Stacey E. Alsfeld, Vice President & General Manager       

“Truex Inc. was founded in 1976, and today is a leading manufacturer of custom and standard deep drawn and stamped metal parts made from carbon steel, aluminum, stainless steel, copper, and brass. Our 40,000 square foot facility is located in Pawtucket, RI, and our capabilities include temporary and production tooling, drawn and deep drawn precision forming, transfer press operations, annealing, stress relief cleaning, bright dipping, and custom assembly.

 The company started thirty years ago making garden hose fittings for Teknor Apex, also in Pawtucket. As Truex grew and began to engage more outside customers, we realized that we needed to become more process driven if we were going to compete in this commodity market. We started by pursuing ISO certification, which we received in January 2003, but knew that was only the first step.   

 Over the years, we had used many different tools to gather input from employees on the production floor and make process improvements. We tried process improvement forms, an improvement council, TQM – we used all types of methods, but none was truly systemic. We would identify a number of improvements and make a little progress on each, but would then get sidetracked by daily priorities and return to our old habits.

 The company’s first exposure to RIMES and 5S was in 2005 when one of our employees attended a RIMES-sponsored 5S seminar and plant tour at another manufacturer in Rhode Island. We saw the measurable benefits from 5S, which stands for sort, set in order, shine, standardize, and sustain, and felt 5S could really bring about lasting change at Truex.

 RIMES started by training the entire company on Lean Manufacturing concepts and tools, such as 5S. We also did a lot of team-building exercises, which would prove crucial to our transition, and our leadership team went through six hours of change management training. As a company, we started to develop a common language and common understanding of 5S, but we knew we had a long way to go to instill permanent change. 

 Truex was very much a top-down organization, and our employees were accustomed to being told what to do. We began working our way through a major cultural shift, and some interesting things started happening. As the Lean exercises progressed and we got the message out that we want employees to drive more of the decision-making, new leaders started to emerge. We started hearing more from employees who rarely spoke up, and they had some great new ideas. 

 Without a doubt, some employees initially viewed our 5S effort with cautious skepticism. But as people started to realize that process improvement isn’t about eliminating jobs, but rather about making jobs more efficient and freeing up resources for more high-value activities, they started getting more involved and coming up with more ideas, in spite of the fact that those ideas would mean more work for them in the short run. Employees in lead roles also had to adjust to the new mindset – the role of “enforcer” was no longer needed to make sure others were doing their jobs. Our leaders now needed to become sources of information, knowledge, and support.

 We decided to pilot 5S in our nut department, which turned out to be one of our more challenging areas. We put together a fairly large team of machine operators and toolmakers, who evaluated the process and concluded that to really improve productivity, the department should move across the hall and tie into all the other departments. This was a massive undertaking, but it made sense.

 The team cleared the new space and prepared to move the equipment. We drew up plans for the new layout, which would tie three pieces of equipment into a single process. Designing the new layout was the easy part; building it was a challenge. There were a few details that we hadn’t fully worked through, such as conveyers that had to run the opposite way and chutes we had to move. As the move happened, there was some frustration and finger pointing as we hit little bumps in the road, but we got past that stage, stayed focused on our goal, and kept making progress. If anything, those struggles made us stronger.

 We originally had three shifts running in the nut department. After reorganizing, we were able to go to two shifts and still support increasing production levels. The person displaced from the third shift moved to another area, which was possible thanks to our cross-training program. So when an order came in for more than a million parts, we were able to return the displaced person to the third shift to meet the customer’s needs, and when the order was fulfilled, we moved that person back and shut down the third shift. That kind of flexibility allows us to ramp up to take advantage of opportunities as they arise without adding capacity.

 Changing the paint color on our equipment was an interesting 5S transition that was both symbolic and practical. When we moved the nut department, we repainted most of our dark green manufacturing equipment light beige, which really shows the dirt and grime – and that was the point. Our team wanted dirt to stand out and provide a visible reminder of our commitment to the “shine” part of 5S. On the practical side, the light color paint allows our operators to see leaks immediately, resulting in faster repairs and a safer working environment. The new paint color really made the nut department stand out on the floor and visually reinforced the message that something is different; we are changing.

 We just finished working on our shipping department, where we made some interesting discoveries. Our shipping manager is under constant pressure to get product out the door. We attached a pedometer to him to better understand his movements throughout the day and found that he walked seven miles in the plant every day. That was a real eye-opener. After reorganizing the shop floor as part of the 5S process, we strapped the pedometer to our shipping manager again and found he now walks about two miles each day. The time he had been using to walk those additional five miles was time wasted. Now he is able to use his time on high-value activities, there are fewer opportunities for accidents, and he finds his job less stressful. In March 2006, we shipped 50% more revenue than in a typical high month, and we did it with no additional people. That says a lot about eliminating those five miles.

 5s has impacted the quality of our decision-making process as well.  One example is our goal to cut lead-time on custom products from three weeks to one week. We just authorized purchase of several new CNC machines that will allow us to do more in- house, which will reduce cost and cycle time. The team’s involvement in the decision-making process made justifying the new pieces of equipment much easier and more accurate. Value stream mapping helped lay out the process and space for the new equipment, making for a much shorter payback period. Finally, we moved the old equipment to the tool room where it was more centrally located and could be better used, and that freed up space for new equipment. 5S supported us in multiple ways to get us closer to our lead-time goal.

 To date, we’ve introduced 5S to the nut department, metal finishing, maintenance, shipping, the tool room, secondary operations and even the cafeteria. In fact, we use the cafeteria 5S team to introduce new employees to 5S. Our next 5S project will be our primary presses, which will be a big job, but we now have a number of team leaders who know 5S inside and out and can help make the transition smooth.

 5S has brought about measurable improvements for us. Net revenue is up 20% over last year, with a five point improvement in on-time delivery, and while that may not be entirely attributable to 5S, the fact that we’re up 20% with the same number of hours, fewer contract employees, and lower headcount, certainly is. We have eliminated waste and become more efficient. We wouldn’t have been able to reach this run-rate without 5S, for at least not without losing some customers and some very good employees.

 5S has also freed up valuable space in every department. When we moved the nut department across the aisle, we gained square footage. We moved the tool crib, which had been all the way in the back of the building, to the center of the building where each department could more easily access it. We opened up new space that we can now use to expand capacity, without having to add to the building or find a bigger building, both of which would be costly and time-consuming.

 We have seen our employees evolve dramatically since the beginning of our 5S program. In the past, employees didn’t really talk to each other about process or best practices, and they certainly didn’t communicate with other shifts. We now see entire teams from different departments and different shifts working together to solve problems and improve things, and our managers find that they do a lot more explaining than dictating. Our employees are driving change from the bottom up, and their self-motivation makes everyone’s jobs much easier. So in addition to making us a more disciplined and data driven company, 5S has brought about a whole new way of thinking for our employees.

 Working with RIMES has been a very good experience. They really listened to our needs, and we formed a sense of mutual respect. We’re not a typical stamping company, and they respected that and learned what Truex does and how to implement 5S within our framework. As we start Value Stream Mapping each department, we will again turn to RIMES for training and adding structure to the process – it’s an ongoing relationship.”