Lean Companies

Carl Zeiss

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The ceremony marked the completion of the installation project of the largest gantry CMM that Carl Zeiss ever built. For Lockheed Martin, it signified the completion of a measurement facility optimised for F-35 composite parts achieved by application of Lean manufacturing practices. The F-35 Lightning II is a super-sonic stealth fighter designed to replace a wide range of existing aircraft worldwide.

Tenneco Inc.

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It is more important than ever, to stay focused and continued to be aggressive in implementing targeted cost savings and cash preservation actions. We are also making sure that, we are using all of our Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing tools to strengthen our operations and continuously improve manufacturing efficiency in our plants worldwide.

Oceaneering International

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We've adopted lean manufacturing practices which focus on reducing cost by intently scrutinizing our operating efficiency. Examples included reduced manning requirements, shorter job startup times and better link measurement to lower material scarp costs.

Hofmann Engineering

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Its move last year to Lean Manufacturing has seen supervisors from all sections currently working on an employee Six Sigma Skills Matrix which is designed to enable supervisors to see at a glance what skills each employee has and what skills they may still need.  Plans are also under way to implement the 5s workplace organisation system involving a series of activities designed to improve workplace organisation.

Sealy

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We've been engaged in lean manufacturing, following the example of the Toyota Production System, to create a culture of continuous improvement for well over five years. We've seen annual double-digit gains in our factories in terms of labor productivity, both direct and indirect. Because of our lean culture, we continued to improve in 2008 despite the downturn in volume. I just hate to think where we'd be in manufacturing if we were still operating at 2005 performance levels.

Tennant Company

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To that end, our efforts this year center around three guiding principles. First, adjusting to the low growth economy without sacrificing the company’s long term potential. Second, prudently allocating scarce resources to initiatives that position the company to deliver against controllable objectives such as increased savings from global low cost sourcing and lean manufacturing initiatives, reduced selling and administrative expenses, and investments and research and development projects such as ec-H2O to drive sales growth. And third, optimizing cash in an uncertain environment through conservative planning, increased discipline in capital expenditures, and a heightened focus on working capital management.

Multi-Fineline Electronix

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In addition, we have begun to experience a more competitive pricing environment which has also put pressure on our gross margin. In response to reduced cost and improve our operational performance as a world-class technology manufacturing company, we have initiated ambitious lean-manufacturing and Six Sigma quality improvement initiative. These are expected to enhance our operational performance in both the short and long term.

Meadows Regional Medical Center

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Meadows Regional Medical Center has cut in half the length of time a patient stays in its emergency room by embracing the lean manufacturing practices first implemented in the automotive industry. But the hospital, unwilling to rest on that achievement, put in place in April a system to reduce ER wait times even further.

Bilco Company

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The plant has embraced lean manufacturing techniques and has transformed the way products are processed.

Though orders are down due to the economy and slowdown in commercial building, Lyons said the Trumann plant is in great shape to weather the recession and continue its track record of success.

Franklin Electric

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By June 1 we will have transferred an additional 500,000 man hours of production activity from higher cost plants to our new facility in Linares, Mexico. This will reduce our direct labor costs by about $16 per man hour or $ 8 million per year. We expect to achieve fixed manufacturing cost reductions as well. Through our lean manufacturing initiatives, we have freed up sufficient space in Linares to accommodate an additional 350,000 man hours of activity-which we will transfer by the first quarter 2010.

[Editor's note: eliminating experienced and creative employees to save direct labor dollars is not lean.  It represents a fundamental disregard for non-P&L and balance sheet valuation of knowledge.]

Lean Companies - Prepare for the Morph

Lean Companies will be taking a hiatus until the end of the year.

For the past two months this blog has been an experiment with a new form of automated search and parsing technology.  Software searched the internet for news on lean manufacturing companies, discarded press releases, parsed out the relevant text, and posted it to the blog.

This experiment has given us several new ideas which are currently being developed.  When the site returns in January there will be a variety of tools to analyze and track lean-oriented companies, in addition to daily news.

In the meantime, please visit our sister blog, Evolving Excellence, for news and commentary on lean enterprise excellence.

