Advanced Continuous Improvement Tour at Zircoa

On August 18, 2010 the WIRE-Net Advanced Continuous Improvement group toured the Zircoa Plant in Solon, OH.  The group is made up of Manufacturers from the Northeast Ohio area on a Continuous/ Lean journey within their individual companies. 

 

Zircoa has been Utilizing Lean principles for the past year and has made some significant progress in implementation.  With the help of a local consultant Zircoa has:

 

• Improved flow
• Reduced mistakes
• Reduced WIP
• Cut Lead time

 

As a result of the efforts, they have seen:

 

• Increase in Sales
• Inventory turns up (inventory down)
• Improved EBIT
• Shorter lead times

 

Our tour focused on the Visual Factory aspect of Lean.  As we walked the floor we were introduced to personnel who described the use and value of visual displays of information on the plant floor (red is bad/green is good!).  We also witnessed a staff meeting being conducted on the floor as part of their continuous communication within the organization.

 

Recommended Reading

 

Zircoa has supported their personnel with many opportunities to advance their Lean Learning.  Among these opportunities were these suggested books:

 

• Everything I Know About Lean I Learned in First Grade (Martichenko)
• It’s Not Magic (Klein and Zawacki)
• Lean Production Simplified (Dennis)
• Creating a Lean Culture (Mann)
• Managing to Learn (Shook)
• Quick Changeover Opportunities: SMED Systems (Productivity Press)
• Made to Order Lean (Lane)

 

If you are interested in becoming part of Advanced Continuous group, please call Mark Pinto at WIRE-Net (216)920-1960 or e mail at mpinto@wire-net.org.

 

 

 

WHAMMO RE-SHORES

From Todays Machining:

 

Wham-O’s products are not exotic, but they take up a lot of container space per $ value. With container costs from China up to $4500 from as low as $3000 at the bottom of the recession, Wham-O has rejected offshoring. Their products are not labor-intensive to produce, primarily using injection molding. They are cheap, light and bulky. A container of Frisbees may hold only $5000 worth of product, so a 50 percent increase in container costs is a substantial piece of the overall cost, according to Kyle Aguilar, President of Wham-O. 

 

See:  Todays Machining World: The Magazine for the Precision Parts Industry   www.todaysmachiningworld.com