Superior Technical Ceramics (STC) Corporation located in Saint Albans, Vermont has been in business since 1898 and currently has 130 employees working within 100,000 square feet. The company is breaking new ground in the field of advanced ceramic materials that offer advantages such as high-temperature strength, corrosion and wear resistance, electrical insulation, and chemical stability. STC is ISO 9001: 2008 and AS9100 certified to allow it to compete globally in a wide range of industries, including aviation and aerospace, military and government, oil and gas,  water treatment, telecommunications, lasers and electro-optics, semiconductor as well as solar, medical, plasma and laser cutting, standard rods, plates, and tubes, and many other industrial/commercial insulator products.  Their talented, highly skilled workforce allows them to compete cost effectively worldwide.

To remain competitive, STC needed to continue to supply quality ceramic components at competitive prices with shorter lead times than its standard eight week deliveries.  In order to do this cost effectively, the production manager needed to look at ways to reduce batch sizes, which were large because of the extensive set up times.  VMEC suggested that the first steps to reducing times and establishing a leaner manufacturing culture was to first introduce 5S workplace organization.

The VMEC staff assessed the manufacturing environment and selected two key departments to tackle its first 5S implementation training sessions, training approximately 25 individuals in the materials and wet grinding departments on the concepts of 5S workplace organization.  The training was broken down into (3) eight hour days consisting of both classroom instruction and hands-on workplace reorganization where the employees were allowed to have significant impact as to the restructuring efforts within their own work areas as well as that of their co-workers.  They learned how to differentiate between tools that were critical to their everyday job versus tools that were not necessary to be in their department.  In addition, the employees began to understand the importance of organization, labeling, cleanliness, standardization and sustaining the efforts daily.  They were motivated week after week to do more because they could feel the difference it made to work in an environment that was conducive to morale and productivity.  The resistance that was felt at first quickly diminished as the employees could see the difference that sorting and shining made to the overall appearance of the workplace.  In fact, the effort became addictive and spread throughout many departments.  Before long, all the manufacturing departments were eager to be trained by the VMEC team who were happy to oblige with equal enthusiasm.

As a result of VMEC's 5S training and workplace organization efforts, STC has decreased its set up times by 10-15%, reduced its batch sizes by 25%, reduced its scrap factor by 15%, and continues to strive in reducing its lead times significantly.  In addition, more than 80% of the manufacturing personnel have been trained in the concepts of 5S, which continues to be an STC driving mission.

STC was able to improve its daily throughput by approximately 10-15% across fourteen production departments without any added labor by decreasing the time needed to gather materials outside the department, or time spent searching for missing tools.  In addition, valuable production workspace was made available by identifying wasted space being occupied by clutter or unnecessary storage. This allowed STC to decrease its lead times to customers thus increasing its competitive edge.

Cindy Bernier, Production Manager at STC states, “VMEC has revolutionized our business and reorganized our manufacturing environment making the shop a more productive, safe and pleasant work place for our employees and our customers.  By introducing the concepts of 5S Workplace Organization and involving the staff at all levels of the organization, VMEC has helped to change the culture at Superior Technical Ceramics Corporation, establishing the foundation to pursue Lean manufacturing.  In addition, the problem solving sessions have encouraged employees at all levels of the organization to work as a cohesive team, eliminating waste whenever possible.”

HowardCenter is a non-profit organization that provides services to children with serious emotional and behavioral challenges, adults who need mental health and substance abuse treatment, and children and adults with developmental disabilities.  Last year, HowardCenter served over 15,000 individuals and families at more than 50 agency sites throughout Chittenden County and beyond.  They employ approximately 1,200 full and part time employees.

What began as an IBM-sponsored project to help HowardCenter reduce its energy use grew into a collaborative effort partnering with VMEC to assist them with their internal work flow and looking forward to increased efficiency in the future starting with what proved to be a $300,000 savings in recovered revenue over ten months.

IBM was awarded a $100,000 grant in 2011 to help HowardCenter and Vermont Technical College reduce their energy consumption by at least 5% annually partially through the use of energy management strategies developed at IBM’s Vermont facility. The grant was made as part of IBM’s 100th anniversary, and was one of only 10 Centennial Grants awarded by IBM to projects around the world, and one of only two in the U.S.

