Railcar Equipment
SITUATION
Old-line manufacturer of railcar air brakes and air brake equipment needed help implementing Lean Manufacturing.
DRIVER GOAL
- Re-layout second wave of peripherals and primary air brake product line.
- Introduce sister company to KPS.
- Create small customer marketing plan.
RESULT
- Completed all Driver Goals and the company enjoyed a banner year in sales.
- Achieved 92% on-time delivery despite tremendous growth in sales.
Case Study
Implement Lean to Optimize Production & Material Flow
Issue
An old-line manufacturer of railcar air brakes and air brake equipment engaged The Highland Group to help implement Lean Manufacturing—technically, a client-customized version of the Toyota Production System, renamed the KPS.
Highland Approach
The Highland Group’s team of expert Lean practitioners worked with client leadership to identify high-level Driver Goals of the KPS (Lean) implementation and familiarized themselves with the particulars of the customized system. The team studied existing product and assembly lines and utilized a variety of Lean tools to redesign and implement KPS-optimized layouts and material flows and management systems to drive and sustain the initiative, first at the client’s facility and then at its sister company in Canada.
Actions Taken
- Redesigned process and material flows (according to KPS) in several primary assembly areas and defined a new plant layout.
- Planned and implemented material management tools, including pull systems to control internal material flow and storage as well as material flow from suppliers.
- Implemented meaningful/actionable operations metrics (linked to high-level Driver Goals) at the work-cell level.
- Defined and initiated implementation of KPS at Canadian location.
- Defined and initiated a new, small customer marketing plan, based on an analysis of customer buying preferences.
- Began implementing packing multiples for small, low-cost items (purchased and manufactured).
