O’Neal Steel | Jacksonville, Florida
Company Information:
O’Neal Steel is a full-line metals service center with a vast array of products and multi-stage processing capabilities that enables them to service fabricators, job shops, and a wide variety of OEMs. After more than 80 years in business, O’Neal Steel is now the United States’ largest family-owned metals service center.
Situation:
O’Neal’s Jacksonville, Florida facility, with 74 employees, is one of over 30 district operations strategically located throughout the country to provide easy access to their products and services. Two years ago, the Jacksonville location ranked 29th out of all districts in regards to errors (which are measured against all districts corporate-wide) and had 8 lost time accidents in the previous year. In 2005, behind the drive of a new District Superintendent, O’Neal Jacksonville began implementing Lean Enterprise principles to improve their operations.
ATN Assistance:
O’Neal Jacksonville has utilized the assistance of the Alabama Technology Network center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (ATN-UAH) in the implementation of Lean principles at their facility. ATN-UAH began by facilitating a team of O’Neal employees in a kaizen event to improve the welding operation in the summer of 2005. After the initial success and excitement from the welding kaizen, ATN-UAH returned to facilitate another team of O’Neal employees in improving the burning operation. With the noticeable improvements generating a great deal of momentum, O’Neal Jacksonville chose to host a Principles of Lean (Lean 101) 8-hour training course for other interested O’Neal locations. ATN-UAH delivered this training near the end of 2005.
O’Neal Jacksonville’s relationship with ATN-UAH continued into 2006, with ATN-UAH facilitating two Value Stream Mapping events (one of the sales order-to-invoicing process, one on the manufacturing operations), two kaizen improvement events (loading operation, sawing operation), and delivering more training to O’Neal employees in Lean 101, Lean Concepts, and Kanban Systems. Additionally, because of the training provided and the experience gained from previous improvement events, O’Neal employees have begun initiating Lean improvement efforts internally.
Results:
Based on the efforts of the employees of O’Neal Steel Jacksonville, and the assistance of ATN-UAH, the company has been able to realize considerable impact from the implementation of Lean. Among the results reported by the company include:
- Welding kaizen event- 75% productivity increase; elimination of all overtime; allowed the company to bring all previously outsourced welding back in-house. This resulted in a total economic impact of $525,000.
- Burning kaizen event- 30% productivity increase; allowed the reassignment of 2 de-slag operators to assist in other areas. Total impact = $220,000
- Loading kaizen event- Reduced loading crew size from 10 to 8, allowing the reassignment of 2 employees; eliminated all overtime. Total impact = $91,000
- Value Stream Mapping- Moved high-movement items to loading area; re-identified storage locations; moved iron worker closer to material; has already reduced errors and overall impact has yet to be determined
- Kanban kaizen event- Eliminated all daily emergencies in the welding area; to date, there have been zero shortages on items. Probable impact = $200,000 per year
- Beveler/Nibbler kaizen event- Created new fixture; improved production by 300%; total impact = $30,000
- Beveler/Burner kaizen event- Created new fixture; improved production by 125%; total impact = $34,000
- 5S kaizen events- $100,000 per year saved in man hours by eliminating the need to search for tools, materials, and supplies
In addition to the overall economic impact of over $1.2 Million, O’Neal Jacksonville has also realized a considerable number of other yet-to-be-measured improvements that have impacted safety and quality. These benefits include:
- A reduction of 35% in total errors in regards to operations
- O’Neal Jacksonville has ranked 2nd corporate-wide the past two years in the annual safety audits
- Zero lost time accidents for over 402 days and running
- Employee turnover improved from 18% to 5%
- Lead times down from 2 weeks to 2 days
Comments:
“I can not say enough about what George, Nic, and Jeff from ATN-UAH have done for O’Neal Jacksonville. One thing is for sure, they have saved over 74 jobs!!!!! The service and training they have provided has kept our industry from becoming a dying breed and has enabled our company to adapt to an ever changing environment.” – Steve Tipton, District Superintendent