Lean Manufacturing Yields Better Rollers

Lean Manufacturing continues to be a fundamental part of our company's operating philosophy and we gladly share our metrics with customers. Ask us about Lean!

OPENNESS

Some companies might consider information about their operating philosophy to be confidential. In contrast, we believe that there is tremendous benefit in customers seeing solid evidence of our methods and capabilities, using it to evaluate their supply chain, and comparing us against other companies who manufacture and repair high-precision rolls.

DEPLOYING LEAN MANUFACTURING

Listening to customers continuously reminds us that we need to provide you superior quality precision rollers quickly at a competitive price. Several years ago we selected Lean as our main strategy to accomplish these goals and we continue making measurable accomplishments on the journey. If you are interested to discuss the Lean process and the impact on our business, we want to share the latest data with you.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPIs)

Based on detailed customer input, we determined that the KPIs for our Lean journey should include Complete On-Time Shipments, Returns, and Internal Rejects. Current and historical data on our progress is available on request.

COMMITMENT TO CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

As those of you familiar with Lean principles know, while we are encouraged by our progress, we will never be "done." We have a clear definition of what our "true north" is, and we have programs in place to continue making progress towards those measures in the years ahead. Our market surveys indicate that we are leading the industry in manufacturing and repairing rubber rollers with the benefit of Lean principles. If you would like to discuss our Lean programs and methods, please contact us. We enjoy the conversations and believe that we can all learn from a free and open exchange of production information with our trusted customers and partners.

With best wishes for continued success in your journeys,

Bob Schwartz,
President

BACKGROUND ON LEAN MANUFACTURING

Lean manufacturing is a management philosophy derived mostly from the Toyota Production System (TPS) and identified as "Lean" only in the 1990s. TPS is renowned for its focus on reduction of the original Toyota seven wastes to improve overall customer value. Lean manufacturing is a variation on the theme of efficiency based on optimizing flow; it is a present-day instance of the recurring theme in human history toward increasing efficiency, decreasing waste, and using empirical methods to decide what matters, rather than uncritically accepting pre-existing ideas. The goal of Lean then becomes the creation and maintenance of a production system which runs repetitively, day after day, week after week in a manner identical to the previous period.