Question

Bakground: Duraweld is a British plastic binding manufacturer established in 1959 and the result of a merger between two local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in 1970. This company has sailed through the recent economic downturn and has reinvented itself thanks to following lean principles. Duraweld produces customized plastic elements, such as stationery, and decided to move away from standardization to resist the growing competition from Asia on higher volume items resulting in low volume/high variety production profile. Their website is customeroriented and orders can be processed online. Businesses can order personalized promotional products, such as tax discs and travel document holders. The responsiveness o f the sales team and its customer support are praised by many users. Also, the company is part of the Prince’s Mayday Network, an association of British footprint. companies annually reporting their environmental impact, with the aim to gradually reduce their carbon Lean Implementation : To sustain its growth, but most importantly to give agility to the operation side of the business, the Managing Director in 2006, hired John McEvans, a lean specialist with a proven track of success in the automotive industry , to replace the outgoing production manager. Before the lean implementation, the company had a 50 percent machine utilization rate to quickly produce to order, and a turnaround of 10 days. But a low utilization rate is a synonym of waste. As in any lean i mplementation, the changes are gradual; it is an evolution rather than a revolution. One of the first steps was the effort to reduce distances traveled by parts and goods within the factory. Duraweld quickly implemented a visual management of kanban cards to reduce overproduction. Kanban is a card system signaling depletion of the next stock. It is the foundation of the “pull” system, opposed to “push.” These cards indicate, what to produce, when to produce and how much to produce. It allows a better regula tion of intermediate stocks in the production cycle as less intermediate stock is needed, thus enhancing flexibility and driving costs down. A shadow board was used to properly store tools. Too often workers walk from a station to another to find the tools they need, and sometimes they do not even find them. Showing results is a key element in the spread of the lean philosophy across the company. A model of excellence was set to maximize the impact on other workers. Floors under the machines were painted wh ite to detect early wear, prevent corrective maintenance, and favor preventive maintenance. Labels were used to ensure tools were stored in the proper place. At Duraweld, John McEvans also made sure the relevant machines and tools were aggregated in cells. This minimizes workers’ travel as all the machines, tools, and information related to their tasks is set within a defined area. Among the employees, a champion was designated for every cell to promote and sustain lean efforts over time. Naturally, Durawel d discovered its “hidden factory” of unused equipment and mess, even though it prided itself as a fairly clean factory. Spreading Good Practice : The company also ensured that not only the employees from the shop floor, but also senior management would be co mmitted to the lean programme success. Surprisingly, the higher resistance to change was met from the latter, believing it would be another lost opportunity to manage the plant more efficiently. However, over time, the lean production manager succeeded in 6 of 8 reducing resistance and even to welcome earlier nonadopters. An important element of Duraweld’s successful lean implementation was communication. Changes have to be seen and heard; people have to talk about the benefits these changes have brought them. Eve ntually, everyone becomes part of the system and ensures that waste is reduced, at every level. Lean Sustainability : Once these efforts made and shared across the entire company, the ultimate challenge was to sustain them over time. Duraweld understood this concept and invested in an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to micromanage stock variations and seasonality organizations. They are . These systems link operations across costly to implement as processes have sometimes to be formatted to fit the system. However eventually, materials movements, stocks and production schedules can all be managed from the monitor of a computer. The removal of the “hidden factory” meant that w aste from plastic cuts would be recycled and reinserted in the manufacturing cycle. The lean implementation supported Duraweld’s strategy of entering niche markets with higher margins. The company sustained its margins through the recent economic crisis an d also ensured the production would stay in Great Britain rather than shifting to China, as it happened for other competitors. The company, thanks to productivity gains, reduced its shop floor level staffing. Recognition : Duraweld gained countrywide recognit ion from its successful lean implementation. It acquired the ISO14001 certification and pioneered the polypropylene waste recycling into printgrade material. In an event organized by the UK Manufacturing Advisory Service, Duraweld organized a presentation of its lean processes and organized tours of its factory. This company shows that the lean system is not only for large manufacturers, but can also be implemented successfully by SMEs. The bottom line quickly improves as well as employee morale, the latte r being proud to overachieve.

CASE QUESTIONS
(I) List the 5S and compare to the lean implementation at Duraweld. If there are differences, explain them.

(ii) Describe which kind of waste was eliminated for each lean implementation at Duraweld. Can you think of ot her types of waste that could be eliminated?

(iii) Considering Duraweld’s situation, explain which elements of the lean system you would further implement and what would be their positive consequences on the company 7 of 8 ?

Answer 1

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Answer1:

If there square measure variations, justify them. The ‘5S’ principles that originated from Japanese terms of seiri (sort), seiton (set in order), seiso (shine), seiketsu (standardize), and shitsuke (sustain) square measure wont to produce economical, clean and well union operating surroundings. kind – refers to making sure that every item in an exceedingly work is in its correct place or known as inessential and removed. once “sorting” is well enforced, communication between staff is improved and merchandise quality and productivity square measure inflated Set so as – The second stage of 5S involves the orderly arrangement of required things in order that they square measure simple to use and accessible for “anyone” to seek out. Orderliness eliminates waste in production and clerical activities. Shine – refers to a clean workspace. This maintains a safer workspace and drawback square measures are quickly known. a vital a part of “shining” is “Mess Prevention”. In different words, don’t enable litter, scrap, shavings, cuttings, etc., to land on the ground within the 1st place. Standardized – means that to formalized procedures and practices to form consistency and make sure that all steps square measure performed properly. Orderliness is that the core of “standardization” and is maintained by Visual Controls. Sustain – means that to stay the method browsing coaching, communication and organization structure. This last stage of 5S is that the discipline and commitment of all different stages. while not “sustaining”, the work will simply revert back to being dirty and chaotic. that's why it's therefore crucial for the staff to be authorised to boost and maintain their work. once staff pride oneself in their work and work it will cause bigger job satisfaction and better productivity. Among the advantages of implementing 5S System:-

· Improve safety

· Decrease downtime

· Raise worker morale

· Identify issues additional quickly

· Develop management through visibility

· Establish convenient work practices

· Increase product and method quality

· Strengthen employees’ pride in their work

· Promote stronger communication among workers

· Empower staff to sustain their workspace

Duraweld applied ‘sort’ and ‘set in order’ principles by employing a shadow box as correct tool storage. Storage areas for quick-moving materials were set line-side. Labels were wont to guarantee tools were hold on in an exceedingly correct place. These implantations have facilitated to scale back worker’s period of time as all machines, tools, and knowledge associated with their task are ready at intervals an outlined space. Duraweld ensures ‘shine’ / cleanliness is that the follow at the works. improvement and maintenance procedures square measure publicized within the works. The floors below the machines were by choice painted in white therefore on make sure that spilled/oil leak will simply be detected - which might stop corrective maintenance. Duraweld created two-cell producing units for repeat stock merchandise. the ground was painted to outline the workspace, aisle area and site of necessary things. By linking the routes along, the assembly team managed to scale back conveyance and set-up time, build awareness of the previous/next method and increase productivity. This ‘standardized’ method was additionally increased by the implementation of Kanban cards – the visual management system that comes with planning and maintenance. The Kanban cards indicate what to provide, once to provide, and the way a lot to provide. These commonplace in operation procedures has facilitated to scale back over-production at Duraweld. moreover, its ‘pull’, as against the ‘push’ system, permits higher regulation of intermediate stocks within the production cycle. Among the key factors that cause self-made lean implementation in Duraweld is thru its ‘sustain’ processes. the corporate ensures its staff from the workplace to the highest management square measure committed to the lean program.