When Jackson’s Maytag Dishwashing Plant began production in 1992, its long assembly line could produce any model dishwasher on any given day. After it re-tooled its processes in 1998 with a hybrid industrial quality program it dubbed LeanSigma, the plant was able to make any model in any given hour. It accomplished this, in part, by breaking up its “mile-long” assembly line into eight smaller cells. This allowed the plant greater flexibility and increased turnaround time for its customers, says Terry Spalding, the plant’s director of manufacturing.
The change to production cells versus one long line was a first step in the plant’s embrace of the now-popular manufacturing concepts of lean manufacturing and Six Sigma. The change has yielded the plant millions in cost savings and several industry awards, including the 2004 Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing—a first for an appliance maker. BusinessWeek refers to the Shingo Prize as the “Nobel prize of manufacturing” because it establishes a standard for world-class excellence.
The Shingo Prize—awarded to Maytag in March—cited key measurements of plant performance over three- or five-year periods:
• 84% decrease in defects per million parts
• 64% reduction in recordable injuries in three years
• 29% fewer labor hours needed to produce a unit
• 32% reduction in required manufacturing floor space over five years
• $10.5 million of cost-saving measures produced in 2003 alone
“Jackson’s accomplishments will inspire our other sites to strive to reach the same level of manufacturing excellence,” says Maytag Corp. Chairman Ralph Hake.
The changes at the plant—the sole manufacturer of all Maytag brand dishwashers—didn’t come easy.
“When there is something as dramatic as this, of course you will have some resistance,” Spalding says. Spalding has been with Maytag four years and in Jackson for one.
The Maytag Corp. developed and trademarked LeanSigma in 1998. It combines “lean manufacturing” concepts with the Six Sigma Process, a program designed by Motorola. Lean manufacturing focuses on reducing waste, managing shorter lead times and increasing flexibility. Six Sigma focuses on process improvement—defining, measuring, analyzing, improving and controlling results. Put more simply, lean is about identifying waste while Six Sigma is aimed at eliminating variability.
One key tenet of Lean- Sigma is soliciting input from the front-line workers on how to improve performance. This can cause friction between managers and line employees, says Misty DePriest, a consultant with the University of Tennessee Center for Industrial Services in Nashville.
Sometimes a company “thinks it wants to implement lean, but won’t allow the teams to implement change,” DePriest says. “This is a recipe for failure.”
Another barrier to implementing these programs is cost, says Jack Laser, director of continuing education and workforce development at Jackson State Community College. It can cost anywhere from $8,000 to $18,000 to train a person in Six Sigma, Laser says.
Shoring up the bottom line is always critical for a manufacturing plant. For Maytag, it’s even more of a priority now after five years of a sliding stock price, a $41 million loss in the second quarter—compared to $25 million in earnings the year before—and about 1,000 planned layoffs to be completed this year in the managerial ranks.
The job cuts—mostly from sites in Ohio and Iowa—were needed to compete against foreign appliance makers, corporate spokeswoman Lynne Dragomier says.
Engaging the employees in continuous improvement helps them understand the competition that U.S. manufacturers face, Spalding says.
“There’s no guarantees,” Spalding says. “But LeanSigma gives us a fighting chance.”
Email to a Friend
Print-Friendly Format