| The Company
Since its 1972 inception and 1999 acquisition by Carris Reels, the
Carris Plastics Group in Fincastle, Virginia has been committed
to meeting the needs of its customers. Carris Plastics is well known
as a quality manufacturer of packaging for the magnet, insulated
and fine wire industries. In recent years, Carris Plastics has expanded
its capabilities to include contract molding. The Fincastle facility
employs approximately forty-five individuals in an 85,000 square
foot plant on twenty-seven acres. In addition to the Virginia facility
and the Vermont headquarters, this 100% employee-owned company has
other branch locations throughout the continental U.S. including
Canada and Mexico.
The Problem
In response to a suggestion from one of its customers, Carris Plastics
sought to acquaint its employees with the fundamentals of Lean principles
in order to identify possible opportunities for process improvements.
In the fall of 2007, Brian Connell, Director of Plastics Operations
at the Fincastle location met with Jim Simons of GENEDGE ALLIANCE,
a NIST-MEP affiliate. It was determined that the best way to facilitate
the transfer of Lean Manufacturing principles facility-wide would
be to utilize a "train and do" building block format consisting
of lecture, discussion, and hands-on factory simulation. As an added
benefit Carris Plastics qualified for matching funds to help offset
the expense involved in this type of project through GENEDGE ALLIANCE's
Small Manufacturing Enterprise Program.
The Response
Initially an in-depth tour of the facility was undertaken by GENEDGE
ALLIANCE's Jim Simons, Sales Manager and Mark Mekanik, Project Manager
to become familiar with Carris' operations. Working in conjunction
with senior management and shop personnel, GENEDGE ALLIANCE developed
a systematic approach toward achieving Lean Enterprise objectives.
First, GENEDGE ALLIANCE would conduct a Lean for Process Industries
Workshop and Factory Simulation to give their employees a hands-on
opportunity to experience fundamental Lean Manufacturing principles.
A project team would then be selected to participate in a Value
Stream Mapping Facilitation in order to learn the skills necessary
to develop effective current and future stream maps, identify opportunities
for improvement, and develop strategies to reduce or eliminate non-value
added activities
The Results
The employees involved in the Lean for Process Industries workshop
were very engaged and reviewed issues pertaining to shift changes,
order changes and inventory levels. The Value Stream Mapping team
also committed themselves to the benefits of becoming a Lean Enterprise,
and their efforts resulted in the identification and analysis of
several key strategic items. The recommendations of the project
team were immediately adopted by the facility, which had a profound
effect on the injection molded plastics area as summarized below:
An immediate reduction of $25K in inventory was anticipated with
long term results expected to exceed this number.
Increases in manufacturing capacity resulted in an estimated $120K
in retained sales.
Labor costs were reduced by $60K due to the re-alignment of personnel.
Investments in new equipment and workforce practices for the plant
were increased by $48K
The efforts of Carris Plastics to promote employee ownership were
recognized in the commitment of those employees involved with this
Lean endeavor. The example set by parent company Carris Reels with
regard to the value and potential benefits from being a 100% employee-owned
company helped prompt its recognition as the "2008 ESOP Company
of the Year" by the ESOP Association.
Management's Comment
Director of Plastics Operations Brian Connell stated, "We were
very pleased with the outcome of this workshop and would highly
recommend it to any other organization that is looking to make continuous
improvements within their operations. Immediate results were evident
and selling the concept to our employee owners went smoother than
we expected. Our VT (Vermont) manager also participated in this
workshop and used these concepts to introduce Lean in their facility
with good results. It truly has been a strategic "lifeline"
during these uncertain economic times."
View their site! http://www.carris.com/index.html
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