CASE STUDY: LEAN – VALUE STREAM ANALYSIS AND
MANAGEMENT
Industry:
Company Type:
Product Based Companies
Glass Manufacturer
Tools Used:
Lean - Value Stream Analysis and Management:
ƒ 6S
ƒ Manufacturing Process Analysis - Current State
ƒ Eliminate/minimize non-value added activity
ƒ Metrics – what is measured, what should be measured,
how to measure
ƒ Milestone Chart
ƒ Kanbans
ƒ Supermarkets
ƒ Action item list with accountability
ƒ Standard Work Documents
ƒ Spaghetti Diagrams
ƒ Manufacturing Process – Future State
ƒ Production Control Boards – Visual Manufacturing
ƒ Customer Pull Scheduling and Level Loading
ƒ Continuous team coaching
Total Savings:
At project conception in 2006, the company was experiencing a
$780,000 operating loss. Upon project completion in 2007, the
company achieved a $750,000 operating income. The projected
year-to-year improvement is $1.5 million in operating income.
Project Timeline:
Four months
PROBLEM STATEMENT
This glass fabrication facility was performing well below their potential capacity, resulting
in a net operating loss rather than producing a profit. In order to rectify the situation,
significant improvements were needed to increase productivity and throughput while
decreasing operational costs, downtime, overtime, cycle time, waste, and inventory.
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PROJECT GOAL
The goal was to optimize the manufacturer’s current processes by increasing the current
daily production rate of 4,000 sq ft per shift to 7,500 sq ft per shift with no additional staff.
With this increase, the plant would become profitable.
BUSINESS CASE
With strong market growth in nearby territories, there was significant opportunity to
increase sales and market share and improve productivity to become profitable.
PROJECT
The Juran manufacturing team worked closely with the manufacturer to develop a
phased and incremental project schedule. Worker behavior was observed, process
steps were mapped, and WIP was timed. It was discovered that there were areas
throughout the plant that had become “catch-alls” for inventory, unused materials, and
items with no specific ownership. There were tools all over the workplace with no
specific places for them.
5S (plus 6S-Safety) was implemented throughout the plant to create a clean and orderly
workspace where everything that was needed could be found easily and was readily
available in the right quantities and at the appropriate times.
By conducting a value-added vs. non-valued added analysis, the team identified areas
where relatively small changes could result in dramatic improvements in a short time.
One such area was the Frame Assembly area. Through a simple re-layout of this area,
excess handling and product movement was dramatically reduced. A standard work
process was developed and implemented.
Juran worked with the manufacturing team to develop a data collection plan for per shift
process control. Supervisors had to track the production every hour for a rolled up
number per shift of the planned vs. actual square footage produced. Re-cuts and rework were also monitored for process improvement opportunities.
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Improvements were made in the following areas:
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Auto-cut:
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o
o
o
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Tempering:
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o
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Improved inventory layout and access
Scheduled adherence
Analysis of inventory and elimination of unused inventory
Prioritization process for re-cuts
Improved oven capacity utilization
Increased productivity at unloading of ovens
Insulating:
o
o
Optimized pick-up of glass
Eliminated unnecessary non-value added motion
SUMMARY OF RESULTS
Through systematic and incremental improvements, the team reached their goal of
increasing the square footage from the current state of 4,000 sq ft per shift to the future
state of 7,500 sq ft per shift with no additional headcount.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
For information on how we can help your organization attain results, please contact us at
800.338.7726 or visit us on the web at www.juran.com.
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