Don't overlook the impactthat kaizen projects such assetup reduction efforts can

have on your operation's overallcontinuous improvement (CI) pro-gress, suggested Ted Wyka (Figure1), CI facilitator at the Brake PartsInc. (Dana) facility in McHenry, IL.The facility is among the tour hostsites for AME's Annual ConferenceNovember 4-8 in Chicago. "A setup,in some cases, can be reduced by asmuch as 50 percent through akaizen or improvement process,"Wyka said. "In addition to the costsavings, there are benefits from get-ting people involved in makingimprovements in their work areas,"he said. Brake Parts McHenryemployees manufacture rotors,drums, brake cables, and brake kitpacks for passenger cars and lighttrucks. Machine shop and turningoperations are prevalent here. Anelectronic Kanban system and cellu-lar manufacturing, kaizen (improve-ment) projects and training, and var-ious employee involvement activi-ties power CI achievements.

Three-day (30 hours) leantraining classes covering many ele-ments of eliminating waste give

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Kaizen, ContinuousImprovement Activitiesat Brake Parts Inc.,McHenry, IL

Kaizen, Continuous ImprovementActivities at Brake Parts Inc.,McHenry, IL 31

Matching Capabilities with Value Drivers 33

AME Annual Conference:Chicago was Great—On to Toronto 35

Wondering Whether to Shoot forBaldrige, Six Sigma, and ISO Targets? 35

AME Regional Map 36

associates the basics for tacklingsuch projects. They learn how to doprocess mapping, track through-puts, perform 5S (housekeeping)tasks, etc. in the training sessions.Team-building and communicationskills are also covered. These proj-ects fall under the IMPACT(Improve Performance and CreateTeamwork) improvement umbrella.

The company encouragespeople to get involved — to be on atleast one kaizen or improvementproject a year, and most do. ABrake Parts goal is two improve-ment ideas from each employeeideas per month. Employees earnpoints for their ideas, and thepoints can be accumulated towardslogo items offered by the company.

When upcoming projects areposted, and volunteers are encour-aged on the project, people fromthe work area affected by thechange are needed on the kaizenproject team in addition to peoplefrom other areas in the plant.Sometimes new or different ideascome from people who are notworking on a particular processevery day.

Kaizen teams getting started

31Fourth Quarter 2002

on setup reduction or other processimprovements attack the identifiedproblems in several ways. First,they document (and sometimesvideotape) the process from start tofinish. "We watch, and then we talkabout what we have seen," saidWyka. "We map the 'before'process and later map the 'after'process when improvements havebeen agreed upon with peopleworking in that area. We brain-storm ideas to take time and otherwaste out of the process. Then,after discussing the ideas, we nar-row down the selection to the mostfeasible steps and then develop alist of recommendations."

When work area layoutchanges are in the works, projectteam members cut out paper orcardboard pieces representingequipment in the affected area, andmove these elements around onthe floor in a large training area tosimulate planned layout changes.

Then they discuss suggested lay-out, etc. changes with associatesfrom the work area. Although someequipment moves and alteredprocess steps can be accomplishedquickly, other changes require moretime. "We like to have a projectcompleted, with the changes beingmade, within 30 days, althoughthere are some exceptions," Wykasaid.

Teams tally completed im-provement project results. They usea standard value for space in thebuilding as a yardstick to calculatecost savings when there's a reduc-tion in required floor space. Waittimes, travel distances, WIP reduc-tion, and other factors also are tal-lied. The team presents its ideasand results to senior managementand their peers, and documents itsown process (meeting minutes,work orders, plus takt time calcula-tions, or other materials used in theimprovement process) so that otherteams can build on their ideas.Kaizen teams also do a 30-day fol-low-up to see whether recom-mended changes are still in placeor other adjustments are needed.

In one setup and quickchangeover project at the McHenryplant, a kaizen team (calling them-selves the "12 Second Men") lookedfor ways to reduce a 14.36 minuteaverage time to change a die on apress (required opening a gate atthe back of the press using Allenwrenches) and to make tasks easi-er for operators. Team membersnoted that it was difficult to get inbetween the top and bottom dieusing an Allen wrench and a pipe,with a resulting waste of time as anoperator worked to loosen thebolts. They recommended the useof an air ratchet with attachmentsfor needed adjustment, to saveoverall changeover time anddecrease the setup operator's time

spent bending over. Other suggest-ed changes ranged from moving agauge table to adjusting the stagingtable height and cleaning rollerbearings. The zippy new processcut changeover time to an averageseven minutes and one second.Calculating the related estimatedsavings, the team figured it at$6700 a year. They also developedan "air ratchet loan agreement"form for associates to use when thetool is needed for a changeover.

Luis Garcia (Figure 2), a certi-fied operator/setup man and amember of the facility's 67 CellQuick Changeover Team that madethese recommendations, said that,at first, there was doubt about howmuch improvement could be made.He said that the use of air ratchetsas alternatives to Allen wrenches inthe die changeover did seem morefeasible as the team explored pos-

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Target Volume 18, Number 4

Figure 1. Ted Wyka, continuous improvementfacilitator.

Figure 2. Luis Garcia, a certified operator/setupman and a member of the facility's 67 Cell QuickChangeover Team.

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sible ways to improve the process."There are sometimes obstacles ona team, but once we got set on ourgoals and objectives, we workedreally well together," he said. "Itwas good to have team membersfrom that area and also some fromother areas. That way we weremore free to think outside the box.We learned that you shouldn'tcome to a project thinking that youknow everything. As a group, wedecided to follow up on this projectand see how well our ideasworked." Garcia has participated inother improvement projects suchas chip containment, etc.

Another kaizen team at theplant aimed to streamline Kanbancommunications. They put aKanban rack in the center of a pro-

duction area with needed formsand supplies. Use of this centrally-located rack eliminated $13,000worth of unnecessary forms anddecreased walking times needed toget Kanban boxes, tags, etc.;employees used to walk out of theproduction area to get these sup-plies as needed.

Once an IMPACT project iscompleted, a "Teamwork Discovery"group can move even further alongthe improvement continuum. Mostplant employees participated in the24-hour Teamwork Discovery train-ing two years ago. The coursesincluded teaming, communication,problem solving, process mapping,conflict resolution, and other areas.Using this training, a group of asso-ciates may conduct a 5S evaluation

to reduce waste such as coolantleaks or to eliminate potential haz-ards such as metal chips hitting anoperator, etc.

Among the continuousimprovement "lessons learned"from Wyka: For multi-shift opera-tions, a split-shift kaizen eventbrings out good ideas for improve-ment and ensures access to engi-neering and maintenance person-nel as needed. Keep the communi-cations and training programsrolling to encourage day-by-dayimprovement ideas.

Lea A.P. Tonkin, Woodstock, IL is theeditor of Target magazine.

33Fourth Quarter 2002