CHARLOTTE – Dixon Quick Coupling started with lean principles more than three years ago as part of an overall corporate initiative. Like many companies, they began slowly, with small steps, accelerating the pace and empowering employees to help reach the $5 million in benefits that has been achieved.
Phil Fisher, quality assurance and lean manager, takes pride in the progress, but puts it in a global context. "We've been at it for three and half years," he said, "and Toyota been doing it for over 40 years." There's still much more to be accomplished. Toyota is considered the world leader in lean manufacturing, which removes non-value-added parts of a process.
1B4NC
In recognition of their success, Dixon Quick Coupling was awarded the 1B4NC award on February 7 by IES. Companies who can prove significant, tangible results from IES services are recognized in the 1B4NC campaign, which stands for the IES goal of achieving $1 billion in value for North Carolina within five years (2006 through 2010).
Putting a dollar value on Dixon's lean journey is almost impossible, Fisher said. Continued progress adds to the value. "We're able to deliver better," he said. "We get more sales as a function of lean."
As its name implies, Dixon Quick Coupling makes couplings. The windowsill in Fisher’s office holds dozens of examples in all sizes for a variety of uses. They are used in pneumatic and hydraulic applications, such as farm and construction equipment. All must be made to exacting standards.
The Challenge
The wide variety of couplers presents the greatest lean challenge to the company. "To change from making something like this to something like this," he said, holding up two vastly different examples, "can take anywhere from 2 to 15 hours to change a machine. It's not the most cost-efficient way to run when you're making hundreds of different parts."
In the 80,000 square foot facility just north of downtown Charlotte, 90 employees in two shifts manufacture and assemble thousands of components and finished goods a day. Their goal at Dixon Quick Coupling is to deliver a high quality product quicker than the competition.
Their greatest lean challenge is machine set-up. Machines are often down longer than they are running as they are switched from one coupler to another. During one event with an IES lean expert, they concentrated on one machine to develop quicker set up. What they learned from that has been gradually added to other machines. Set up times on some equipment has been reduced more than 50 percent.
They are implementing many tools in the lean toolbox, beginning with Lean 100 sessions in the facility. The benefit didn't occur overnight, or even three months later, Fisher said. But their culture is changing, and there is no returning. Lean is becoming part of the culture and the expectations of employees.
Lean Culture
To work, lean requires all employees to look for improvement opportunities. Before that can happen, management must be ready to empower employees and support cell-level initiatives. The management of Dixon Quick Coupling is making that switch.
"We are giving all employees their own improvement goals," Fisher said. "Employees see customer demand on the floor and given the right data they can work together to satisfy it." The old paradigm is shifting. Employees are starting to have accountability and revenue sharing incentives are helping to make the change.
A crucial part of the lean journey is to rely on workers to improve the process. Independent thinking is becoming part of the job description at Dixon Quick Coupling, Fisher said.
"We've got to be competitive," he said. "We've got to drive out waste, and everyone is accountable. Top-down management doesn't work anymore."
The D series Cell
Employees of the D series cell at Dixon understand this concept and have wholeheartedly embraced lean principles. The D cell includes Alice Hunt, Becky Carpenter, Nicholas Sanchez, Chuck Whittington, Jimmy Rimmer, Margie Miller and Cindy Karriker as team leader. The D cell assembles the D-series, which is a push-to-connect coupler, unique to the industry.
Lean has shown them the benefits of a cross-trained team in which everyone can step in and handle any process within the cell. They've designed their cell for optimum output. Karriker beams with pride as she notes "they have gone from four people building 100 parts an hour to two people building 200 parts an hour."
After IES extension director Buster Knox presented the 1B4NC plaque to Scott Clark, general manager of the Dixon facility, he in turn presented it to the D cell for them to proudly display.
As the lean culture grows throughout the facility, the trickle-down will add up to more savings, more value. At the same time, Fisher said, they know they will never be finished. That’s the continuous in continuous improvement.
March 2007
