BULLETPROOF PROCESSES: Alpha Stamping is reinventing itself with Lean manufacturing

Alpha Stamping Company is creating bulletproof processes. Sound dangerous? It is for competing medium-sized stampers and assemblers.

While some stampers are filing for bankruptcy, Alpha's lean and mean processes have transformed the Detroit-based stamper into a formidable, $50 million company and growing. Halfway through 2005 the company netted $13 million in new business and expects to surpass 2004's new business total of $16 million.

Bulletproof, indeed.

To meet its ultimate goal of becoming a $100 million company in the next several years, the stamper is refining all aspects of the business with lean manufacturing.

"At the rate we're growing, we need a strong team that understands how to quickly deal with problems as they arise and fix them-right, the first time," said Bob Stewart, director of advanced engineering and quality, Alpha Stamping Co. "Lean manufacturing is giving us the tools to create bulletproof processes that won't fail as the company expands.

Lean Beginnings

At many companies, lean manufacturing begins with a bang and ends in a sputter. Ten years ago the stamper attempted to start a lean journey, but management changes and an economic downturn contributed to the program's demise.

It wasn't a total wash though, the stamper did incorporate the following efficiency changes:

Shadow Boards: All tool-and-die makers use their own precision tools, but they also use common tools such as wrenches, pliers, and heavier hand tools. "We had 15 tool-and-die makers on the day shift, and if every one of them had their own roller chest, the toolroom would be congested," Stewart said.

So the stamper placed a pegboard above the die repair table and painted the outline of a tool, such as a hammer. Common tools used on the job were then within reach at the work site. Also, a supervisor could check the board to see if a tool was missing and immediately look for it.

Team-oriented Die Repair: Tool- and diemakers are the highest-paid people on the shop floor, so when a die is pulled for maintenance or repairs, most stampers usually put one person on the job. "You never get consistent output if one person works on a die," Stewart said.

Alpha's three-man die repair teams were choreographed like a ballet. Each member had a specific assignment while working in unison. For example, one team member was responsible for cleaning the tool at the wash station, another lifted the crane to position the tool for the second pickup, while the third person disassembled the tool.

"Three-man teams didn't allow the slowest worker to set the pace," Stewart commented.

Quick Die Change: The stamper purchased rollers that pull out dies faster and accommodate lift truck clearances.

Alpha's target for changeovers was at 90 minutes, and it was strictly tracked. Any changeovers beyond 90 minutes required specific notes on what was going on and why it took longer.

As part of a just-in-time endeavor, all dies were sharpened out of production-not just when a customer placed an order. "If there's a product loss, we're able to immediately put the die in and it's ready to go," Stewart said.

As steel prices began to spike and global competition heated up with China, management realized that the job shop's future successes were tied to creating wasteproof processes, not just incorporating efficiency changes.

It was time for a lean do-over.

Lean Restart

In 2003 the stamper welcomed a new general manager with a passion for lean manufacturing. He helped re-energize Alpha's lean endeavors by appointing a lean enterprise champion. "One hundred percent of my time is spent looking for ways to eliminate waste and for continual process improvement," said Robert Kennedy, lean enterprise champion, Alpha Stamping Co.

To get started, Alpha's lean steering committee comprised of engineering, production, union, and nonunion employees attended sessions at the Lean Learning Center. Novi, MI, and Pawley Institute at Oakland University, Rochester, MI. Team members were chosen from all levels of the operation to balance labor and management perspectives.

"Lean manufacturing provides lots of different tools, but unless you have a cultural shift, the changes won't happen," Kennedy said. New endeavors often are viewed as flavors of the month by shop floor personnel, especially for workers who saw the first program fizzle. To get buy-in from the shop floor, a lean pep talk was held.

"Everybody leaves this place exhausted, but why?" Stewart asked in the pep talk. "You're tired not because your job is physically grueling, but because of wasteful processes that hinder getting the job done, like tracking down paperwork. Now is your chance to change what is wasteful so you leave ready to take on tomorrow."

To encourage participation, management encouraged the shop floor personnel to look at refining day-to-day processes. The first process to change was retrieving box labels from halfway across the building. "People work with what they're given," Stewart said. "When you give them an opportunity to make sense out of processes-it gets them motivated. After that, so many ideas rushed forward because everybody started to see the impediments to their successful day.

