Lean Factory
After the baseline assessment and Value Stream Map have been done, the work begins. CMC's team uses the following tools to help your company become lean:

Lean principles
Becoming lean takes discipline and hard work. To sustain a lean organization means a radical change in thinking from the corner office to the shop floor.

The corporate culture at American Licorice changed from an autocratic structure to one that embraces empowerment. For example, one team was investigating new equipment and decided they didn't need the extra bells and whistles, which management says was a huge cultural shift.
Teams, Change Management and Problem Solving
Changing the way your business runs means changing the way you work with your employees. Lean thrives when there is team work and people are involved in the process.

Management at B&J Wire was very concerned. The company's bank was demanding changes to stem the losses the company had sustained over the past several years. Operations Manager Edwin Brand recognized that each employee knew what the company needed to do but each had a different perspective on how to do it. The subsequent culture change that occurred while implementing lean helped unify the company and has contributed greatly to reaching the goal of profitability.
Kaizen Blitz
Literally translated kaizen blitz means lightning fast continuous improvement. A Kaizen Blitz is an intense, focused improvement to a specific process. Results are immediate and measurable-often within one week.
After a Kaizen Blitz a steel fabricator reported immediate reduction of changeover times that saved $2.5 million to $2.8 million.

For steel fabricator Allied Tube the Kaizen Blitz CMC facilitated has had lasting effects. Allied saves more than $500,000 each year at each of its eight mills. Ten people, who were at risk of losing their jobs, are still employed. The increased morale in production has spread throughout the plant. And the company has newfound capacity.
5S/Visual Workplace
The term describes a process of cleaning and organizing a work area to avoid unnecessary costs, wasted time and wasted motion looking for materials. 5S is a good tool for manufacturers that are working toward becoming lean because it is a low cost (and in some cases no cost) way to achieve real improvements in a short time. For example, CMC consultants helped:
Employees of a manufacturing company reclaim 90 percent of the floor space in the tool crib after removing unneeded items and organizing what was left. For a second manufacturer CMC set up visual cues to indicate when to reorder toner after employees discovering a stash of $10,000 worth of cartridges for copiers the company didn't even own anymore.
Quick Changeover
In discovering low cost/no-cost solutions to reduce changeover time, operators are empowered to reduce "make ready" time and increase run speed.
A printing and publishing company decreased setup by 30 percent.
After a transportation equipment manufacturer implemented quick changeover as well as other lean tools setup time dropped from 480 hours to minutes.
Pull/Kanban
Instead of workers following a schedule, they replace only the parts that have been used on the assembly line.
A manufacturer of fine table linens slashed average order turnaround time from three weeks to three days.

A manufacturer of high quality packaging machinery reduced WIP 62 percent and dramatically increased the number of orders completed each day.
Total Productive Maintenance
TPM is part of a cultural change that teaches teams to reduce equipment downtime to zero. Like several other lean tools, TPM also produces results, such as increases in capacity from 25 to 65 percent, increases in quality from 25 to 50 percent, and reduced maintenance expenditures of 10 to 50 percent, in as short as six months.
Within 18 months after a tool manufacturer implemented TPM, the company increased equipment productivity15 percent. What management didn't expect was the $1.2 million reduction in its maintenance budget.
Quick Changeover
Using low cost/no cost solutions the Single Minute Exchange of Dies process can dramatically reduce or eliminate changeover time. With less time spent preparing to manufacture you can respond more quickly to your customers' requests, improve on-time delivery, increase capacity, increase changeover accuracy and reduce startup defects.
Allied Tube could produce any type of steel tubing a customer requested. But it took workers six hours-four hours and 45 minutes of which was wasted time-to set up the equipment. Once the wasted time was eliminated, Vice President of Manufacturing Vijay Patel says the reduction in changeover times translated to savings of $2.5 to $2.8 million.
Cellular Flow
By combining manual and machine operations to improve the flow of products, the movement of parts is minimized, wait time and inventory are reduced, and productivity is increased.
With a U-shaped system design, a precision machine shop increased production flow 50 percent and capacity 15 percent, developed a new product line, and had processes running at full capacity. After setting up cells, a metal machining firm reduced WIP 65 percent and reduced material transport time from 45 minutes to five. A cut and sew operation cell helped increase product volume, reduced finished goods inventory shelving from 800 to 32 linear feet, and increased profit 32 percent.
  • Every $1.00 in manufactured goods generates an additional $1.43 worth of additional economic activity. This is more than any other economic sector.