When you see American Laser Products, it’s hard to imagine that President Bill Henry, Sr., started this company out of his basement in 1992. Today, American Laser Products in Middleton is a bustling, growing company that remanufactures and reconditions laser printer cartridges. Orders move swiftly out the door at a quick, steady pace. “It used to be chaotic around here. Everyone would scramble to get our orders out,” admits Henry. Adding to the challenges, half of the workers are Spanish-speaking. After receiving a huge order, Henry worried about how the company of 20 people could handle such large volume. He realized that something big had to be done immediately to improve efficiency.
That’s when Henry asked Rick Ray, WMEP manufacturing specialist, for help. Ray proposed a Lean Transformation project for ALP to tackle their major operational issues in a comprehensive way. Ray also helped tailor the project to ALP’s specific needs. One key area of Lean Transformation is building a Lean Culture in order to ensure that changes will stick. The most critical element of Lean Culture is Team Building. The first thing Ray asked ALP to do is set up a Core Team to drive change and take responsibility for meeting Lean goals. The core team has and continues to set the priorities and the agenda for improvement.
Second, WMEP educated the employees on Lean since ALP was new to the concept. Henry was concerned that some may resist changes and that language and cultural barriers would make improvements more difficult. In addition to the standard overview in English, Ray asked WMEP Alliance Partner, Bilingual Services, to provide Spanish Lean training with a full simulation. Workers, both English and Spanish-speaking, returned to the factory with great enthusiasm for Lean. Both groups started working together as a team to support the improvement effort. Lean helped break down these existing barriers.
Third, ALP went through a Value Stream Mapping project on its highest volume product line. The project revealed obvious bottlenecks in their processes and pointed the way to needed improvements. For example, ALP had too many parts in inventory from ordering excess quantities. With the help of WMEP, ALP established a Kanban system for materials using cards. Now, they only order what they need. In addition, some workstations were not in the optimal locations. ALP moved workstations to improve flow of product.
The company also went to cellular flow (one-piece flow) with specific cells focused on specific product lines. Now, product flows at a quicker pace and orders are filled ahead of schedule. In addition, ALP conducted a 5S project to organize and standardize the workplace. Today, workers can find what they need more quickly in a cleaner, safer work environment.
ALP will continue to use Value Stream Mapping on other lines. They have just completed a VSM on their color cartridge line and are about to start another on their Xerox line. Henry understands the significance of VSM as tool. “It really has showed us where we need to change,” says Henry. VSM helps them start and stay on the road of continuous improvement.
Henry emphasizes that companies embarking on Lean need to make sure their efforts do not get bogged down. For example, when starting their 5S project, there was some reluctance and negative feedback. Henry held a motivational meeting that reaffirmed the importance of the 5S effort to all employees. After that, everyone got on board. The official focus was on the production area but the front office got into the act, too. “Everyone started doing 5S, “ says Henry. “The key is to get everyone involved and continue communicating the importance of the improvement effort.”
“We saw immediate and substantial results from Lean Transformation,” says Henry. About halfway through the project, revenues had nearly doubled.
- On-time delivery is 96%.
- Lead-time has been cut in half.
- Inventory has dropped 75%.
- Productivity has jumped 25%.
- Cash flow has skyrocketed.
- Quality has improved with less than half the defect rate than previously and significantly less rework.
- Total savings so far is about $150,000.
ALP is now more dynamic and flexible to meet customer demands. And their customers are taking notice. The Department of Agriculture who buys through their major distributor has awarded ALP Supplier of the Year. Lean Transformation offers exponential benefits and is a great way for those new to Lean to harness its power. It is a fantastic investment even for small companies as demonstrated with ALP. Ray explains, “Lean Transformation exploits Lean tools more effectively because you use multiple tools in concert rather than one at a time and develop a real improvement plan that fits your company."
Henry agrees, “It really gives me more bang for my buck. Already, this project is money well spent and we aren’t even finished yet. I see even more benefits coming.”
To find out more about our Lean services, please call WMEP at Ph. 877-800-2085.