Brisbane-based steel fabricator Kador Engineering, in partnership with QMI Solutions, is embarking on a long-term project to progressively improve product quality and workshop through-put.
Much of that will be achieved through implementing an entire culture change across the company so the benefits of lean manufacturing are understood by everyone at Kador.
Training is a key. So far, 12 leading hands and supervisors have completed QMI Solutions' ProVantage lean manufacturing course, but Kador's Manufacturing Engineer, Damon Cox, wants to see more senior managers, even directors, complete the course.
ProVantage Lean Manufacturing is an intensive, four-day program focusing on world's best practice lean manufacturing processes and assisting companies gain maximum benefits through their implementation.
Steve Dow, QMI Solutions Lean Consulting Group Leader, said it was important the course was completed by senior employees, "because they are the guys with credibility on the shop floor". Mr Cox agreed. "The tradesmen are the owners of the work and know best how to do it, because they do it every day. We need them on side to take ownership of the project and bring forward ideas."
But Mr Cox also wants managers to echo their understanding of lean manufacturing. "You can't expect people on the workshop floor to be committed to keeping equipment in the right place and having a clean working environment if they go to someone's office and it's a mess," he said. "If you're getting a company to do something different, it has to happen at every level."
Kador Engineering is a privately owned firm, founded in 1972. It fabricates heavy steel products for some of Australia's largest resource and energy companies, including BHP Billiton, Santos, Xstrata and Rio Tinto. It also manufactures components and products for clients like Terex Lifting, Bucyrus Australia, Hastings Deering (Caterpillar), Komatsu Australia, Hitachi and the Queensland Government. Terex Lifting, for which it manufactures Franna cranes, is the largest single client.
Kador has three manufacturing plants near Brisbane and employs more than 150 qualified tradespeople with diverse skills. The head office and central operations are at Sumner Park and there are manufacturing facilities in Sherwood and Carole Park.
It builds 20-tonne crane bodies at Sumner Park and 25-tonne crane bodies and 20-tonne and 25-tonne crane booms at Sherwood. Carole Park and Sherwood are the two locations for the heavy fabrication division.
Kador's long association with QMI Solutions began in 2005, when Kador was manufacturing concrete mixer bowls. It sought QMI's assistance to conduct a Value Stream Mapping (VSM) exercise, which saw significant production and process improvements.
While Kador no longer produces the bowls, the VSM exercise assisted the company to improve inventory management, reduce waste and overproduction and eliminate or bypass production bottlenecks.
QMI Solutions then assisted with VSM in the Franna crane fabrication division in October 2005. The aim was to reduce non-value-adding activities, like waiting time, excess human movement, excess transport and excessive verification of items. The exercise significantly reduced crane manufacturing lead times by eliminating five non-value-adding processes.
The crane fabrication VSM was followed by a similar exercise for crane boom production in early 2006. The 20-tonne and 25-tonne booms each have a main section and three extensions. The VSM identified issues with manpower resources, factory layout and storage of completed booms. QMI recommended a raft of changes, including job status boards in each welding bay, so operators were aware of their targets and the progress of each job.
During 2006 and 2007, Kador and QMI implemented a project over a six month period to further improve boom manufacturing. That exercise identified inventory being moved significant distances, poor housekeeping, excessive rework, lighting and visibility issues, a lack of supervision and people waiting for an overhead crane to be available to move booms.
QMI recommended various changes including a new factory layout with floor line markings, and introducing a rotator, which dramatically reduced overhead crane usage. The rotator is a carrying frame with castors and brakes that can rotate or move a boom in seconds instead of taking 25 minutes by crane. Mr Cox said the productivity improvements were "excellent".
QMI's recommended changes saw a significant reduction in daily production hours being wasted through operators using the crane to shift booms, grinding, measuring and marking booms or when an operator was away from his station.
Colour-coded shadow board trolleys were introduced so operators could easily locate required equipment. Red tagging saw obsolete or redundant equipment removed from the main workshop floor and quarantined. Colour-coded shelves now have dedicated containers for small components, replacing milk containers.
A Quality Assurance program was introduced, with booms requiring colour-coded stickers to demonstrate whether they were OK, rejected or on hold.
Employee output was improved through visibility of the status of the workload and worker accountability improved through implementing the 5S program. Visual Performance Measurement is now conducted to ensure employees meet key performance indicators.
The 5S system is now in use in all three workshops. Mr Cox said: "The system is a structured, approach to housekeeping and a cornerstone of any successful manufacturing operation. It recognises that good housekeeping is fundamental for an organisation to deliver quality products on time."
The five principles of 5S include:
- Sort - get rid of excess materials and equipment
- Set in order - ensure all materials, tools and equipment have designated, easy-to-find locations
- Shine – keep the workplace clean and tools in good condition and ready for use
- Standardise - establish standards to maintain the first three steps
- Sustain - maintain momentum of steps 1-4 to assure system sustainability
The QMI initiatives removed waste from the workplace, reduced non-value adding activities, improved safety and quality, and provided an environment that fosters continuous improvement.
Once the six-month project was completed, the Kador management team then participated in a manufacturing benchmark exercise that focused on the current status of the heavy fabrication division, which makes dragline components, large dump-truck bodies and water tankers for the mining industry and pressure vessels for the oil and gas industry.
Mr Cox said the benchmarking was "a really good exercise. It got a lot of people in the room together to decide where we wanted the company to go".
The benchmarking led into a Best Practice Support Analysis (BPSA) strategic planning workshop conducted with the heavy fabrication division management team in November 2008.
The workshop examined major business objectives, key market drivers, long-term goals and what was required for Kador to achieve its objectives.
The result was an action plan for improvement projects to be implemented over 12-18 months.
Mr Dow said Kador had made some excellent improvements and QMI Solutions' assistance was "really valuable for them". The Kador team had gained greater value from QMI Solutions' tools over several years, as team members better understood their benefits.
Mr Cox said Kador "looks forward to maintaining links with QMI Solutions as it continues to build on the strengths of its supply chain relations with Terex Lifting, other customers and Kador's suppliers".
He said Kador's commitment to safety, environmental management and quality control was well established and the company's management systems were accredited to the relevant international ISO standard in all three areas, but there were still opportunities for further improvement. "We've progressed well with Lean Manufacturing initiatives and supply chain management," he said.
The current economic climate was impacting on the ability to progress with some elements of the action plan, for example, renovating the Carole Park premises. However, the "big picture" items could wait, while Kador continued "picking the low-hanging fruit".
Gains were coming from simple measures, like colour coding, improving factory lighting, and "things that are important for the nuts-and-bolts work". That improved employee morale and enthusiasm, which helped increase through-put and efficiency in the workshops, Mr Cox said.
"We've got a much better workshop flow, manual handling improvements, safety improvements and cleaner workshops."
Mr Cox said "QMI's assistance and contribution was an eye opener. They give you the support you need to implement improvements in the workshops. A company-wide culture change was not easy, but QMI helped get the ball rolling."
