Issue link: https://industrialengineer.epubxp.com/i/905872
December 2017 | ISE Magazine 49 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 mental design for the distillery in place and experiment with different recipes. Meier and his crew then built a medium- sized still they called "Double D," because it has two doublers in a series. A doubler is a tank that allows the vapor from the still to condense and then revaporize and pass through. The process increases the ethanol percentage and leaves undesirable flavors behind. Eventually the distillery built two larger stills. "Rumsfield" is used for making rum, and "Dr. Crow" is a bourbon still named after Dr. James Crow, who standardized the sour mash process used in bourbon production today. The company re- leased its first product in January 2016, a triple-oaked bourbon whiskey named OCD #5. Although lean usually is about efficiency, Meier chose the less efficient pot still. He said the pot still method produces a better quality product than a column still. "My philosophy here is to replicate something that Dr. James Crow would've produced in the early 1800s, and that was prior to (the more advanced) stills that are used today," he added. When it comes to applying modern manufacturing meth- ods from Toyota to the age-old process of making bourbon, Meier said he and his team use the TPS system to make pro- cesses – and whiskey – flow while not detracting from the quality of the product. "When I was at Toyota all the Japanese guys would say, all we do is problem-solve," he said. For example, Meier's team has developed kanbans to help move the distilling process along. The distillery uses a status board to indicate when a still is filled and ready to run. As the company's volumes pick up, the team will put more kanbans in place for bottling, labels and other processes. Another problem involved overflow from water cooling tanks used in the cooking process. Team members created a valve mechanism based on the concept of the toilet. When the water reaches a certain level, the valve shuts off automatically. The team also added an air-proofing alarm system to the stills to prevent incidents where the cooked mash boils over and wastes product. The team built an alarm that detects when the temperature rises to a certain degree and alerts the worker to make an adjustment, so nothing spills. He explained that with Glenns Creek Distilling, the flow is unlike that of a factory. Factories have more of a production flow, while in distilleries the flow goes from process to process, making it a challenge for his team to maintain a balance. "Part of the challenge in lean thinking is we're still in a startup, growth mode (and every time) we get the process fig- ured out and running we need to change part of it so we can (move on to the next phase)," Meier said. "I think there is a lot of misconception about Toyota and lean. Toyota is a pretty basic company and they … keep things simple and rely on the creativity of the people," he said. Recalling his time at Toyota, Meier explained that workers at the automotive giant would follow simple kaizen rules: Can you do it with what you have available? And what can you do today at no cost or low cost? "When you look at that mindset, you realize it's not about the savings. It's about the use of people, their creativity and directing that in a way that (pushes) them to think harder," he said. Meier is still working on the first two stages of a three-part business plan. The first is production and making bourbon. Glenns Creek currently makes rye bourbon, whiskey and rum and is working on a sugar cane-based bourbon. The second stage is preserving the existing structure from the forces of nature, and the third is a full restoration of all buildings, expanding the distillery and looking for investors to create restaurants and other amenities on the property. — Cassa dra Jo so The distillery interior includes large stills, Dr. Crow and Rumsfield, which produce bourbon whiskey and rum. David Meier, the owner of Glenns Creek Distilling, sits on one of the oak barrels used to age bourbon.