Change yields savings, but some staffers balk
Angela Doody
Central Penn Business Journal Staff
5/5/2006
When unionized employees at ESAB Welding & Cutting Products went on strike in March, one reason they cited was the company's attempt to start lean manufacturing.
Some workers became upset when managers came onto the production floor in Penn Township, York County, to clean and organize the work areas, one of the first steps in the lean process, ESAB executives said.
"They don't want those boundaries crossed. It's a very old way of looking at things," said Jon Rennie, ESAB's vice president and general manager.
Negative employee reactions are not unusual when companies decide to implement lean methods, according to manufacturing representatives.
Lean manufacturing is a decades-old production method that cuts the time required to ship products. It requires a clean, highly organized work space and employees who are willing to solve problems and help co-workers when it is needed. More Central Pennsylvania companies are considering lean manufacturing, but it is not always easy to implement, according to area managers.
Executives at Clean Burn Inc., a used-fuel furnace manufacturer in Lancaster County, estimate the company has saved $1 million a year since starting lean methods in 2003.
"We used to be the poster child of how not to run a manufacturing facility," said David Wolf, Clean Burn's president and chief executive officer.
Before lean, Wolf said about 20 percent of his labor costs were wasted on time-sucking tasks such as employees looking for misplaced tools. The production area was a mess, and it was common to run out of a part or have employees on the line lacking work.
"Every thing they say about 'lean' is true," Wolf said as he walked through the immaculate production area April 19. Today, every tool is color coded and in its place. Orders are shipped faster and more efficiently, and about 40 percent of the warehouse is no longer needed. Wolf said the company saved significant money in three months.
But the improvements came with some difficulty. A number of Clean Burn workers had a hard time adjusting to the new methods. A handful of longtime employees quit after lean methods started.
"Some people only want to come to work and push a button. Those people left," Wolf said.
Hanover Lantern Inc. in Adams County lost seven employees after it started lean manufacturing in 2004.
Some people did not want to leave their stations to solve problems or help someone else. Those people had two choices: stay and do it or go, said Mike Moyer, Hanover Lantern's general manager.
Hanover Lantern is a 36-year-old manufacturer of upscale commercial and residential lighting. The Conewago Township firm has 160 employees. Moyer hopes to have lean practices fully implemented by October.
"There was a feeling of fear for some employees. Fear of change and losing control," Moyer said.
Executives at ManTec call such workers "C.A.V.E." people: Citizens Against Virtually Everything, said Bill Schreiber, ManTec vice president. He also instructs area executives in lean classes offered at the York-based manufacturing association.
Schreiber and Moyer reiterated that top executives in companies have to support changes to lean manufacturing or the process likely will not work. "Lean manufacturing is implemented where the work is being done on the floor. You have to train people and ask them to determine what is preventing them from being productive," Schreiber said. "Some employees are scared to death of the cultural environment changes."
Executives at Paradise Custom Kitchens Inc. in Lancaster County also have started to implement some lean methods, but it has not been easy.
"It's a necessary evil that has to be done. People don't like change," said Tim Doutrich, owner and vice president of operations at the Paradise Township firm. The firm manufacturers high-end, customized kitchen cabinets. Business is so good, the company has had to outsource some work to another Lancaster County manufacturer, Signature Custom Cabinetry Inc.
Doutrich wants to fully implement lean manufacturing because he knows he needs to streamline his operation and increase production. But four of his long-time workers left in the past few weeks because they did not like the challenges of the new production method.
"For instance, the assembler is supposed to go help the sander if he's backed up, and they've said, 'I don't want to go help the sander,'" Doutrich said.
Wolf encountered similar attitudes from some employees when he implemented lean in 2003. But since then, the most important change at Clean Burn has been the attitude of the entire staff, including management, Wolf said.
"Now, if there's a bottleneck in production, people try to figure it out. It's all about empowerment and making it a problem-solving culture. We're better because of it," Wolf said.
|