Through this grant, HowardCenter was introduced to VMEC by IBM.  HowardCenter was unaware of VMEC, their expertise in Lean process improvement and was unsure how VMEC could assist them in their non-manufacturing setting. IBM convinced HowardCenter their efforts would be well worth their time.  To provide exposure to VMEC, Charles Stringer, Director of Finance and Administration and Russ Stratton, IT Director, took part in a Fundamentals of Lean Office public workshop hosted by VMEC in October 2011.  This session acted as the springboard to bring VMEC into HowardCenter, to expose their support staff to Lean tools and techniques, to identify gaps in their office processes and to provide guidance for improvements.  Over the next several months, a series of on-site Lean Office, Structured Problem Solving, Office 5S: Office Organization and Standardization and Value Stream Mapping sessions took place at the HowardCenter main offices in Burlington.

Upon completion of the VMEC training sessions, the primary focus of the Lean initiative was for VMEC to provide coaching and support of tasks related to improving billing processes. During the Revenue Cycle Value Stream Mapping Project VMEC‘s objective was to coach the on-site Lean Team Managers and focus team efforts on quantifiable improvements and results.   Prior to the Lean project work with VMEC, HowardCenter was not able to capture nearly $1 million annually in revenue linked to denied claims activity.  These included such things as no pre-authorization, not meeting  contract parameters, lack of coverage, timely filing and incorrect deductibles / co-pay fees, just to name a few.  Billing lag time, mostly from the front end - date of service to date of denial - was taking place.  By applying the Value Stream Mapping process and adapting revised methods to the billing claims workflow, HowardCenter was able to recognize savings of nearly one-third of their lost revenue in less than a year’s time.

Early in the process, some staff members were skeptical with the proposed changes. Now they see, as a team, they’re headed in the same direction and have realized success. This generated the necessary momentum to move forward. There is ownership in the efforts that have been made and visual controls placed in high traffic areas such as break and mailing rooms are constant reminders that this employee effort is recognized and appreciated.

As a wrap up to the first year’s efforts by HowardCenter and VMEC, a Strategic Deployment planning session took place in July 2012 with HowardCenter’s Agency Leadership Team to review their successes, contemplate their future actions and map out a True North statement.

Another project that Charles would like to undertake in the future is the evaluation of time sheet processing and how to alleviate the repeated errors and amendments that occur each pay period. He also envisions training and assigning Lean Team Managers to Service Areas in efforts to sustain the progress that has been accomplished.

Charles commends VMEC and specifically Bill Kuhns, Professional Manufacturing and IT Advisor, with the success of the project.  “We had not been exposed to VMEC and their services prior to receiving the IBM grant last summer. The training and workshops enabled us to get the right people in a room, identify our problems and formulate solutions as a team.  Our organization is complex, both from a funding and service delivery perspective. VMEC helped us get to a better place than where we were ten months ago and the savings to us is something we never anticipated.  Many businesses could benefit from the Lean techniques we learned and applied to our business processes.  We are very grateful to them.”

HowardCenter staff involved in the Value Stream Mapping initiative, l-r: Danielle Rylant, Dave Kronoff, Bill Post, Tom Borys, Kathy Coates, Laura Pearce, and Charles Stringer. Missing from photo: Ed Giroux and Russ Stratton

Liquid Measurement Systems (LMS) began in 1989 with one big idea - replace the heavy metal tubes in fuel probes with graphite composite.  It was lighter, more durable and would not corrode. Manufacturing of these new probes began shortly thereafter with the understanding that everything was to be done with the highest attention to detail and quality of craftsmanship. LMS expanded into signal conditioners and fuel gauges, adding manufacturing and engineering staff. In 2006, the company moved to its current location in Georgia, Vermont where they currently develop and manufacture systems that are trusted for use in many of today's aircraft including the Chinook, Blackhawk, Apache, S-97 Raider, LittleBird, Cobra, Huey and S92. With 30 employees on staff, their state-of-the-art components are developed to withstand the toughest conditions and have been put through the most stringent testing procedures to ensure their success in the field.

