baby steps to continuous improvement

8/13/2019 Baby Steps to Continuous Improvement

1/3

ver the last three years, Reliable Automatic Sprinkler has seen its delivery lead time reduced by 75%, while its

nventory totals have dropped by between 50% to 75%.

print|

aby Steps to Continuous Improvement

dustryWeek

ter Alpern

on, 2010-09-13 15:36

y not taking on too much, too soon, Reliable Automatic Sprinkler reduces delivery lead time by 75%.

inging visibility to an organization can have all the subtlety of shock therapy. It involves changing the mindset o

orkers, turning the tendency toward autopilot off and stimulating creativity.

ut these results don't come overnight. They can take years. Which is why lean is so often associated with a journe

cause the process is every bit as critical as the result.

onsider the case of Reliable Automatic Sprinkler, Co., a manufacturer of fire sprinklers and sprinkler system con

uipment. When its vice president of production, Will Franks, sought to bring lean principles into its processes, h

gan by emphasizing pull systems and strategically-minded Kaizen events.

hrough a series of modest, yet highly revealing projects, Franks piqued the curiosity of the company's workforce

owed the potential of lean thinking and built the foundation for a rigorous continuous improvement program at

eliable Automatic Sprinkler.

ver the last three y ears, Reliable Automatic Sprinkler has seen its delivery lead time reduced by 75%, while its

ventory totals have dropped by between 50% to 75%, according to the company.
http://www.industryweek.com/author/peter-alpernhttp://www.industryweek.com/industryweek


2/3

hrough a modest series of Kaizens, Reliable Automatic Sprinkler, Co., a manufacturer of fire sprinklers and

prinkler system control equipment, slowly built momentum on its lean journey.

or 92 years, Reliable Automatic Sprinkler has been run through the Fee family, beginning with Frank Fee, who

unded the company in 1918, before passing it on to his son Frank Fee Jr. in 1945, who passed it along to his gran

ank Fee III in 1976.

eliable Automatic Sprinkler has dabbled with lean principles since 1998, but didn't truly take off until the compa

oved from four scattered facilities in upstate New York down to a single plant in Liberty, S.C.

What I found was you just couldn't do it all at once," says Franks. "The company was very old and conservative a

uldn't handle a huge rate of change. I've learned that if you try to go too fast, it becomes too disruptive and som

e other support systems can't keep up, such as IT or y our supply chain. They can't turn that quickly to a new wa

oing business."

anks instituted two Kaizens annually for the first six years, slowly transforming key processes in the plant. After

ove to Liberty , Franks implemented pull systems, which he says can be an instrumental tool for lean thinking,

owing companies to simultaneously improve other parts of a plant and take on key elements of lean.

company with an overflowing inventory, he says, is like a boat sailing on the sea. The saturation of supply has a

nack of covering up the rocks beneath the water -- the myriad of flaws in the processing system that are all too of

nored.

f you lower the inventory, you lower the water, and now those rocks start to pop up," he says. "T hat can come in

rm of supplier issues, a process control problem or a design issue. Pull systems force you to fix the problem onc

r all, so it never comes back. It forces you to get better."

nd so it did for Reliable Automatic Sprinkler. On a Kaizen for one of its most important product lines, the Model

rinkler, the company transitioned its manufacturing from a batch push manufacturing operation to a one-piece

pported by TAKT time analysis, pull systems, 5S and a point of use materials process.

oday, Franks isn't the only one driving the lean program. He has since brought on a manager of lean manufacturi

hose only responsibility is to implement lean programs and procedures throughout the plant. More importantly,

nds-on operators have taken a vested interest in rethinking their work.

ou need to create that next layer of leadership," he says. "You have to push the lean journey further and further

e organization."

he concept of lean has become so prevalent within so many organizations for so many years now, that its relevan


3/3

o longer just limited to manufacturing, as hospitals and medical centers have adopted many of the lean principles

t's a way of doing business and I believe the next iteration is lean enterprise," says Franks. "I see it stretching into

counting, human resources, product development and sales. Not a lot of companies have gotten to that level yet

ose principles always apply. T hey're tools for success."

ource URL:http://www.industryweek.com/articles/baby_steps_to_continuous_improvement_22756.aspx
http://www.industryweek.com/articles/baby_steps_to_continuous_improvement_22756.aspx

baby steps to continuous improvement

Documents