When Robbins Manufacturing, Inc. (RMI) was nominated by their OEM customer to participate in Accelerate, they used it as an opportunity not only to become more efficient, but also to introduce their employees to Lean ideas and methods. RMI, a Fall River custom metal fabricator and powder coater, serves many industries and employs 200.

Accelerate is a WMEP supplier improvement initiative in which OEMs assist key suppliers in starting or continuing the improvement journey. In RMI’s case, assistance came from a Department of Defense grant. They were nominated because “their OEM wanted RMI to grow with them,” said Jerry  Thiltgen, WMEP portfolio and project manager for Robbins. “RMI is a valuable supplier to them.”

They began by creating a Value Stream Map of a specific OEM part, an engine transmission cover, to show where non-value added activities were occurring. In an Accelerate project, the VSM both identifies areas for improvement and is used to establish the existing MCT, or Manufacturing Critical-path Time, the amount of calendar time from when an order is created until the first single piece of the order is delivered to the customer. A future MCT is also established as a goal.

They quickly found room for improvement in the front office. “We started with receipt of incoming purchase orders,” said Jim  Heathman, RMI general manager. “Purchase orders were sitting on people’s desks or waiting to be redone or waiting for approval. We eliminated a lot of activities. We found at least two days (in time savings) in that process.” They applied Lean Office techniques to ensure that accurate information was supplied to the shop floor and to improve the flow of information.

On the shop floor, they used Inventory Reduction, a Lean tool, to help get control of their finished goods inventory and WIP. “The system for our finished goods inventory has been vastly improved and computerized,” said Heathman. By controlling how much work is released to the shop floor and improving capacity planning, “we can better schedule what is actually needed based on customer requirements.”

WIP was an issue because the part might take different components to create the entire assembly. “Before, we didn’t do a good job of controlling that,” he said. “Now, it just flows through.” They also found they were able to make use of material designated for an anticipated order for another job so that the material moved to production quickly.

As employees worked on improving their process, it became clear that one of the biggest benefits of Accelerate was that it “allowed some of our people the time to learn about Value Stream Mapping and Lean,” said Greg Robbins, owner. “It also helped people working in one department to understand how people in other departments work, and how their actions affect them.”

The team also found that the work tied back into a lot of little things they can use for continuous improvement in other areas. Robbins also noted that applying Lean in a job shop environment is much different than for volume manufacturers – more difficult in some respects, but yielding good results.

“The process for that part improved dramatically,” said Robbins. “The time involved to plan really made a difference.”

Prior to the Accelerate project, RMI worked with WMEP to become ISO certified. After achieving certification “on the first try, with no corrective actions whatsoever on the first audit,” said Heathman, they found that the ISO certification led to significant improvements in on-time delivery and also helped them in the marketplace.

“It’s helped with new customers,” said Robbins. “It’s a good sales tool for us. We’ve also found that (customer) quality audits are not needed. They just sign off on it.” “It’s helped us be a quality player in our current markets,” said Heathman, “and to solidify our current markets and keep market share.”

The results of RMI’s Accelerate work include:
• 36% reduction in MCT
• 35% improvement in order processing time
• 20% reduction in finished goods inventory
• 17% improvement in quality

The results of the ISO certification work include:
• $1.2 million in increased sales
• $410,000 in retained sales
• $62,000 in cost savings
 
The people at RMI “really accomplished what they set out to do,” said Thiltgen. “They were serious about doing the  improvements that were identified and getting them done.”

Accelerate fit well into RMI’s strength as a provider of quality parts, delivered quickly. “The thing that makes us different from other fabricators is the speed with which we get things from purchase order to shipment,” said Heathman. “We have improved our methods and procedures resulting in an expedited process through the plant.”