Making Materials Flow

Following Four Steps to a Lean Material-Handling System Leads to a Leap in Performance

Companies pursuing a lean transformation often begin with cellularization, achieving dramatic and rapid improvements. But unless they replace the traditional material-handling systems supplying the cells, they jeopardize their ability to sustain the gains or advance to the next level of performance.

For instance, two focused factories at the Kokomo, IN, plant of Delphi Delco Electronics, realized these combined results by methodically implementing a lean material-handling system for its purchased parts:

Box score of Improvements from the Lean Material-Handling System

|Productivity |20% increase |

|Work-in-Process (WIP) inventory (dollars) |20% reduction |

|Ship window compliance |99.9% |

|Premium shipments as a percent of shipments |.04% |

|First-time-through quality |35% improvement |

|Purchased parts inventory (volume) |18% reduction |

“We totally redid the supermarkets,” said Kathryn McCombs, plant operations manager. Four separate supermarkets holding purchased parts for four production areas were combined into one, which was positioned adjacent to the receiving dock. Finished goods, which had been stored in manufacturing areas for pickup once or twice a day, were moved to a finished goods supermarket adjacent to the shipping dock. “We also put in place time-based routes” to deliver purchased parts to cells and remove finished goods much more...