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Lean Enables Growth at GTI Fabrication
With the help of: New York Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NY MEP)
About
The Challenge
Working with Insyte has been an incredible experience that had an immense impact on the operations of our company. The experience and knowledge of the consultant was a huge factor for the success of our project. We plan to continue to work with Insyte on various projects to take our company to the next level.
MEP's Role
Insyte, part of the New York MEP and the MEP National Network™, worked with GTI to apply lean manufacturing techniques and to implement new practices to significantly reduce waste, cost, lead time and improve quality. Value stream mapping was used to understand how processes functioned and to identify concerns. Welding emerged as the primary issue and the constraining operation. Although the welders and support personnel were well-qualified, they were not able to maintain consistent production to meet the demand.
A workplace organization effort was launched to improve the efficiency and consistency of the weld area. The welding process was broken down into discrete steps and work was standardized. New weld teams were created with designated leads to provide timely supervision and direction. Bottlenecks were then identified and additional equipment purchased to increase capacity. Finally, the drawings and information released to production were standardized to eliminate guesswork and improve quality. These improvements increased capacity and throughput for the entire plant allowing GTI’s growth to continue its uptrend.