No matter how tactful the delivery, it’s never a happy moment when customers tell you that your plant’s housekeeping has slipped. But when Brian McTiernan, vice president and general manager of Crucible Compaction Metals, looked around his facility, he couldn’t help but agree. “One of our major customers, an aerospace company, sprung the concept of 5S on us,” Brian says. “We tried to implement it on our own using customers’ advice, but it didn’t have the structure that an outside source does.”
Brian decided to engage Catalyst Connection to train his personnel and facilitate the 5S kaizen process: sort, set in order, shine, standardize, and sustain. Crucible is an employee-owned producer and processor of powdered metals with a generous profit-sharing plan. “When I mentioned that we were going to hire an outside consultant, employees asked, ‘Is the money coming out of our bonus?’ I said, ‘Yes, it’s going to come out of everybody’s pocket. But in turn, you’re going to have customers who really notice the difference.’ To their credit, most people accepted that. And Catalyst Connection’s rates helped make it affordable.”
Unlike companies that optimistically expect to implement 5S while business continues as usual, Brian’s team made the commitment to shut down every department for a full week. When employees heard that, they knew he was serious.
The maintenance area came first – lots of tools, spare parts, and obsolete repair parts. Training was conducted and implemented in one day. “That group proved to be the most adamant about embracing the concepts,” Brian observes. “They police their area and do audits as well as or better than any other area in the plant. We got a really positive response that is quite genuine.” Catalyst Connection’s Tracy Alim served as trainer and facilitator. “Tracy’s self confidence and ability to communicate really helped the process,” Brian says. Workers looked at their stations and determined what they needed to have at their fingertips, and what they used infrequently or not at all: the sort step. Next they set things in order, deciding where to put each piece of equipment based on its use factor. Then it was time to clean – shine – every piece of equipment, so that the environment was clean, bright, and welcoming. Each item got a designated landing pad, where it would be placed when not in use. The spots were outlined on a pegboard or marked on the floor. And, because all good habits must be monitored to be sustained, Crucible scheduled Catalyst Connection to conduct a 5C audit every six months.
Crucible worked through the plant one area at a time, initially with Catalyst guiding the effort and then with Crucible conducting the 5S events on its own. “That’s a really good sign,” Tracy says. “That’s exactly where you want a client to evolve to.”
“It’s unbelievable how powerful it [5S] is. People so underestimate the benefits of a clean and well-organized work space,” Brian says. But the benefits to Crucible have been notable. The Oakdale facility now has one of the best safety records in the company. Customer satisfaction has improved. Manufacturing costs have dropped. And a customer visiting the plant for the first time said that, in this industry, Crucible was the cleanest plant he’d ever seen.