Pratt Industries

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The corrugated industry is a very competitive industry, so because of this I have learned to never take for granted our customers. One never knows when they may switch suppliers, move away or change the way they pack or display their products.

We must always strive to be the best supplier possible by offering service beyond our clients' needs. We also must constantly work on presenting continuous improvements to our clients so they remain competitive within their industry. History tells us we must continuously improve; take a look at the steelmakers or the auto industry for proof.

Hickory Chair

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It showed up in the last decade, Millar said, when Hickory Chair, which has been around since before the Depression, saw trouble on the horizon and pioneered a process called lean manufacturing to run business more efficiently.

"I think we're a very self-reliant community and have a great work ethic," he said. "I think we're very creative and entrepreneurial. We fought our way back to health after the Depression and I think that we will do the very same things now. That's the constant, the mind-set behind the recovery."

FormaShape

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The Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME) has named FormaShape, one of market leaders in the design and manufacture of fiberglass reinforced plastics (FRP) for architectural fascia products, winner of the Deloitte’s Canadian Innovation Award for Productivity Enhancement. The award was presented to FormaShape, at CME’s annual Canadian Innovation Awards held in Toronto.

The Deloitte’s Canadian Innovation Award for Productivity Enhancement recognizes innovative excellence in improving overall productivity through the application of LEAN processes.

Millennium Pressed Metal

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One of manufacturings youngest Managing Directors has received the perfect 5th birthday present for her company after smashing the £1m sales barrier for the first time in its history.

Anna Stevensons Millennium Pressed Metal has shrugged off the industry slowdown and credit crunch to post an impressive end of year performance that has seen the business secure new contracts in the automotive, medical and construction products markets.

The firm, which is based in two production units at Castle Mill Works in Dudley, has also embarked on a new lean manufacturing drive that has resulted in a host of efficiency gains and the start of its first supply chain development programme.

GM White Marsh

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Not just Toyota and Honda. There's also a transmission plant in White Marsh - run by a company called General Motors.

The plant, which opened in 2000, proves GM can change. Its "lean manufacturing," smart workers and environmental responsibility represent the best of any industry, not just auto-making. Whatever the Big Three's next move, whoever is in charge, the more they can match what's going on in Baltimore County, the better off they'll be.

Leonhardt Manufacturing

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A stroll through Leonhardt Manufacturing's 90,000-square-foot plant at 800 High St., Hanover, reveals a management and production culture with a proven track record.

"Cells" of workers operate as teams for more efficiency. There is little inventory, as the company embraces "just-in-time" delivery. They closely monitor supply and demand. These lean manufacturing strategies, business experts say, are critical to surviving tough economic times.

Euroglaze

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MAS associate, Mike Brook, from Brook Corporate Developments, began by introducing the company to the concept of lean manufacturing.

Since then, the firm has taken part in nine MAS initiatives, including an initiative to bring key information together, which has led to further improvements in productivity, quality, delivery and customer satisfaction.

Haviland Enterprises

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Savvy business decisions in the wake of the 2000 recession are keeping Haviland Enterprises Inc. healthy through another tough time for the U.S. economy.

This winter, employees will begin training in lean manufacturing, under a three-year development contract, Haviland said.

"It's a long-term commitment to drive productivity," he said. "We want to develop an environment where at the shop-floor level, our staff has world-class skills."

Avnet

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Avnet, a global technology distributor and the second-largest Fortune 500 companies in the Valley, designed its new Chandler facility to be more efficient and save steps for employees.

A total of 350 employees build and test servers and do warehouse work in the new Global Solutions Center at 6700 W. Morelos Place in west Chandler.

The new building has the capacity to build 700,000 systems a year, said Mike Kenney, vice president of technical operations.

Avnet also sells components to customers who don't want Avnet to assemble the systems, and some of that shipping is handled out of the new building.

"We use lean manufacturing methodologies; more and more companies are moving toward lean," Kenney said.

The company looks for ways to become more efficient, including streaming manufacturing processes that help employees and save customers money, he said. For example, the company used to have a decentralized tool crib that required employees to walk out of their group workstation area, known as a cell, to get the product they needed - a process that time and motion studies have shown to waste time.