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Success
Stories: World-Class
Operations
Uncovering
Hidden Capacity
 The
Situation
Granite
Bay was called in to do an Operational
Assessment for a bulk chemical manufacturer in
the Midwest. The plant manager was frustrated over
that fact that the 4 teams covering 24/7 operations
weren’t working together to solve problems and
meet aggressive performance
goals.
Operating
procedures varied
by
shift, causing quality and yield losses; shop
floor operators and technicians were
“disconnected” from the goals of the
business, resulting in minimal performance
improvement; and processing lines were frequently
shutting down, creating a chaotic work
pace.
The
Solution
Granite
Bay completed a weeklong, round-the-clock
Operational Assessment and benchmarked the
operation according to a series of 30 performance
factors. Operators, techs, supervisors and line
managers were interviewed and an Action Plan was
developed with the following objectives: Focus the
entire organization around a common set of goals;
engage people on all shifts to participate in
process improvement; and coordinate the efforts and
activities across all shifts to accelerate the rate
of improvement.
The
Assessment revealed that significant operating
capacity was underutilized due to
inefficiencies and waste in the manufacturing
process. Late shipments and firefighting resulted
in orders lost to competitors and sister plants. We
built a consensus around a shared vision that
empowered the entire organization: we challenged
everyone from the plant manager to operators and
techs – to recapture this volume by focusing
on removing “waste” from their
processes.
For
the first time in years, everyone rallied around
the goal to identify and eliminate all forms of
waste in order to bring volume back to their
facility. The excitement was contagious as teams
began working together, with focused plant floor
leadership, and supported by practical, hands-on
training in how to apply Best
Manufacturing
Practices.
We
coordinated mini-team training workshops
focused on specific improvement projects, and
worked with the teams to implemernt them in their
work areas. Numerous small kaizens were taking
place plant-wide, all focused on one core
objective.
The
Results
Within
6 months, the plant freed up an additional 12% of
capacity. Changeover times were reduced by half
in some cases. Yield losses dropped by nearly
two-thirds. Equipment uptime increased by 30%. For
the first time in 20 years, employees actually
looked forward to coming to work. Over time,
volumes began to increase and within 18 months,
profitability nearly doubled.
But
the most amazing change was in the people.
Workers began to notice waste and non-value-adding
activities that were invisible to them before. They
developed a strong sense of ownership of their
processes and a deep intolerance for inefficiency
in any form. They formed ad hoc teams to eliminate
waste wherever they found it, usually without
management intervention.
From
the site manager: “We’ve always said,
‘it’s better to ask for forgiveness
rather than permission’. Our people are real
fired up about their jobs and our plant now. It
brought back a level of pride we haven’t seen
in years.”
More
Successes
We'd
like to add your plant to our Success
Stories!
If
you need faster improvement, more engagement and a
plant-wide focus on business objectives, we'd love
to hear from you!
Contact
us
or submit a brief questionnaire
describing your challenges and we'll be happy to
discuss your situation and suggest some solutions,
free of charge.
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