VMEC began their relationship with LMS several years ago having worked on basic Lean principles with their manufacturing staff.  Seeing the success of this training and implementation, the engineering area was curious as to how similar Lean concepts could be transferred to their area of the business.  Meeting with VMEC in 2011, it was determined the best course of action was to design and document a completely new product development process based on the Future State map as defined by a Value Stream Mapping effort where the entire company would be involved.  LMS specifically chose a project – one that was new and problematic - to test this process. 

In the past, each LMS employee or department worked independently on various aspects of any project, depending on its focus and deadline.   Client folders were not shared and working in this manner led to slow and unorganized processes.   By implementing selected Lean Product Development methods as identified by the Value Stream Map tool, each department - beginning with Customer Service and flowing to Sales and Marketing, Engineering and Manufacturing - was able to view their involvement, a timeline and the project flow from start to finish.  Now, all project folders, such as contact information, customer and preliminary design concept, score history graph, data item sheet and action item tracker just to name a few, are on a shared drive for all company personnel to view and comment.  A template was created with this information to make future projects easier.  This process has reduced overall project time.  Engineering and manufacturing work closely together on the initial units produced to capture the assembly process.  This achieves the added benefit of developing and assembly procedure and having it available for the first production build. LMS successfully completed their AS9100 Rev C Transition Audit on June 19, 2012.  The auditors commented on their Lean Product Development process and said that it was among the best they have seen.

To date, approximately 20 projects at LMS have either been completed, are open or have been archived for later work details.  Barry Corbin, Project Manager at LMS, states “due to the success with the original test project, now each new project at LMS has its own Product Development Process which the employees have embraced.  We don’t even think of beginning a project without the template.  Everyone expects it now and knows its value.”

The Project Leader is the energy source for new ideas in the Innovation Engineering Management System.   One of the traits of great project leaders is a Passion for the Project and the Innovation Process.   Innovation projects experience lots of ups and downs.  To maintain momentum, the Project Leader must have a personal, intrinsic passion for the idea and deep love for the process of turning innovations into reality. 

Michael Johnston at Country Home Products wanted to add a trailer to the DR Power Equipment product family; but didn’t have a product idea that was “wow” enough for the company to commit time and resources to a development project.   This is where the “Fail Fast Fail Cheap” structure of the Innovation Engineering Management System enters the story.  Fail Fast Fail Cheap uses the scientific method or Plan Do Check Act cycles and provides a low cost and quick way to test and refine ideas before making a commitment to invest money to take a product to market.   Each week the Project Leader identifies the biggest death threat to the project, creates a hypothesis or plan for what they want to learn, and runs a quick test to get smarter.   And each week the Project Leader makes a recommendation to either kill the idea or continue with another Fail Fast Fail Cheap learning cycle.  A decision about whether to go “all in” on the idea and invest the resources to take it to market is typically made in less than 100 days.

With Michael’s passion and Fail Fast Fail Cheap (FFFC) structure of the Innovation Engineering Management System, Country Home Products introduced the Versa Trailer in March 2012.    “I had tried for two years to get traction into this category. It was only due to the FFFC that I was given a chance because what did I have to lose.  All I was asking for was one week at a time.”

Autumn Harp is a specialized research and development and manufacturing partner in the cosmetics and skin care industry.  Located in Essex Junction, Vermont, Autumn Harp develops innovative cosmetic formulations (certified organic and natural), water-based technology and color cosmetics that are packed and labeled in a wide variety of containers. The company supplies products that sell in over 60 countries around the world.  They are challenged by large seasonal swings, so they experience the ebb and flow of many workers into their manufacturing operations at various times of the year.

Situation

Team members from Autumn Harp attended a VMEC workshop taught by Alan Robinson in September 2009.  Alan is the co-author of Ideas are Free: How the Idea Revolution is Liberating People and Transforming Organizations. Charged up by that workshop, a leadership team used the workshop lessons to construct an Employee Involvement program that fit their workplace and their work force.   All senior managers were given Alan’s book to read, which was then followed by a book discussion. Based on the interest of managers to implement their own employee program, Autumn Harp included as part of their 2010 goals an Employee Ideas Program.

Solution

The process began shortly after the New Year.  Daily problems were identified and brainstormed on the floor with supervisors company-wide.   If the problem was deemed enough of an issue to warrant a solution, it was recorded into the Share Point System (software) for next steps.  Weekly 30 minute meetings were held on each shift for all full time employees. Each problem that had been identified was categorized and loaded in the system under one of three areas:  Completed with training necessary, Feedback required and Review for all in-process projects.

