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Lean Manufacturing |
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Meet the Lean Team.
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The players are the same, but the playing field has diminished from the size of a football stadium to that of a pool table. |
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If you haven't visited our Vandalia, Ohio facility in the last several years, we invite you to do so. Our methods of volume manufacturing have been forever changed. The long, seemingly never-ending conveyor lines loaded with components and subassemblies have been replaced with compact, smart workstation environments.
From fabrication to final packaging, a solenoid in production now travels a number of feet in a few minutes, versus a few years ago when the same product would traverse the length of a football field and could take more than a week en route.
Lean manufacturing work centers are physically positioned around the machinery needed to build a particular solenoid. For example, this two-person work cell (above), builds STA® Series tubular solenoids. Color coded written and visual guidelines for all procedures, critical assembly issues, performance specifications and quality standards are always at hand for ready reference. (Note clipboards mounted within view
of each operator.) Output is continually tracked by an automatic counter. |
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Continuous Improvement is our way of life.
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The success of lean manufacturing techniques at our facilities is due in large part to the knowledge of our employees, who on average have been with the company between 10-20 years. These skilled, seasoned veterans in assembly, product design and production engineering all work together to help us constantly rethink and refine our products and our process. |
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From start to finish: end of stroke stops are attached to the plunger (above top). The coil assembly is assembled into the case and transported to the next workstation via a chute (left) where the press operator makes the final assembly and presses the unit together (above). The solenoid is then placed on a conveyor that runs through an automated ink jet labeling station (top right).
Customized labeling and barcoding have become important requirements for many customers. The labeling conveyor sends the solenoid back to the first operator's workstation where the plunger assembly is inserted into the actuator body. The final assembly is then tested (right) before units are packaged for shipping. |
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Defining the difference.
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We make the distinction between always doing
a good job and always doing a better job. |
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As an integral part of our lean manufacturing program, every employee's challenge is to help find small, simple improvements. Every product. Every day. As easy as this sounds, it really isn't. We are the industry's most experienced solenoid manufacturer; we've already learned all the areas where you can strip out any cost inefficiencies. And, continuously trying to improve on fifty years of practice becomes an increasingly difficult challenge.
It may be cliche for some, but it is absolutely our production reality: we add value one component at a time. This careful and continuous scrutiny throughout the assembly process enables us to all but eliminate any scrap material and lost production time, since we've found the best way to reduce waste is to not allow it in the first place. This is Lean Thinking at work! |
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Our high volume assembly cells offer the lowest manufacturing costs and lowest DPPM output available. |
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Manufacturing does matter.
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File Format Help
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ZIP: Some files need to be unzipped. Unzip utilities available for download for Windows / Macintosh.
For technical difficulties with this page contact us here.
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