DeWys Manufacturing began the Journey to Lean Manufacturing in 1997, and has continually improved their manufacturing and administration processes ever since. In just over 10 years, DeWys Manufacturing has come a long way from just maintaining good manufacturing equipment. We now maintain the right machines, the right people, and the right production processes, ensuring that the Lean Journey becomes an intrinsic part of our DNA. We include the Lean principles throughout all of our processes, from the order entry through the final shipping of a product. We will continue to enhance our Lean Manufacturing principles to drive out unwanted costs for our customers.
Lean Tools Utilized at DeWys Manufacturing
6S
- • Safety
- • Sort
- • Scrub
- • Straighten
- • Standardize
- • Sustain
Continuous Improvement
- • Team member involvement through Think Sheet Process
- • Daily / weekly huddles
- • Layered Process audits (LPA’s)
- • Certified Continuous Improvement Coordination
Heijunka
- • Line balancing
- • FIFO scheduling boxes
- • Load Leveling
Identification & Reduction of the Eight Deadly Wastes
- • Product Defects
- • Waiting
- • Excess Motion
- • Inventory
- • Unnecessary Processing
- • Over Production
- • Excess Transportation
- • Under-Utilizing Team Members
Kan Ban
- • Steel, fasteners, powder, corrugated, and point of use at value streams
Point of use
- • Shadow Boards (Tooling at the machines)
- • Made to stock in the value streams
- • Kan Ban at value streams level
- • Quality measuring equipment at the machines
Preventative & Predictive Measures
- • Daily / weekly / monthly process
- • Electronic reminder system
Pull Systems
- • Build only when necessary
- • Downstream customer drives demand
Standard Work
- • Manufacturing the product right the first time
Tooling Standardization
- • European press break tooling
- • Modular fixture tables
- • Standardized turret tooling configuration
Value Stream Mapping
Visual Management
- • Value Stream Scoreboards
- • Everything in its place
- • Process is clearly seen
Our Journey...
- • Batch production environment
- • Large batch sizes
- • Departmentalized
- • Sheared all blanks
- • Utilized large inventory
- • Divided building by block walls
- • Back-tracked parts
- • Maintained lead time of 2-4 weeks
The Lean journey continues...
- • Applied some tools of lean
- • Tore down the walls
- • Moved machines based on flow North to South
- • Initiated Kan Ban steel system
- • Created flexible cells
- • Reorganized finishing operations
- • Changed from made to stock (MTS) to flattened BOM
- • Purchased an automated laser system
The Lean journey continues...
- • Created value streams based on process
- • Initiated pull system
- • Reduced raw material and work-in-process
- • Introduced material handlers
- • Created room for growth and project work
- • Fasteners, MTS and tooling at point of use
- • Implemented online document control
The Lean journey continues...
- • Eliminated double handling of material
- • Installed FIFO conveyor in the assembly department
- • Minimized Hilo use with Paint line FIFO conveyors
- • Created value stream for the Salvagnini Panel Bender
- • Installed 2 Fanuc Robot welderswith offline programming capabilities
- • Created weld-only value stream
- • Developed the Machining Center
- • Reduced manufacturing lead time from 5-7 days down to 3-4 days
- • Began to implement 6’S in all value streams
- • Installed Hijunka scheduling board
- • Applied Kanban to the weld-only cell
- • Established paperless payroll
- • Introduced 1 page strategic plan with alignment of our wall of measures
The Lean journey continues...
- • Developed value stream map of pre and post manufacturing processes
- • Implemented layered process audits
- • Introduced electronic portals (Supplier, Team Member, Sales Partners)
- • Reduced sheet size to two common sizes per gauge
- • Initiated 6S company wide
- • Launched new and improved website
- • Updated our photographs
The Lean journey continues...
Future Lean Journey
- • Introduce paperless office
- • Maintain three day manufacturing lead-time
- • Continue our lean and green journey
- • Supply Chain Synchronization
- • Continuous investment in leading edge technology