To start, idea ground rules were established where the focus concentrated on waste or 5S: product waste, movement of people, rework, over processing, excess inventory, wait time and / or 5S – Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize and Sustain.  Resources available to each shift team included two hours of maintenance time per week and up to $50 as a team per project.  Amounts over $50 and up to $250 required a supervisor’s approval and beyond $250 required management team approval.  Each employee was allowed up to two hours per month to work on projects.

The Ideas program began in the Compounding Dept. due to its size, 5 – 8 employees per shift. Problems were recorded on an excel spreadsheet, prioritized by team voting, brainstormed according to the 5 “Why’s”, followed by the entire team voting on the best resolution. Once this step was completed, the group facilitator would mark as such.

Opportunities for improvement were identified in meetings, but this process was taking too long, especially once rolled out onto the production floor with 20-30 employees per 12 hour shift.  The facilitators were burning out, finding there were not enough hours in the day and tracking the growing list of problems and communicating the ideas captured between 4 shifts (two 12-hour shifts, M-T-W and Th-F-S) was becoming far too cumbersome.

In order for all full time company employees to observe the progress of the employee ideas system, an intranet database was created on Sharepoint. This transitioned to “on the floor” brainstorming and trained floor leaders to facilitate on the spot.  Ideas were captured and categorized and facilitators met with shifts every other week and followed a specific agenda to ideas completion.

Any employee can submit their idea to the Autumn Harp “Ideas Home Page”.  Each idea has an “Ideas Data Page” which spells out the concept in further detail.   Ideas that are brought to fruition, taken for action and are deemed successful are posted around the plant for all to view on “I Have an Idea!” laminated sheets.

Results

After nearly two years following the initial implementation of their Employee Involvement system, Autumn Harp employees have submitted nearly 900 ideas with 500 plus to date having been implemented. Employee feedback has been very positive as they can see their ideas taking shape before they were lost or discounted.

Testimonial

Chuck Huizenga, Safety and Training Manager at Autumn Harp, speaks enthusiastically about the Employee Involvement program and its success at the company. “What is most impressive is the rate of idea generation and the value of those ideas which have increased with time. We have gone from a culture of “We’ve always done it that way” to “I Have an Idea!”.  Employee engagement in the program has been exceptional and overall morale has been lifted significantly.  We don't make tracking the savings from ideas a required step in the system.   But the reward for a good idea is the satisfaction that it has been implemented and the opportunity to submit more ideas.”

Company Profile

Classic Designs/Tablelegs.com by Matthew Burak/Tablelegs.com offers furniture and architectural components to wood-workers on a just-in-time, semi-custom and custom basis that are hard-to-find or hard-to-make. Hundreds of different designs and eight standard wood species result in over 9,000 unique table legs, kitchen island legs, columns, bun feet, table base kits, corbels & architectural components. 

Classic Designs/Tablelegs.com customers include over 34,000 active furniture makers, cabinetmakers, kitchen designers, interior designers, architects as well as a whole host of hobbyist and DIYer woodworkers who demand only the highest quality in terms of materials, workmanship, and timeless, principled design. The company employs 26 full time staff.

Classic Designs/Tablelegs.com was founded in 1995 as a division of Matthew Burak Furniture. In that same year, Matt outsourced manufacturing and warehoused 100% of the product that sold. On December 2, 1999 the division was incorporated and became its own entity. In 2001 Mark Desrochers, Matt's longtime friend and marketing consultant, bought into the business as a junior partner. Matt's 30 years of experience in furniture
design and assembly combined with Mark's direct marketing experience pole vaulted Classic Designs/Tablelegs.com ahead of all the competition. Today, 98% of what they sell is produced in their St. Johnsbury wood shop with typical lead time of only 5 days.

Situation

Classic Designs/Tablelegs.com has been engaged with VMEC for three years, mostly in the Lean Manufacturing and Strategic Planning areas. Beginning as a warehouse/ catalog/ direct marketing operation, they outsourced their manufacturing operations. As the company began to integrate into the manufacturing arena, their inventory grew rapidly. Working with VMEC, they cut lead times and inventory, as well as greatly improved their cash flow. As the housing market declined, however, Classic Designs/Tablelegs.com business was negatively impacted with a dramatic drop in sales. In January 2011, VMEC discussed innovation-driven growth with Classic Designs/Tablelegs.com ownership and the executive leadership team.

