“Going Lean” Leads to Growth for Forster Tool
Client Profile: Forster Tool provides precision machined parts for a variety of industries and applications, including motion control and instrumentation, medical and dental, sporting goods, electronics, automotive and defense. Founded in 1958, the family-owned company has a loyal customer base that appreciates Forster's ability to anticipate their needs as well as the company's ongoing investment in technology and new machinery. Forster operates out of a 15,000 square foot facility in Bensenville, Illinois and has 35 employees.
Situation: Forster saw opportunities for growth with its key customers, but faced challenges in meeting their quality, delivery and cost expectations. Said President Maureen Forster, “China and India were fast becoming our major competitors. We knew we couldn't beat them on labor costs, so we had to find other ways.” After hearing about Lean from a customer, Maureen took a Forster team to a Lean 101 simulation led by the Chicago Manufacturing Center, where they saw how using the appropriate lean tools could lead to operational improvements. Working with CMC, Forster identified several areas of focus for a lean journey:
• Forster's machining centers were organized by process and most products require multiple process steps. The existing layout inhibited efficient process flow.
• Set-ups were consuming a large portion of available machine time and were the root cause of large lot sizes in the shop.
• Due to large batch sizes, inventory was often held in Finished Goods in order to meet key customers' delivery requirements.
Structured Solution(R): In a November 2006 web posting, Forster Tool announced to its customers that the company was “Going Lean” with a series of lean events conducted by CMC. These included a 3-day training in 5S workplace organization and standardization; a 5-day session on Quick Changeover that introduced employees to effective techniques for reducing set-up times; and a 3-day Kanban workshop to demonstrate how to use actual customer demands to drive production schedules and inventory levels. With assistance from the College of DuPage, a CMC partner, Forster secured a grant from the DuPage County Incumbent Worker Program to support the training costs. The web announcement predicted “This training will be a win-win for Forster, our clients and our employees.”
Results: The “win-win” prediction is coming true as Forster implements Lean in its production facility. In the first several months of its lean journey, the company has met its key challenges:
• Set-up reduction of nearly 90% (from 3 hours to 20 minutes). This freed up 680 hours of capacity on two critical machines.
• On-time delivery increased from an average of 71% to 87%. This not only met Forster's first-year goal of 85%, but also gave the company the confidence to guarantee its most demanding customer a 2-3 day lead time, Maureen noted.
• The company projects sales growth of 20%, up from $2 million in 2006 to $2.4 million in 2007. And there's more growth on the horizon. Forster earned a “Supplier of the Year” award from a major customer, and that customer is going to add Forster Tool to its national supplier list for two of its divisions.
“ I can't say enough about what Lean has done for us. I especially like the way CMC customized the Lean Journey to meet our most pressing needs first. Our focus has completely changed. It has made a big difference in our employees and their approach to work. Winning the Supplier of the Year award was a boon for everyone.”
Maureen Forster, President
