Visual Management Tools and Set-Up Reduction Drive Quality and Production Gains

Lynn Welding is an industry leader of welding and machining for the aerospace, defense, nuclear, industrial, and medical industries. The company started in 1979 as a one-man shop with a Tig welding machine. Named after the original owner’s daughter, company ownership changed hands in 2007. The business is located in Newington, Connecticut.

The ability to weld, machine, and fabricate entire assemblies is what differentiates Lynn Welding from the competition. The company holds an extensive list of qualifications from a broad list of customers and is highly respected within the aerospace community when it comes to producing X-Ray quality welds. Customers consider Lynn Welding the ultimate solution for complex welding and machining.

Lynn Welding's management identified areas of opportunity for improvement, including the high cost of finished goods inventory, longer than desired lead times, decreased capacity, and the challenge of sustaining lean initiatives. The issues in these areas have led to lower on-time deliveries, higher overtime costs, and an excessive number of expedited orders. Lynn management turned to CONNSTEP, part of the MEP National Network™, for help streamlining processes to improve quality, cost, and delivery, as well as establishing and replicating best practices across the company.

CONNSTEP recommended a two-phase approach, which included value stream mapping (VSM) of a fabricated product family and coaching kaizen teams. CONNSTEP conducted a VSM exercise, identifying the current steps and sequences followed in fabricating one of Lynn Welding’s products. It also highlighted external quality issues, such as incomplete order information, and some internal issues, which needed greater attention.

The Lynn team used the current state value stream map to identify areas of improvement. CONNSTEP coached the Lynn Welding implementation teams to help them build towards a streamlined future state. A CONNSTEP consultant also worked on set-up reduction principles, which focused on creating standardized work procedures for one welding booth, and then applying the new standardized procedures to Lynn’s other welding booths. The VSM also looked at a key fabricated product family and identified improvements, including 5S, visual management and reducing batch size. Set-up reduction focused on welding and welding booth operations which was successfully applied to other booths within the organization.