Solution

VMEC held their second Innovation Engineering Leadership Institute in Woodstock, Vermont in February 2011 with 110 plus business leaders from across Vermont and the US. Classic Designs/Tablelegs.com was represented with six executive management team members including two owners; this 3-day, 40 hour session was immediately followed by an intense one day Innovation Engineering Jump Start session where 14 Classic Designs/Tablelegs.com team members gathered to create and communicate new ideas for growth. The company also contracted with VMEC for twelve months of ongoing monthly coaching through Fail Fast, Fail Cheap cycles of learning. The Jump Start created over 100 ideas; two were selected to move into discovery mode for further learning and exploration. Over the next three months, those ideas evolved into products that are now commercialized. Thermo-Ash, a thermally modified wood suitable for outdoor use and preservative-free from sustainably harvested hard woods, is the first-to-market product in applications of its type, which expanded Classic Designs/Tablelegs.com into other markets. They are also working with another local woodworking company as a supply chain partner to commercialize an off-shoot of the second idea that went into discovery.

In addition to these two ideas and their successful growth, Classic Designs/Tablelegs.com has seen cultural transformations, where 19 innovations have been identified and implemented across product, process and marketing messages. 100% of the workforce has been introduced to the Innovation Engineering (IE) tool set.

Results

The IE tool set turned into the hiring of two team members at Classic Designs/Tablelegs.com. With 1% growth in new customer base (over a two month period), the company anticipates as much as 20% of their revenue in 2012 from the new customers/ products alone. In the next year they will be putting metal legs, metal tips, paints and stains into the innovation pipeline for discovery & exploration. All three of these, if brought on-line, would require partnerships to accomplish. Depending on the numbers, they would like to send another four – six team members to the IELI in March 2012 in Woodstock.

Testimonial

According to Rick Rose, Classic Designs/Tablelegs.com Director of Sales, Marketing and Design, “Innovation Engineering has resulted in a meaningful unique and significant cultural change in our company. It has increased our ability to move a process, product, or marketing improvement along
ten-fold. The four most important words on our minds...what did we learn?”

Company Profile

Maple Landmark Woodcraft located in Middlebury, Vermont, is a manufacturer of small wood toys, games, and giftware. Started in 1979, the company sells wholesale to toy stores and gift shops, and also direct through its catalog and website. Many of the 37 employees include members of owner Mike Rainville's extended family, which makes for a close-knit workforce. The product mix has changed over the years, but Rainville's early commitment to sustainable manufacturing practices remains the same.

Situation

Recent years have provided new and unique challenges for Maple Landmark. With assistance from VMEC, the company embarked on Lean manufacturing initiatives that have made their processes more efficient, and in turn, increased production capacity. Then in late 2007, product recalls of toys made in China and other countries made news headlines, generating a huge surge of interest in American-made toys. Maple Landmark knew they could benefit from a process that would help them bring profitable new ideas to life and into the marketplace.  Knowing that within the many service offerings of VMEC is a focus on top-line sales growth for manufacturers, Mike contacted VMEC and arranged for a "Eureka! Winning Ways" program, the first scientifically based process to guide companies to systematically and significantly sustain and grow profitability. Specifically, the program provides a disciplined methodology and analytical tools to create new ideas, select the ideas with the highest probability of success, and efficiently drive the best ideas to market.

Solution

VMEC Growth Coaches led a Eureka! Idea Session with Maple Landmark and 68 ideas were created. Four ideas were selected and analyzed for market pull using Merwyn research tools. The company decided to move ahead with one of the ideas - to go beyond the inherent "natural" aspects of wooden toys and develop a full line of toys that are safe, chemical free and "green."  The idea was accelerated through the development process using rapid cycles of "Fail Fast, Fail Cheap, Get Smart" learning and weekly coaching by VMEC. The holiday rush slowed down the process, but by mid-February of 2008 (four months after the initial Eureka! session), the company introduced its "Schoolhouse Naturals" product line. Buyers welcomed the new line, which opened the door to a new segment of customers from the eco-friendly and eco-baby industries. The toys are natural wood, primarily maple, with no added chemicals other than a little wood glue where needed.

