Sonoco Products | Hartselle, Alabama
Company Information:
The Baker Division of Sonoco Products is a 40-year-old company that manufactures wood reels of all sizes for the cable and wire industry. The plant employs over 350 people in Hartselle with sales of over $95 million.
Situation:
Currently the number one producer of wood reels with 65% of the market, Baker Division always strives to better their position by reducing costs, improving productivity and increasing customer service. Management felt there were opportunities to reduce their work-in-process (WIP), which in turn would reduce costs, improve quality and increase customer responsiveness.
Center Assistance:
Two industrial engineers from ATN-UAH facilitated six kaizen events at the Hartselle plant. Cross-functional kaizen teams were formed consisting of 8-10 employees from each area of operation, material handling, maintenance and management. Each Kaizen event lasted 4-5 days. During this time the team was trained in lean manufacturing principles; problems were identified, root causes were determined and countermeasures to the root causes were identified and implemented. On the final day the team presented their results to the plant management.
Results:
The kaizen events were performed on five different areas and had the following impacts on the area analyzed: 50% of its material handling and transportation time was eliminated. Defects were reduced by 80%. WIP dwindled to virtually zero, there was reassignment of one supervisor and there was a reduction of operators from seven to five. Productivity increased by 40% and lead time was reduced by four hours.
By performing the Kaizen events and adopting lean principles and strategies to eliminate waste, Baker was able to keep their competitive advantage by reducing their production costs, increase quality and improve delivery to their customers. After completing the five kaizen events, management assessed the cost savings to the company was between $250,000 and $1,000,000.