Page 293 - How To Implement Lean Manufacturing

270 Cha pte r S i x tee n

• It took over three weeks to build up enough inventories so we could take the
CNC lathe out of service and move it. We did that over one weekend and the
lathe started up on Monday without incident.
• The plant ran seven days per week for two more weeks, and then reverted to
five days per week operation.
The Results
Our project had allowed the plant to improve dramatically. Specifically we could now
meet demand in a 5 day work week. We were asked to reduce the production lead time
by 50 percent and we actually achieved 89 percent reduction using a make–to-stock,
pull, production system operating at takt, as requested. We were able to reduce defects
by almost 60 percent and improve on-time delivery to over 95 percent, actually achiev-
ing 99 percent. In short, by focusing on waste reduction, with an aggressive attack on
the seven wastes we met or exceeded all our goals and even achieved two significant
gains that were not requested. These included major savings in production labor and
space reductions. The labor savings alone showed a 44% reduction in direct labor to
produce a motor. All of this was achieved by an aggressive waste reduction effort.
Except for the minor cost to produce the universal jigs, no capital was expended. This
was a massive success and the results are summarized in Table 16-12.
Some comments on the results
• The gains were huge and early, all achieved in less than 2 months.
• Of particular note were the quality improvements. Luis was very worried
because we had no specific line items to work on any of the defect modes. As it
turned out, by reducing inventory and implementing standard work we accom-
plished quality improvements.
• The facility still needed to work on a number of projects. First, and most
importantly, although we cut the defects by 60 percent, line rejects are almost
6 percent. This is not acceptable by today’s standards, thus they still need to
work on this.

Initial Situation After First Pass of Lean Improvement
Production Rate 125 u/day 165 u/day +32%
On-time Delivery 76% 99% +23%
Lead Time 92 hrs (7.5 days) 16 hrs (0.8 days) –89%
Line Rejects 14.4% 5.8% –59.7%
Operators per Shift ∗ 50 43 –17.5%
Labor Consumed 9.33 5.21 –44%
(Mh/motor)

∗ In addition to the staffing on the FSVSM, there were three operators in rework, four materials handlers, and
three in material prep. None of this was changed as yet.
TABLE 16-12 QED Motors Results Following the Lean Applications