Results

Schoolhouse Naturals has attracted a great deal of publicity for Maple Landmark Woodcraft, including a story on CNN. Creative Child Magazine has named two of the new Schoolhouse Naturals products to their 2008 Honor Roll. The Push N' Pulls garnered the 2008 Preferred Choice Award in the Toddler Toys category while the Shape Sorter Bench was named Toy of the Year in the Toddler Block Toys category.  The company has realized over $100,000 in sales for the new line in just the first year and expects to double that figure as they insert and rebrand other existing product lines within Schoolhouse Naturals. Rainville forecasts that Schoolhouse Naturals sales will grow to become 25% of their total business.

Testimonial

“In our industry, it's critical to keep developing new ideas to grow our market position. Eureka! Winning Ways put a structure to our new ideas, giving us a methodology to ask the questions we may have otherwise not taken the time to explore but which are necessary for launching a new idea," said owner Mike Rainville. 

G.S. Precision Inc. is a family owned business which was founded in Wilmington, VT in 1958 and moved to its current headquarters location in Brattleboro, VT in 1985.  G.S. Precision has grown to a total of three facilities in North America. With an eye toward becoming a leader in the precision machining field, the company has grown, expanding its capabilities for manufacturing parts for a wide range of industries requiring high precision machining.  GSP is a leader in the manufacturing of high-precision machined components and sub-assemblies for the aircraft engine, aerospace, medical, fiber-optic, automotive, specialty bearing, and other commercial industries. With an experienced team of 375 employees, they are experts in machining a diversity of materials; from nickel based aircraft alloys and titanium to stainless steels and aluminum. Beyond their ISO 9001:2000 and AS 9100 certifications, they have a reputation for outstanding quality and value in their industry.

Several years ago, G.S. Precision ownership and leadership teams understood that the industry marketplace was growing at a rapid pace and they needed to take action and remain an active, strong player in their arena. GSP determined that their Technology / Continuous Improvement efforts were key to support rapid growth. In 2010, GSP hired a Lean Coordinator and at the same time started a long term joint relationship with VMEC.

G.S. Precision and VMEC consulted together on multiple occasions to layout a direction before beginning the actual on-site project work, the main goal being to create a strong base at GSP for long term growth. Training the workforce in Lean 101 and 5S began, followed by instruction in and execution of a major 5S project.  Other trainings undertaken and completed were two Value Stream Mapping sessions and a Set-Up Reduction project.

GSP has completed or are currently engaged in a total of twelve 5S trainings and projects. These efforts have reduced unnecessary items by over 60% for the events on the plant floor and only needed items have been set in place.  Forty two employees from managers to manufacturing employees support weekly 5S audit programs to sustain efforts implemented.  GSP has trained and engaged 65-70% of its workforce in 5S efforts at two Brattleboro locations alone. GSP has instituted an Employee Idea Program that encourages all employees to generate key small tasks that will improve productivity, safety, operator motion, cost and quality.

Key results from efforts include a Lean 5S / Flow improvement for needed Comparator and Tool scopes. The team determined wasted walk, motion and wait times per day. After the initial analysis, current state cost showed a high total labor cost per year.  The team researched and implemented new equipment for the area. Future state analysis cut the initial cost to more than half, as well as a 50% reduction in steps and over 50% reduction in labor cost.   Similar 5S projects in other plants showed by reducing walk/ wait time, simply by moving gauging and tooling to point-of-use. The result was a cost savings of several thousand dollars per year. GSP formed another team to work jointly with manufacturing, safety and Simple Green products to create four centrally located cleaning stations in the facility.  This allowed employee’s one stop for mop water, spray bottle solution and the vacuum system to remove waste.  These efforts reduced walk/ wait time, operator motion, material and inventory cost in the plants, not to mention tens of thousands of dollars in total savings.  GSP estimates a six figure savings from basic Lean projects and 5S execution based on tool availability at point-of-use, as well as opening of aisle and work space.

