Estes Design & Manufacturing
A metal fabricator managed rising costs as they approached huge growth in new markets by eliminating unneeded steps and improving accuracy.
Estes Design & Manufacturing, Inc. is a full-service custom metal fabrication business that provides even the largest companies with quality products and services. Estes produces a variety of products for customers from several diverse industries and is known for its innovative solutions and technological/automation capabilities. All activities from conceptual design to full production are engaged to help customers reach their goals with the most cost-effective solutions.
Estes recognized that while sales had consistently grown over recent years, expenses had risen at an even faster rate. They saw an opportunity for rapid change and improvement in both internal processes and workforce development. The Estes team engaged the help of Definity Partners to gain efficiencies in the office and on the shop floor, and to leverage those improvements for the explosive growth they were poised to experience in a number of markets.
To rapidly improve cost, quality, and delivery simultaneously in an abbreviated time frame, a company wide lean effort was necessary. Specifically, Estes wanted to:
-
Implement a management system and develop their team to continuously improve the effective efficiency, lead time, and inventory performance.
-
Reduce costs associated with direct and indirect labor, with simultaneous increases in sales and pricing realized through improved lead times.
-
Improve utilization of existing equipment through improved scheduling systems.
-
The marketplace continues to demand faster service, lower prices, and higher quality.
-
Estes had engaged in previous 5S initiatives in the past. While their efforts would result in some initial benefits, the efforts did not prove to be sustainable over time.
-
Facilitate huddles and communication between shifts, drive action items to completion, praise individuals whose ideas/contributions resulted in improved performance.
-
Resolve issues that threatened progress quickly and effectively.
-
Organize press brake area and simplify and standardize press brake training for setup.
-
Improve data integrity by converting from a timecard reporting system to a real-time reporting system that captures accurate job efficiency and scrap information, as well as auditing programs that allow the Purchasing Manager make better buying decisions faster.
-
Increase utilization and throughput in the press brake area, a traditional bottleneck for the organization.
-
Develop and implement a process to rectify scrap reporting issues between the cell and the rest of the shop floor.
-
Lead scheduling changes on the shop floor that allowed the organization to make a shift from push to pull-production by implementing a first-in, first-out scheduling system to drive work-in-progress (WIP) through the operation.
-
Thoroughly upgrade preventative maintenance procedures.
Measurements used to determine achievement of goals:
-
Create individual and team-based measurements for effective efficiency, data integrity, and order processing lead time.
-
Develop department measurements to highlight WIP and enable a pull-production system in the office and the shop floor.
-
Establish real-time measurements for on-time delivery and weekly measurements for shipping department efficiency.
-
Put department and plant-wide measurements in place for the 5S daily management system in all areas of the business.
The continuous improvement initiative has allowed Estes to better utilize its existing resources and has allowed the company to position itself for substantial growth. Eliminating unneeded steps in processing and manufacturing orders has allowed orders to flow through the business with substantially less delays. Improved data systems and increased accuracy in data reporting has allowed for greater control in purchasing decisions affecting cash flow as well as increased visibility into true issues that affect customer service and productivity.
Cross-training in various activities is leading Estes to become a more nimble culture that can more effectively react to changing customer needs. Pull-production and first-in, first-out scheduling has driven internal WIP and carrying costs down and simplified a once complicated scheduling system to a fundamental process that is able to be executed at the operator level.
-
Continuous improvement activities defined by the revised roles and responsibilities of new management system, Estes sustainment matrix, and newly established communication systems have been the key to continued improvement for all Estes employees.
-
Coupled press brakes with automated machinery (cell) to increase efficiency ~10% by utilizing downtime while equipment was running to operate manual equipment.
-
Consolidated assembly operations to leverage available resources and decrease indirect labor.
-
Initiated layout changes to plant to house new equipment for ‘prototype shop’ to streamline short run production.
-
Implemented new measurements throughout pre-production process to monitor cycle times and define areas of improvement leading to 57% reduction in quality process cycle time and 83% reduction in material process cycle time.
-
Realized 14% gains in overall efficiency of shop through continuous improvement efforts and indirect labor reduction.
|
What they had to say
“Through the course of this project, I’ve seen things from the people here that I never knew had it in them. Working side by side with Definity Partners, our people have really stepped up to answer the call to make our business stronger and I’m very proud of them.”
~ Ron Estes, VP of Operations
“Most businesses suffer from poor communications across all levels; some refer to this as Silo Communications. What Definity Partners has accomplished is establishing communication avenues. The biggest and probably the best has been the introduction of the "White Boards." A quick glance at these boards and you know exactly how everyone’s department/team is performing. The daily huddle is another tool that has given everyone a venue to hear, see, and suggest solutions that can improve the quality of our business.”
~ Larry McNew, Sales Manager
|
About Estes Design & Manufacturing
Email a Friend