Ongoing Lean Endeavors

Instead of basing its initial endeavors on adding new tools to fix problems (such as quick die change equipment), the stamper is first focusing on eliminating waste without making capital investments. "We are focusing on the seven types of waste: overproduction, waiting, inventory, overprocessing, motion, transportation, and defects," Kennedy said.

Improving Quick Die Change: To improve on the stamper's earlier quick die change endeavor, changeovers are now team-oriented, and depending on press tonnage, the new benchmark is 30 minutes. "We made it clear that this isn't a project, it's an endeavor or a journey, because we'll never be 100 percent lean," Kennedy said. "We'll always be striving to shave one or two seconds off a die changeover or eliminating waste from our processes."

Kennedy tapped the floor's production leader to work with him on reducing die changeovers and improving press efficiency. "We set our goal for the 100-ton model press at 12 minutes; right now we're at 40 minutes," Kennedy said. "To stay on track, the stamper hired automation and quick-change consultant from Plante & Moran to mentor the project and make sure targets are met".

Streamlining the Shipping Department: The stamper's shipping docs are in the front of the 100,000-square-foot building, and its warehouse is located in the back. Because lift trucks are flying back and forth, employees are at risk and exhausted by the end of the day. As the space is configured, the tumbling area, vision sorting area, and packaging are sandwiched inbetween an area where product is staged for shipment. It is obvious waste could be eliminated and process streams need to be optimized, commented Kennedy.

This lean endeavor is a nine- to 12-month project in conjunction with the Lean Learning Center. "On a monthly basis we're trained on a new lean tool," Kennedy said. "Using different lean tools we've analyzed traffic patterns, paper trails, and material movement from the warehouse."

By using value stream mapping, the team recommended moving the warehouse next to the loading docks. The goal is to move material from storage to the shop floor for processing, and loading finished parts onto the truck.

"We're now in the process of identifying potential problems and correcting them," Stewart said.

Increasing Plant Efficiency: The stamper is questioning all downtime caused by maintenance, quality problems, waiting for steel, and coil changes between changeovers. "Currently we are working on standardizing coil changes, and I believe we can reduce coil change time by half," Kennedy said.

By studying constraints associated with a 600-ton press, the company determined that an operator meets his part count quota of 5,000 in the first 3 ½ hours of his shift. The team studied product flow and how a completed product is taken out of the press area. The solution? A diverter has been added so the operator can exchange a full basket for an empty one while the press is running. The press now doesn't have to be stopped until a lift truck can haul the full basket away. The offline basket triggers a red light, so a lift truck driver instantly knows when a basket is full and an empty one is needed. It's these quick wins that help motivate the shop floor to create better processes, commented Kennedy.

Attention now is focused on reducing lift truck miles. The team studied the overall paths taken and recommended moving the scale closer to the press area to minimize mileage and free up drivers for other tasks.

Improving Part Design: The stamper manufactures approximately 700 different parts and produced more than 600,000,000 parts in 2005. As steel prices continue to climb, all mechanical engineers are challenged to take the waste out of all parts by redesigning them.

The redesigned parts makes better use of materials and helps create a standard parts catalog. "By offering standard fasteners [to] our customers [they] have an opportunity to save money," Stewart said.

Reorganizing The Front Office: Because waste exists in administrative functions too, front-office departments such as engineering, estimating, quality, and program management chart process flow maps to identify bottlenecks and connections with other departments. "We've had meetings to address broken connections and issues with communication and paper trails that go around in circles," Stewart said. "The results have had a huge impact on the flow of information through these departments."

Stewart admits the front-office lean efforts are in progress and the company is still identifying disconnects to fix. "As the company grows, this lean endeavor is critical," Stewart said. "It's given us an opportunity to see where the issues are as new business comes in, and an opportunity to fix problems."

Lean Changes

A component of lean is not being afraid to experiment and make mistakes because you learn from them. "Because we're creating a dialogue with as many affected people as possible, we aren't making missteps some companies make," Kennedy said. "We always have three or four different ideas to try, so if one doesn't work, we discard it and focus on another idea."

To keep employees motivated, all business metrics are posted on the shop floor so everyone understands where the company is going, why some changes are happening, why they're important, and what's coming in the future.

Instead of reporting only what happened 30 days ago, the stamper posts current metrics so everyone can see what needs to be adjusted for improvement next month. Lean updates also include comparing where the company was six months or a year ago to today. According to Stewart, "We lament that our lean journey isn't further along, but when you review our progress, we are a much stronger and tighter company."

For more information, please contact us or call 561-626-0676.