The training and culture growth has been "Priceless” in the words of Shannon Covey, Lean Manufacturing Coordinator.  “Our relationship with VMEC has been critical to our growth. GSP has worked hard with support from VMEC to build our knowledge base and greatly improve our culture. Consultants from VMEC have gone out of their way to change direction as our company transformed. Our plant has become much more efficient, with waste reduction efforts and Lean thinking. Our plant is safer, more organized and more efficient through 5S/ Lean efforts.  GSP looks forward to a continued relationship with VMEC.”

Founded in 1981, Simon Pearce is a family owned business located in Windsor, Vermont. There are three (3) manufacturing facilities - Windsor, Vermont, Quechee, Vermont and Mt. Lake Park, Maryland. The company manufactures handblown glass and handmade pottery which they sell through their own retail stores and website. They also sell wholesale to distributers. Their products are "high end luxury" items. They currently have 330 employees, of which 200 are full time. This success story pertains to the pottery manufacturing division in the Windsor, Vermont facility.

The client manager attended a VMEC Lean 101 workshop and saw that Lean principles would be a good fit for Simon Pearce. The pottery division was selected for the pilot project. They were challenged with excess Work in Progress (WIP) and finished goods inventory, several bottlenecks restricting product flow, lack of organization, not enough room, a lot of time spent looking for tools as well as the next job. They ran very large batches that contributed to inventory issues.

The project started with an on-site Lean 101 workshop attended by key employees. The next step was a Value Stream Map training and exercise detailing the flow of a typical pottery product from start of manufacture (release of job) to sale in retail store. All pottery personnel as well as representatives of marketing, sales, retail, finance and operations attended the VSM Kaizen. Changes and improvements were identified during the VSM process that included setting up supermarkets for WIP at a key location as well as in finished goods, determining that the workplace needed organization and visual controls to direct work flow. The task of organizing the workplace was accomplished utilizing a 5S Kaizen event. The department manager stated that these projects changed the mindset of the whole division; people became vested as a team to succeed. The division has since incorporated a suggestion process that requires an employee to present a suggestion to the team for review bi-weekly and the team implements improvement if approved. They have implemented many improvements as well as sustained the involvement and morale.

Quality: Able to maintain same defect rate while manufacturing more difficult product. Division manager states "Mindset has made us focus on the areas with the potential for greatest financial and quality impact." Finished Goods Inventory: Reduced 25% in warehouse due to ability to produce smaller batches. Production: Increased 40% with only a 10-15% increase in labor. Raw material: Turns improved from 3 to 4. WIP: 40% reduction in amount of WIP maintained on shop floor

“By implementing the tools learned in the workshop, we have improved morale of the people on the shop floor because they feel more vested”, states Neil Cockwill, Director of Pottery at Simon Pearce.

Amoskeag Woodworking, based in Colchester, VT, employs 42 people. Established in 1992, they manufacture and sell high-end millwork for commercial industries such as banks, hospitals and retail operations. Roughly 80% of their business is commercial, the remaining 20% residential. Other shops in the area have closed due to competition and the economy. The closest competition that Amoskeag faces is located in Maine and Southern New England.

Amoskeag realized as their operation grew, they were in need of organizational as well as utilization assistance of their work space. Flow of work and its timing affected output to the customer. Kevin Hastings, company owner, attended a VMEC Lean workshop and met with Paul Demers, VMEC Manufacturing Advisor, to discuss their situation. Paul assessed their situation as lead times being too long, starting in the office/ administrative area first, carrying into the shop. It was determined that a 5S and Process Improvement system was necessary.

It was determined that the bid process was lengthier than necessary. From start (bidding a job to the customer) to nearly finish (beginning the manufacturing process of the job) was taking approximately 101 days. The process was too choppy and there were too many lag days. By cutting out unnecessary steps and a system of checks and balances and internal deadlines, the start to finish process was decreased to 45 days.

By compressing bid-to-job days, Amoskeag increased its volume of output from 2009 to 2010 sales by over 60% and first quarter 2011 sales exceeded their 2010 total sales.  This volume increase allowed them to seek additional space for their growing operation and in early 2011, Amoskeag purchased Morse Hardwoods in Fairfax, VT.

According to Kevin Hastings, President and Owner, “Amoskeag would not have been able to handle the growth and standardization we have now unless we had contacted and worked with VMEC. Having learned what we now know has allowed us to expand confidentially and take on new challenges.”