Issue link: https://industrialengineer.epubxp.com/i/826827
June 2017 | ISE Magazine 51 If you have been involved in implementing a project and can share details, we'd like to interview you for a case study. Contact Web Managing Editor Cassandra Johnson at (770) 449-0461, ext. 119, cjohnson@iise.org. Spread the news trial and operations engineering, partnered with leadership at Sunset to improve the quality inspec- tion process and incubate a culture of continuous improvement across the company. The Tauber team held three kaizen events in to- tal: the first focused on the inspection process in the production area, or Zone 4; the second focused on inspection at the shipping docks; and the third focused on creating a robust training program for the inspectors. For the first two weeks the team met with man- agers throughout the facility, interviewed employ- ees and conducted time studies on the floor. One of the major issues the team discovered was in Zone 4, where there were too many inspection points intermittently dispersed throughout the facility. This was causing 67 percent of the total facility re- work and was costing the company an estimated $500,000 a year. The team decreased the areas of inspection and moved some of the process upstream. Boykin said that this made it easier for Sunset to allocate its inventory based on quality, catch problems early and provide more of an incentive to get produce out the door sooner. The production lines that were restructured decreased their rework rate by 79 percent. The second kaizen event focused on standardizing processes in the shipping area. The inspectors who remained in the ship- ping area had to perform a few steps before sending the final product to its intended customer. Incorrect product labeling, pallet positioning and a general lack of standardized processes led to late product deliveries and more rework. Through using spaghetti diagrams to eliminate excess motion, painting visual aids on the facility floor to organize the pallets and implement- ing a system for troubleshooting, the team eliminated over- processing, saving the company upward of $242,000. As the team looked at the first two kaizen events, the mem- bers realized that no matter where the inspection process was happening, it was flawed because every inspector did his or her job differently. Boykin said that each inspector was trained by another inspector through a "shadowing" process, and there was no central standard process for inspections. "[This led] to irrational decision-making, which isn't the inspector's fault. It's the system's fault," he said. This prompted the third kaizen event, which focused on creating a robust training document for inspectors. The team implemented a new program where an experienced employee, called a "learning partner," is trained by the department su- pervisor to serve as a mentor to the new hires for two weeks. This aims to provide a network of support for the trainee and ultimately lead to a lower turnover rate. Collier said that this kaizen event has since inspired an overhaul of the company's recruiting, interviewing and onboarding processes. Over the 14-week period of kaizen implementation, the company saw an initial cost savings of approximately $368,000 and roughly 28,348 hours in time savings. "All these numbers are great … but something that I think is really important is that we were able to teach a lot of em- ployees metrics that they [otherwise wouldn't have known] because they didn't go to college or high school or it had noth- ing to do with their job," Boykin said. Allowing employees to take days out of their work schedule to pitch ideas for improvement and be a part of the process helped them feel like their talents were being valued at a higher level, Boykin said. Collier said that one of the big benefits of having the Tau- ber team was that the members were a reality check. The com- pany had many processes in need of improvement, but for a 14-week period, Collier still sees the impact. "I have people who never heard of kaizen or lean participate in these events with the Tauber team, and now almost a year later they're still talking about it and wanting to know when the next one is," he said. As the head of continuous improvement at Sunset, Collier said his plans for the future are to develop the company mind- set toward a more lean-thinking culture, and "getting the en- tire plant on that type of wavelength is the next step," he said. — Cassa dra Jo so Maxwell Boykin (from right) and Vivek Vijayan interview an employee on the production floor.