THE CROWN GROUP: Mapping Their Way to Success With VSM
The value stream mapping approach MMTC brought to our company helped us see our processes in a different way. By streamlining our facility, we were able to save thousands of dollars and make room for new products.
-- Justin McMillen, Assistant General Manager-The Crown Group
As the leading component finisher in North America with more than 45 years of experience and nine locations in North America, The Crown Group (thecrowngrp.com) is known for providing high quality, environmentally friendly, and cost effective coating solutions. They also provide assembly, warehousing, and just in time sequencing services. The Crown Group supplies the automotive industries, as well as the agricultural, construction, heavy truck, military and alternative energy markets. The Crown Group is headquartered in Warren, MI with additional offices in Livonia, Detroit and Shelby Township.
Challenge
A significant amount of new business was assigned to The Crown Group’s Detroit office, doubling their current output, which added a second shift and an addition of 53 new associates to their Detroit operation. The Crown Group needed to make room and improve workflow to accommodate for this increase in production requirements. The Crown Group turned to MMTC to get assistance. During their Opportunity Assessment, the MMTC team identified potential opportunities to streamline their processes. It was collectively determined to start with Value Stream Mapping (VSM) to help validate the potential opportunities as well as uncover additional ways to improve the process.
Solution
MMTC conducted an onsite, three-day VSM engagement with key team members of The Crown Group. The team was instructed on the VSM process in order to create a current state map. Now being able to visualize the current state, the team went into the factory to discover and test new ideas for the future state map. At the end of this workshop, the team not only created a future state map, but an action plan with assigned responsibilities for implementation.
As a result the Lynch Street operation identified and consolidated similar processes to streamline work flow. Working through the VSM provided the team an opportunity to visualize productive changes, which led to determining the best ways to arrange equipment and flow within the facility to help alleviate the impacts of the forthcoming increase in production. One of the goals of this engagement was to equip the team to utilize the VSM tools to map other areas.
Results
- 53 New Jobs
- $70,000 in Cost Savings
- 1,200 Fewer Forklift Miles Driven Per Year
- $5,000 in New Investments
- 4 Jobs Retained