KCE Consulting LLC
Kaizen and Continuous Improvement: Everybody, Everything, Every Day
Completed projects
Problem: Margin decline in a $600mn five-plant group with 6,000 employees (Mexico)
Solution: Reengineered the factory layout and the reporting structure into cross-functional teams
with assigned employees, equipment, financials, and footprint focused on value streams and
customer-focused business units.
Result: Operational income forecasted at 4% improved to 11% in one year
and having continued improvements.
Problem: Increased volumes and new business could not fit in existing facility (Czech Republic)
Solution: New layout of plant to reduce wasted space, created material handling system that
picked up and delivered JIT inside plant to reduce material storage in manufacturing space.
Redesigned complex machine lines to smaller, modular designs allowing low volume, high mix
products to be produced in minimal footprint.
Result: Avoided spending $3,000,000 to expand factory and reduced standard cost while
increasing volume and mix of products.
Problem: Factory unable to compete with low cost Asian factories for awarded program (USA)
Solution: Designed low-capital assembly lines and material handling techniques to improve inventory turns while creating a total cost of ownership model that included transportation and inventory costs for comparison.
Result: Reduced total cost and resourced major electronic product line from China to union factory in USA.
Problem: Major industrial firm was losing business to competitors that were faster to market with product innovations (Global)
Solution: Created cross functional teams that reviewed current product development processes and identified future state goals and plans to acheive future state.
Result: Reduced quoting from four months to two and product development from eighteen months to ten months; making them first to quote and first to launch with their customers.
Problem: Factory to be closed because total cost for new five-year program was not competitive (Philippines)
Solution: Developed techniques to better utilize existing equipment; reduce operating costs in scrap, labor, and electricity, designed new equipment to be low-capital, modular, and scalable over time and to have low operating costs; eliminated need for clean room expansion by better utilizing existing area.
Result: Eliminated $1,800,000 costs over 5-year lifecycle, won program for the plant, and ensured plant survived. Plant has since increased from 158 employees to over 450 and has won numerous new programs and volume.
Problem: Lack of warehouse space requiring additional leased space at contract warehouses (Germany)
Solution: Created milkrun for suppliers of large castings that delivered mixed load three times a week.
Result: Eliminated external warehouse and $500,000 annual cost.
Problem: Cost of expedited freight rapidly increasing year over year (Mexico and USA)
Solution: Instituted problem solving to correct root causes of problems in scheduling, supplier management, and manufacturing.
Result: Reduced annual expedited freight in the region from $11,000,000 to $6,500,000 in one year.
Problem: Order-to-delivery cycle time was not meeting customer expectations (USA)
Solution: Reduced wait times throughout the order-to-delivery process including order entry, machine set up, outside processing, order picking, assembly time, scheduling delays, and engineering drawing corrections.
Result: Orders increased 30% as average order-to-delivery improved from 57 to 2 days.
Problem: Engineering manager resigned during critical new product and new process launch (Thailand)
Solution: Rapidly fielded interim manager to manage the layout and installation of new and existing equipment.
Result: New processes launched on time and running at production level.
WINNER!
Wealth
Manager
of the Year
Designing manufacturing process that incorporate Lean to minimize capital and operational costs
Utilizing a cross functional team to develop an optimal solution that is sustainable
Teamwork - a critical component to success
Designing manufacturing process that incorporate Lean to minimize capital and operational costs