Press
Release - January 29, 2001
The 200+ employees of Fishercast have produced zinc
castings at its Watertown, NY, plant since 1964, primarily making
component products for manufacturers in a variety of industries.
Management there has been exploring how to introduce Lean Manufacturing
principles into its operations for the past 3 years.
The Delagar Division of Belcam manufactures toiletries
and gift items at its plant located in Rouses Point, NY. The company
employs as many as 250 people during its busiest season and has
operated the Rouses Point facility since the 1950s. Delagar wanted
to put systems in place to prevent workplace injuries and to meet
OSHA requirements.
Companies from one side of the country to the other,
like Fishercast and Delagar, have found the help they need through
a little known government program, the Manufacturing Extension
Partnership. The MEP is a division of the National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, MD, and this year
is providing federal funding support in excess of $104 million
to give the help that small and medium sized manufacturers across
the country need to survive and grow. Most states appropriate additional
funds to support their MEP centers; in New York the additional
State support is provided through the New York State Office of
Science, Technology, and Academic Research (NYSTAR). CITEC - Manufacturing & Technology
Solutions is the MEP center serving the six northern counties of
New York State. Ten MEP centers provide services across New York
State, with 390 more serving the remaining 49 states and Puerto
Rico.
The MEP centers provide technical assistance and
consulting services - and, apparently, with outstanding results.
Companies receiving MEP services are surveyed independently to
determine their satisfaction and the impact the projects have had
on their operations. For example, the independent surveys conducted
last year of 4,551 client companies reported revenue increases
of $294 million and savings of $20 million in inventory - all directly
attributable to MEP center projects.
An article titled "A
Program To Aid Small Biz," written by syndicated columnist
Jane Applegate, which recently appeared in the web magazine CNNfn,
suggested some reasons for the success of the MEP program. She
quotes the national MEP's Director, Kevin Carr, as saying that "the
program helps business owners adopt the best manufacturing business
practices to minimize costs. They also promote new and better
methods to mass produce products."
"Business owners usually call a center when they
have a problem with quality or overall output," said Carr. "We
go in and look for the bottlenecks in their process and see where
things could be streamlined."
The article points out that there is no fee for the
initial review but, if the company decides to act upon the MEP
center's recommendations, they do pay a consulting fee based on
the specific projects.
"We don't just target a specific machine that could
be improved, we look at the total picture, the whole process, and
the entire enterprise as it exists in a supply chain," Carr explained.
In the case of Fishercast, the management had been
exploring how to introduce Lean Manufacturing principles into its
operations for the past 3 years. Nick Buduson, Fishercast's Vice
President, has observed that the wholesale introduction of Lean
to his operation has been more of a personnel issue than an operational
issue. In other words, introducing Lean is turning out to be a
lengthy process that involves continual education and commitment.
Knowing that CITEC offers education and technical
assistance on Lean Manufacturing, Fishercast sent 10 employees
-- almost 10% of its hourly workforce -- to a Setup Time Reduction
workshop which CITEC's engineers taught in September 2000. Fishercast's
plant manager reported that, within 10 days after the seminar,
his employees had initiated at least five projects that could result
in significant savings for the company.
Delagar, located in Clinton County, contacted CITEC
for help in addressing its safety concerns. After assisting them
in the development of a comprehensive set of updated health and
safety policy and procedures, CITEC worked closely with plant personnel
to prepare and submit an application for a New York State Department
of Labor Hazard Abatement Board Safety Grant on behalf of Delagar.
The HAB grant focused on training and rolling out the new health
and safety program.
In late 1999 DOL notified Delagar that its funding
application was successful and the company again looked to CITEC
to design and provide the training. The program was split into
specialized training by job function and general training that
applied to all employees. CITEC administered the training over
multiple sessions throughout the production shifts and spanning
seasonal peak employment. CITEC compiled the training material
for future use, establishing a specific health and safety training
library for Delagar. Delagar's safety manager and coordinator both
received 40-hour train-the-trainer courses - qualifying them to
receive OSHA 30-hour General Outreach Program certificates. In
addition, Delagar now has two in-house trainers to maintain the
new health and safety program training needs for the future. The
contract finished with a walk-through mock OSHA health and safety
audit - a service many other North Country manufacturers utilize
to identify safety issues they may not recognize.
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