FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 5th, 2011
news release
WIKA Instrument Corporation Celebrates 10 Years as a Lean Manufacturer
Lawrenceville, GA –WIKA Instrument Corporation (WIKA) recently celebrated its 10th
anniversary as a Lean manufacturing company, demonstrating WIKA’s commitment and
dedication to customers and continuing on a solid path for continuous improvement and quality.
WIKA utilizes 5S, Kaizen, Value Stream Mapping and Six Sigma principles to continually and
consistently improve productivity and eliminate waste.
Lean manufacturing is designed to maximize customer value while minimizing waste and creating
more value for customers with fewer resources. WIKA understands customer value and focuses
its key processes to continuously increase it. The ultimate goal is to provide value to the customer
through a value creation process that has zero waste.
Since WIKA conducted its first Kaizen in June 2001, the company has averaged one event per
week every year. Investing over 108,000 hours and 75-80 percent of WIKA’s workforce into
Kaizen participation over time, WIKA has seen a 40 percent increase in productivity without an
increase in labor.
WIKA has solved problems by making improvements to work areas and by eliminating waste.
Waste was reduced by converting the manufacturing cell of a certain model of pressure gauges
from a manual line to an automated line, saving WIKA over $100,000. Business processes were
also modified. Changes were made to how WIKA conducts expedite procedures through its order
entry system, starting from order entry to finished shipping.
In 2010, Kaizen events produced an approximate cost savings over a half million dollars for
WIKA. Continuous improvement projections for 2011 predict Kaizen events will exceed the cost
savings from 2010 events. The goal for WIKA’s 2011 Kaizen events is to increase productivity
improvement by 10 percent in all manufacturing work cells without sacrificing quality.
Kaizen is a practice that focuses on the continuous improvement of processes in manufacturing,
engineering, business processes and management. Kaizen is based on making small changes on
a consistent basis and continually improving productivity and eliminating waste.
In 2010, WIKA took the next steps in its lean journey by introducing Six Sigma and Green Belt
training to its workforce. Six Sigma is the process of identifying and removing defects and errors
on a deeper level. Green Belt certified employees are experts in Six Sigma methods. WIKA
Instrument Corporation is utilizing Six Sigma and Green Belt projects to lay the foundation for the
next phase of the company’s Lean strategy.
- Page 1 -
- Page 2 About WIKA Instrument Corporation
For over 60 years, WIKA Instrument Corporation has continuously advanced pressure gauge,
pressure transmitter and temperature measurement instrumentation. As the global leader in lean
manufacturing, WIKA offers a broad selection of stock and custom instrumentation solutions,
which are often available for distribution within days. Producing over 43 million pressure gauges,
diaphragm seals, pressure transmitters and thermometers worldwide annually, WIKA’s extensive
product line provides measurement solutions for any application.
The WIKA sales team, along with its customer service and technical staff members, are ready to
share their extensive product and industry knowledge to make your business experience with
WIKA productive and progressive.
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Company Contact:
WIKA Instrument Corporation
1000 Wiegand Boulevard
Lawrenceville, GA 30043
Toll Free: 888-WIKA-USA
Website: www.wika.com
E-mail: info@wika.com
Editorial Contact:
Melissa Smith
Marketing Specialist - Media
Phone: 678-739-2571
Fax: 770-277-2668
E-mail: msmith@wika.com