Service cultivates `lean manufacturing'
BYLINE: BY LAURIE WHALEN ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Arkansas Manufacturing Solutions helps get rid of waste through a program devoted to "lean" manufacturing - a management philosophy traceable to the early 20th century, when Henry Ford squeezed out efficiencies on his Model T production line.
While the ideas behind lean manufacturing are not new, Loren Berry, a project manager for Arkansas Manufacturing Solutions in Fayetteville, said the concept has gained in popularity over the last 10 years since the 1996 release of Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation by James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones.
Several techniques are used in lean manufacturing, which has also been described as a continuous improvement process. The concept strives to make a manufacturing process lean by eliminating waste identified through a regular assessment and adjustment of a manufacturing process.
Similar to the book's premise, AMS said, lean manufacturing offers businesses potential sales growth and market share gains through techniques that can increase on-time deliveries and machine availability.
Created in 1995 as a program of the Arkansas Science and Technology Authority, AMS covers the many lean manufacturing techniques through training courses and quarterly seminars.
Arkansas Manufacturing Solutions caters to small and medium-size manufacturers, and is an affiliate of the U.S. Department of Commerce's Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which operates a nationwide network of centers in 350 locations.
Berry said that each year his office, one of several throughout the state, helps hundreds of clients such as Preformed Line Products in Rogers. Headquarters of Arkansas Manufacturing Solutions is in Little Rock.
Preformed Line Products committed itself to implementing lean manufacturing companywide in 2004.
The Cleveland-based manufacturer of power transmission and telecommunications hardware has also used the group's national reach at its two plants in North Carolina.
John Coleman, a manufacturing systems manager at Preformed, said the business saved $120,000 as a result of doing "value stream mapping" on one of its Rogers production lines.
Value stream mapping assesses the entire manufacturing process in an 11 inch-by-17 inch flowchart. Typically, the map is the first tool employed to help identify waste. It also acts as a planning tool to help manufacturers prioritize the changes they need to make in the process.
Coleman estimated a total elimination of $600,000 of waste at the Northwest Arkansas plant, which employs 250 people. Preformed Line Products also reduced its inventory by about the same dollar amount.
"It's a new lifestyle and it's who we are from this point forward," Coleman said of the change. "We have to stay lean to stay competitive." Arkansas is home to about 4,500 manufacturers whose productivity contributes to 18 percent of the state's gross domestic product, according to AMS.
However, Berry said challenges remain with lean manufacturing.
Those who do commit to lean manufacturing don't always make all the necessary changes.
Berry said it is critical that manufacturers be fully committed to making the change.
"A manufacturer [sometimes] picks one step and misses the rest," said Joe McCoy, a project manager at AMS in Fayetteville.
However, Berry and McCoy said the most common problem they help manufacturers solve involves using a "batch" production line operation.
When batch production is employed, the entire process depends on accumulating a certain number of parts before the process can continue.
"Batching is inefficient since a worker must wait until they get a batch," Berry said. Instead, "if I can do just one, then I can move it on and the process doesn't have to wait." Lean manufacturing is about the flow of production, he said, "without any problems or mistakes in it." An estimated 90 percent of manufacturers know about lean manufacturing, but only half put the philosophy to full use, Berry said.
Arkansas Manufacturing Solutions charges a nominal fee for its consulting services, which also cover topics such as technical and managerial assistance and quality and environmental management systems.
This article was published 01/21/2007