Cross-Functional Kaizens & Key Talent Solutions Catalyzed Lean Transformation For Industrial Manufacturer
Challenge
For more than a century, the company had been a leader in providing industrial safety solutions. As it grew from a small company to a large corporation, however, it became difficult for the company to maintain a culture of continuous improvement, lean manufacturing, and waste reduction.
Opportunity
The company’s CEO reached out to Lean Focus because they wanted their company to see exactly what a Lean Transformation could do for the company in terms of driving results in productivity, setup times, and inventory reduction.
Our Response
Lean Focus conducted cross-functional Kaizen events and bootcamps to create model-cells in the factory. Lean Focus introduced the concept of looking at the key metrics needed to make improvements on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. Lean Focus also concentrated on how to collect and analyze data to determine where the company should put its resources and prioritize their day-to-day work. Topics included setup reduction, daily management, problem-solving, and strategy deployment. Additionally, Lean Focus helped accelerate the company’s Lean Transformation by sourcing them a proven CI leader.
Results
Single-Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED) is a system the company uses for dramatically reducing the time it takes to complete equipment changeovers. After conducting a SMED Kaizen event, the company was able to complete it in less than half the time. The company also had more than 177,000 pieces of work-in-process, and we were able to reduce that to 60,000. We were also able to improve the company’s 6S score (how organized a particular area is) from 25% to 90%.
Key Outcomes
Improvement
