Update on Excellence 5S System Deployments at Brookdale ...

Update on Excellence

5S System Deployments at Brookdale Plastics + Hauenstein & Burmeister, Inc.

It's about culture change -- much more than "housekeeping."

Dave Hagford, Ev Dale, and Lea A.P. Tonkin

The 5S (Sort, Straighten, Shine, Spread or Sustain, Standardize) juggernaut started at Brookdale Plastics, Plymouth, MN several years ago as a team-based means to "de-junk" the shop floor and expanded to an enterprise-wide improvement initiative. Over at Hauenstein & Burmeister, Inc. in Minneapolis, MN the 5S impact also proved a culture-changing experience. "Lessons learned" from the companies' experiences were shared during a Minneapolis AME educational event, "5S System Deployments." This article offers selected findings shared by the organizations.

Brookdale Plastics: Significant Impact

Joe Meixell, Brookdale Plastics president, recalled that 5S implementation began as an evolutionary process a few years ago. "5S

improved morale, because people didn't have to spend as much time looking for tools, etc.," said Meixell. "Financially, it's been very beneficial in helping us to reduce downtime and avoid delays. We're a custom thermoformer, so every job has to be performed as efficiently as possible. Inventory has decreased by 52 percent, indirect activities decreased by half, and sales dollars per full-time employee increased by 40 percent."

Implementing 5S

"We try to take all the principles of lean and apply them where they fit our business. 5S is one principle that we have applied company-wide and expanded it to be much more than a housekeeping practice," said Brian Cerar, operations manager at Brookdale Plastics.

They began by creating 5S

teams and encouraged them to look for ways to put the 5S concepts to work. The employees (about 40 people work there) quickly got into the Sort, Straighten, etc. methodology. Their early results were dramatic and created an

In Brief

Greater flexibility to meet customer needs, higher productivity, a better working environment for employees, and other gains can be netted by 5S practitioners as part of a lean manufacturing approach, as reflected in this account of experiences at Brookdale Plastics as well as Hauenstein & Burmeister, Inc. The two Minnesota companies' initial 5S activities and results are recounted here.

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About the Host Companies

Brookdale Plastics, Plymouth, MN is the oldest (founded in 1963), independent, privately-held company in Minnesota exclusively engaged in thermoforming. The company's associates take projects from conception to prototype to production. They form products in materials ranging from PVC to HDPE, PP, etc. Their goal is to be the best "value solution" provider using lean practices while fostering employee development in a lean atmosphere.

Hauenstein & Burmeister, Inc., Minneapolis, MN began as a weather stripping company in 1923. In the 1940s, the company bought a metal fabrication operation and produced hangar doors for wartime use, adding the capability to manufacture elevator entrances in addition to hollow metal and other metal specialties. The operation expanded to become the premier manufacturer of elevator entrances and cabs throughout the world, striving for architectural beauty and structural quality in vertical transportation.

impetus for continual improvements. The process quickly spread from simply scrapping unused equipment and materials and clearing out computer tables to devising creative, organized tooling racks, ship-shaping older machinery, and even cleaning and painting the entire production facility. Office teams cleaned out closets, file cabinets, and obsolete computer files, creating a surprising amount of new office space. "Believe it or not, it takes less time to empty one dumpster twice than two dumpsters once each, simply because you don't have to work around the second one," said Cerar.

"The organization and housekeeping have been great for safety. Aisle ways and storage areas are clearly marked, eliminating trip hazards and damage caused by forklifts. Because everything has a designated, labeled location, items are not left in front of emergency exits, circuit breakers, or fire extinguishers. Machines and floors are kept clean so I'm able to identify and repair maintenance problems before they result in extensive

down time," said Jeff Collison, safety and maintenance coordinator.

A master project board in the shop aids 5S and continual improvement efforts. When someone identifies an improvement project, they post it on the board. Employees who have extra time look at the board and work on one of the listed projects. Cerar noted that two pieces of equipment recently were stripped down and repainted, and various setup reduction projects such as standardizing thread sizes in a machine have been tackled using this project board system. Routine maintenance on machines and relocating/restriping areas are added examples. A communications/project board is shown in Figure 1.

Cerar said that continuous improvement (CI) is considered part of everyone's job at Brookdale Plastics. "We've implemented a program to encourage eight implemented improvement ideas per employee every year," he said. "The key word is 'implemented;' we tried suggestions only and that's what we got."

Other performance improvements continue as associates keep the 5S momentum going, according to Cerar. Standardization efforts have become particularly rewarding. "For example, in recent months, we have standardized our equipment so that any former can run any tool," said Cerar. In the past, moving a tool from one former to another could require hours of modifications. "Now we schedule by available capacity rather than by work center," added Cerar. "It's an approach that accommodates the shorter leadtimes expected by our customers. It has also improved our machine utilization because we don't have overcapacity issues on one former while a second one sits idle. Design engineering, manufacturing engineering, and production worked together on these improvements over a couple of years, one piece of equipment at a time. We set long-term overall goals."

Standardization's reach extends to tooling design. After evaluating hinges used in clamshells and trifolds, for instance, engineers developed a proto-tool with nothing but hinges (hinged geometries) and ran samples with varying materials and mil gauges. From the results, engineering was able to create standard templates for use as needed. This allows engineering to quickly insert the proven geometries into tool designs, saving engineering time and eliminating down time in production due to tooling modifications. This same process has been used to standardize a number of common design features.

