KAIZEN EVENT-BASED

LEAN PROGRAM

Done by:
Sreekumar Unni
Sooraj Santhosh
Sabari Sreekumar
Umesh

COMPANY PROFILE

Winterton Corporation, $1.5 billion a year producer of industrial products.

Three operating divisions:
Centralized sales/distribution operation
Independent research
Development facility
38 individual manufacturing facilities.
Employed 11,700 people and suppliers for product lines.
Product portfolio
Ball bearings
Industrial application
Chain
Couplings
Electrical/mechanical components
Seals, conveyor track, gears, motors, and hoists.
Strength- Good brand-name equity and acquisition of other businesses.

PROBLEMS FACED
High inventory levels due to products at the end of life cycle.
Inability to linkup with OEMs for new product introductions.
Inability to plan, forecast demand and control process.
Inefficient capacity planning.
Problems in organization design, manufacturing architecture and
material flow methodologies.
Lack of clarity.
Lack of coordination between shop floor and overall business
objectives.

PROJECT BACKGROUND
Planned to implement lean management through a series of
kaizen events.
Backed up by 4-day lean class to enhance knowledge transfer.
Program was extended to cover entire business operations.
Target 23 companies
Time frame:- April Dec 1999
Primary Scope & Objective:
At least one Kaizen event @ 23 companies.
Expose as many employees as possible to the 4-day lean class.

PROJECT APPROACH
Team- Cross functional teams of 8 to 12 people.
Each team had a leader.
First Day-totally of training and education on multiple lean
manufacturing topics (e.g., one-piece flow, Kanban, visual management,
measures, etc.).
Second and Third daysBaselined the existing process.
Designed a new process.
Demonstrated the new process, including the rearrangement of equipment.
Re-baselined the new process.

Fourth day- Project review and follow up strategy.

REASONS FOR DRAWBACKS

Lack of preparedness before Kaizen event.
Missing data for second day of the event.
Managements expectations not communicated to employees
correctly.
Confusion due to miscommunication.
Failure to follow and coordinate to-do activities after the event.

REASONS FOR SUCCESS

Leadership- presence of a constant driving force.
Direction- overall plan as to what to do next was present.
Common goal/objective- clarity as to what to achieve in a
quantifiable manner.
Support- constant coaching and guidance of project team
imparted confidence.

TIMELINE

BENEFITS ACHIEVED

TECHNIQUES UTILIZED
Lean Manufacturing ( Kaizen
Event)
One-piece flow
Takt time
Kanbans
Material pull,
5S housekeeping
Visual controls
Process mapping
SMED
TPM
Poka-yoke etc

Lean Manufacturing( 4-day)

Jidoka
Autonomation
Andon
visual controls
Just-in-time
Takt time
Continuous flow
Pull systems
5S housekeeping
Muda
Process mapping
Kanban,
Poka-yoke
TPM etc