TimberTech
TimberTech (Wilmington, Ohio) - TimberTech’s parent company, Crane Plastics was founded in 1947 in Columbus, Ohio by Bob Crane and has remained a privately held, family business. In 1994, Crane Plastics began to develop technology for processing wood composites. By 1995, Crane identified decking as an application for wood composites and invested in a full-scale blending system. In 1996, after additional, major investments in extruders, tooling, plant, and equipment, TimberTech Decking was introduced. TimberTech Limited was spun-off of Crane Plastics in 1999 as a separate company led by President, Stu Kemper. Products include deck planks, ornamental railing systems, injection molded post-caps and spindles, and other associated accessories & trims.
TimberTech's composite decking is a revolutionary alternative to traditional wood decks. With TimberTech products, you get a skid-free, splinter-free surface that doesn't need painting, staining or sealing. Unlike wood decks, TimberTech resists fading, weathering, rotting and warping – it stays looking new, year after year and each product is backed by a 25-year warranty. TimberTech is the 2nd largest player in the Wood Plastic composite market. Their production and distribution facilities are located in Wilmington, Ohio. TimberTech has a strong reputation as a high-quality supplier of plastic-wood composite decking for residential and commercial building industries. Predicted increases in sales in the years to come will require the company to continue to expand in size to meet customer need.
Many individuals have been involved in making changes happen quickly. From the outset of the project, the team at TimberTech exhibited a “can-do” attitude that was immediately recognized by the employees on the shop floor. This tone was set and communicated by Vice President, Tom Gramlich, and Director of Manufacturing, Art Dierks. From the very beginning, both Tom and Art made their presence felt out on the shop floor leading others through the change process and actively participating in making those changes happen.
The maintenance department, led by Maintenance/Engineering Manager, Bill Taylor, Operations Engineer, Bob Heigel, and Maintenance Supervisor, Ben Davenport, has had to rectify numerous equipment problems in order to allow for standardization of processes. Conversely, standardization of operating procedures and training by Plant Manager, Bill Gourley, supervisors, Joe Boysel and Jeremy Dickey, and the many team leads associated within each respective production department have minimized and/or eliminated many of the reactive problems that the maintenance department has had to struggle with in the past.
The underlying theme of the effort can be summed up in one sentence: “Eliminate the cause of the problem, don’t just deal with, or work around, the effects that the problem causes.” This approach has led to the discovery of many hidden wastes (time, materials, WIP, utilities wastes, abuses on equipment, poor exchanges of information, unused creativity, etc.) inherent in the production process that have now been permanently eliminated. Not surprisingly, as these wastes were eliminated from TimberTech’s internal processes, safety, quality, and communication at TimberTech have both improved dramatically as well.
TimberTech used a team approach demanding quick action over deliberation and analysis to gather low-hanging fruits associated with eliminating wastes inherent in the process. This approach created a sense of urgency, which increased communication among shop-floor employees. In addition, strong support of the project by management has distinguished this effort from those that have taken place at TimberTech in the past.
During the Goal Setting meeting, the company identified its current #1 need to be a robust 5S/Visual Management System. Project goal is to implement 5S disciplines throughout Wilmington facility driving toward a 5S score of 4.0 in all areas by project's end. A strong 5S discipline throughout TimberTech will drive down operational expenses and throw a higher percentage of future sales directly toward the bottom line through the elimination of waste in the company’s internal processes.
Kanban system implemented in Receiving for packaging and raw materials to eliminate shortages and fees associated with rush deliveries.
Embossing Area
Extrusion (Lines) Area
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Elimination of air lines to blow off boards in Extrusion area due to improvements in dust collection system.
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Standard operating procedure established for color changes that uses up partial boxes of colorant instead of throwing them out.
Shipping, Receiving, Grinding, Tooling, Blending & Maintenance Areas
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Closed loop system between blending and grinding area that adjusts composite of each batch of material based on available dust fines. Regrind closed loop—run one, two, or three lines based on available bags of regrind (ground up scrap). Closed loop eliminates all WIP (raw materials) between production and grinding process thereby freeing up cash previously tied up in WIP. Annual savings of this improvement have not been defined.
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Setup / Tooling die changes organized, old tooling/plates thrown out and/or repaired to reduce downtime associated with die changes. This has helped to minimize wasted time / down-time looking for parts and tools to complete the changeover and also eliminates the need to “rush” dies in when a shortage is unexpectedly discovered.
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Cleaner plant allows for potential customers to be brought into a plant that is always in a “tour-ready condition”. No additional time/effort is required from production to get the plant in a “tour-ready” state.
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Air compressors—before the 5S project began, the plant air system required three air compressors to run continuously to keep up with demand. Because of this, when the outside temperature rose on a warm day, the air compressor room temperature would rise so high that the compressors would shut down due to high oil temp (and poor ventilation) about once per week. When the plant air compressors are down, 100% scrap is produced by the extruders and daily scrap costs soar. After eliminating need for air lines at each Extrusion line by making improvements to the dust collection system, the plant now runs on two and a quarter air compressors (that is, the third air compressor runs 25% of the time instead of 100% of the time) and provides air to the plant at a much higher pressure than before the project began. As a result, the air compressor room temperature is significantly lower and TimberTech has not had an unexpected loss plant air pressure (due to high oil temperature of the air compressors) in the past month. This has resulted in lower scrap costs. The benefit of this reduction in scrap has not been defined.
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Increased production run time in Embossing area by 12.5%.
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Increased available run time caused an 80% reduction of WIP between Extrusion and Embossing steps in the process resulting in approximate $45K in savings.
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Dust Collection--$250K to 300K in annual savings ($50K for waste removal, $200K to $250K of re-useable material)
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Total annual savings = approx. $30K. Extrusion (Lines) Area
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Estimated costs associated with eliminating the wastes associated with colorant = approx. $10K year.
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Provided/improved needed tools to empower operators to make decisions and take “ownership” of the equipment they run.
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Air hoses, lines, etc. were raised off ground to allow for easier cleaning by operators and elimination of trip hazards.
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Water issues/sources of leaks eliminated for bathrooms, filter cleaning, roof leaks, clogged gutters, and obstructed drains.
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New scrap procedure provides clearer picture of amount and sources of scrap.
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Quieter plant
- Communication between shifts, between office and shop floor, between operations and maintenance has greatly improved. Shop floor personnel suggesting/making improvements on their own.
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What they had to say
“We started the 5S project to clean up our plant once and for all. What we got instead was a change in culture that does not allow the plant to get messed up in the first place. It is way more than just industrial housekeeping!”
~ Tom Gramlich, President
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About TimberTech
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