that allowed them to run each of the six units each day, while accommodating “make to orders” items each day as well. The results were truly appreciated by their sales team, with on-hand inventory dropping from 2000+ units to less than 200, and lead times reduced from 10 days to an eye popping 1.8 days. Even “make to orders” could be shipped within 48 hours. They were then able to replicate their success in several other areas much more quickly. The end results were a much lower inventory, better customer service, and incredible material turns.

“The LMAC course was critical to our organization being able to recognize, develop and adopt better processes throughout our operation, while reducing our dependence on outside experts,” says Bedell.

All three LMAC graduates agree that the program not only offers a dynamic curriculum that teaches effective Lean tools, but just as importantly, is a roadmap for helping people more easily recognize the inefficiencies that are taking place throughout a company’s operations. This, they say, together with the confidence LMAC builds in participants, provides Continuous Improvement managers with a clearer path for success when implementing Lean.