Total restructuring and standardization of operational systems at North American and European Distribution Centers. The effort included zone picking, deployment of inexpensive trams following short pick routes, relocation of inventory to enhance pick density, implementation of direct pick-to-box or pick-to-pallet to avoid material re-handling, enhancement of IT systems to speed human interfacing and increase speed and accuracy of transactions.

Domestic Shipping process improvements

Pick Process Improvements

Future State

Future State

Results

Columbia Forest Products is North America’s largest manufacturer of hardwood plywood and hardwood veneer. The company, based in Greensboro, N.C., employs more than 2,100 people and operates facilities throughout the United States and Canada.  Much of their hardwood  plywood is used by cabinet makers and installed in homes across the continent.

Like other companies in the hard-hit housing sector, Columbia Forest Products has experienced some tough times. But through a partnership with the ILS, Columbia has been able to cut annual expenses by more than $12 million. ILS helped Columbia achieve the savings by standardizing work procedures and streamlining work flow to eliminate unnecessary steps and speed up production.

Using “just in time” production techniques, Columbia reduced the time it takes to fill a customer’s order from around 60 hours to fewer than 8                                                                    hours – a vast improvement. As a result, the company was able to drastically reduce inventory, which led to a significant savings.

                                                                 “ILS showed us how to maintain or improve productivity and improve quality with fewer resources,” said Bill Duarte, Columbia’s director of                                                                    lean transformation. Columbia developed such a close relationship with ILS consultant Parthi Damodaraswamy that it named him an honorary                                                                  director of lean transformation.

“Parthi has been absolutely critical in our success,” Duarte said.  “He helped us look at our systems as a whole and helped guide us through our strategic planning.”

The Strategic Transformation Partnership between ILS and Columbia began in 2006 when Columbia recognized the need to dramatically reduce its operating costs without degrading quality for its customers.  Through ILS, they have had over 125 people in key positions throughout the company complete the ILS Lean Systems Certification Series.

Columbia has aggressively conducted Rapid Improvement LIFT (Learning and Improvement Focused Transformation) events in most of its                                                                          facilities, contributing to a dramatic cost savings in every target area.  LIFT events have focused on safety, designing and implementing pull                                                                        systems, co-locating equipment to optimize plant layout, inventory reductions, internal and external logistics systems, and the creation of an                                                                      overall guiding Production System – The Columbia Way.  They have pledged that no workers will be laid off as a result of lean activities, but are                                                                actively managing labour costs through their HR processes.

When Ed Furniss first heard about Lean, he didn’t see how it could apply to his company. “Lean seemed fine for the Toyotas and Motorolas of the world with their mass-production operations,” – said Furniss,Vice president and plant manager at Wabash Plastics, an Evansville, Indiana-based provider of high-quality custom plastic injection-molded parts. “But I didn’t see how it would work for a company like ours, where someone’s running a single machine, producing a part, putting it in a box and shipping it,” So, to get a better grasp of the Lean concept, Wabash Plastics sent its production manager to a class taught by ILS.

“He came back with a much, much clearer understanding of how to implement the advantages of a Lean system in our operation,” Furniss said. Convinced that Lean might be helpful after all, Furniss and Wabash President John C. Schroeder signed up for a one-week ILS executive seminar.

”We were sold,” Furniss said. Wabash then invited ILS to the plant to meet with us and talk to us about the type of company we were and the kinds of things we were doing,” Furniss recalled. ILS put together a plan to install and implement Lean Systems throughout the company and train all of its employees.

”Our goal all along was not to install little bits and pieces of lean, but to change the culture of the whole company,” Furniss said. “We felt very strongly that employee involvement was the key. So every employee has gone through extensive training. We educated the employees to better understand what Lean is really about and how they can be a part of it, and how it can improve their job and their working conditions.” Furniss admits that some employees were skeptical at first. “But we made it clear from the very beginning that we would not lay off anybody as a result of the lean program,” he said. “In operations where there were labour savings, we’ve been able to utilize the people in other jobs.” Employees have not only accepted the changes, they’ve taken the lead in implementing them. “Our plant is organised into teams with a team leader for each group of machines,” Furniss said

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“The team members actually go out and do the time studies and the measurements and come up with the ways to set up the machines and the work stations. They determine the amount of labour needed to run the jobs. The list of improvements the employees have generated is significant.” “They’ve come up with less labour than we have historically used on various jobs,” he said.

“We’ve reduced the amount of material handling because of lower inventories and therefore we were able to move the parts closer to the work centers. We have less scrap and less rework.” Although Furniss is extremely pleased with the progress that Wabash Plastics has made, he looks forward to even greater gains. “Continuous improvement means just that “ it’s a constant process,” he said. “Lean is a journey, not a destination.”

Comprehensive intervention improving capacity of labour-intensive X-ray and FPI inspection lines, reducing operating shifts from 4 to 2. Improvement of casting OEEs from 50% to 80%, enabling additional reduction of operating shifts. Plant manager coaching to establish highly effective problem solving skills within the organisation. Participation of the entire workforce in LIFTs, averting the imminent closure of the operation. Major new contracts from European luxury automotive producers have been realized.

The Restructured line for final inspection bypassed a parts-transfer mechanism improving Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) by 30%. With other improvements overall labour requirements for this line was reduced by 50%.