"Not only does practicing 5S help in production areas, but I see it improve communication lines throughout the organization," said Jeff Ewert, engineering manager. "There becomes less paperwork shuffled back and forth (which may have been redundant or obsolete),

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Figure 1. Associates at Brookdale Plastics update project status on boards in the shop area. Photo by Dave Hagford.

people know where to go to get information for themselves, and procedures are followed, eliminating wasted effort."

Setup Reduction: More Changes in the Works

Setup reduction continues to draw continual improvement attention. "Along with standardizing machines, we have purchased duplicate master tooling to allow setup to be done make-ready while the equipment is running," Cerar said. "We set a goal to change out our formers without using a tool, eliminating the use of wrenches, screwdrivers, and assortments of bolts. We've accomplished that on one machine so far. When we are completely satisfied with our results, we will replicate them on our other machines.

"We also have a setup team focusing on ways to emulate a pit

crew (like in auto racing) so that all setup tasks are done simultaneously," added Cerar. "For this three-person crew, we want each person to be trained to work any of the three positions on the crew as needed. We continually videotape the changeovers and look for ways to reduce wasted time, then we make the improvements and evaluate it again." This is a big project and will require significant training efforts and additional fine-tuning, he commented.

What's Next at Brookdale Plastics?

When asked about what's next on the improvement agenda at Brookdale Plastics, Joe Meixell said, "We've straightened and shined, and made many improvements. Now we are focusing our attention on continual improvement.

"There is so much waste that

can be avoided by formalizing activities," Meixell continued. "We continue to learn about the value of standardization in tooling, tooling components, and processes. For example, we continue to reduce our setup times from an average four or five hours; one recent line changeover was 35 minutes and we easily identified six minutes of waste in that example."

"Lessons learned" shared by Cerar include: Take photos and videotape "before" and "after" as well as progress steps. "It's inspiring to see where you came from," he said. He also suggested that managers need to actively "sell" continual improvement, include everyone (and that means senior management, too) in the organization when 5S and other CI activities are launched, and have metrics and baseline performance documentation in place. "The key is to just do something; don't just talk about it," he said.

Hauenstein and Burmeister's Progress

Kim Weninger, president of Hauenstein & Burmeister, Inc. (H&B) also emphasized the need for action. The manufacturer of elevator cabs and entrances had accumulated various parts, broken or unused equipment, and other unneeded items that consumed space and other resources. New management in early 2002 decided to adopt a lean manufacturing approach, with 5S as an initial effort.

Weninger noted that understanding why 5S is important boosts an organization's overall performance improvement results. "It's a good, non-threatening teambuilding exercise, builds pride in our workplace, and it's a selling

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tool for customers," she said. "Every other lean manufacturing tool builds on 5S."

H&B assembled 5S teams in each work area (in the plant at this point, although office employees also conducted their own "cleanup" activities). Each team included employees from the work area plus volunteers from other work areas. Each selected 5S process operated like a kaizen event, kicking off on Monday with training and planning. From Tuesday through Thursday, the teams brainstormed, selected, and implemented improvements. By Friday, they were ready for the "grand finale:" a lunch celebration and a walk-through by senior managers to showcase the changes. The teams were free to use whatever 5S techniques helped to keep the improvement momentum going and they posted daily audit charts on the wall to indicate conformance to the 5S approach. A monthly lunch honors the team with the highest number of "stars"

At H&B, the lean culture change has been significant.

for conformance, and they receive the company's "Golden Broom" award.

Culture Change, Sustaining the Gains

These changes might sound "everyday" to people used to "living lean." At H&B, the lean culture change has been significant. Longterm employees, craftsmen in a union environment who were accustomed to working in the same building and work layout for many years, did not have experience in teaming skills. Their considerable 5S improvements included: rearranging work areas for more effi-

cient operations, eliminating "junk" just sitting around, reduced inventories and stockroom space, placing tools where they are easy to find and use (see Figure 2), improving quality performance, cleaning aisles and access areas, and opening up manufacturing space.

Weninger counseled that sustaining these improvements requires:

? Auditing performance on a continuing basis

? Management involvement ? Reinforcing the benefits to

employees (through group meetings, one-on-one talks, etc.).

5S mistakes to avoid, she added, are: lack of planning, selling 5S as a housekeeping tool ("It is more than taking out the garbage"), a nonkaizen approach that drags on for weeks, and lack of management participation. Weninger views 5S activities within a lean manufacturing approach as a tool to provide a good working environment, implement visual management, win customer compliments, and build employee pride. Future 5S efforts will focus on sustaining enthusiasm to continuously improve 5S performance.

Dave Hagford is CEO and president of Creative Business Coaching, Edina, MN. Ev Dale, Dale & Associates, Minneapolis, MN, is a member of the AME North Central Region Board. Lea A.P. Tonkin, Woodstock, IL is the editor of Target magazine.

? 2004 AME? For information on reprints, contact: Association for Manufacturing Excellence

Figure 2. H&B employees placed tools, supplies, equipment, etc. in well-marked areas for easier access and use. Photo by Dave Hagford.

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