OAKWOOD GROUP: From Potential to Performance: Driving Operational Efficiency
This project represented a significant milestone in my career and delivered a lasting impact on Oakwood Group by implementing processes and frameworks that supported company growth. The collaboration between Oakwood Group’s commitment to employee development and MMTC’s expert guidance made this initiative both highly effective and professionally rewarding.
-- John Filiatraut, Program Engineer
Oakwood Group (www.oakwoodgroup.com), founded in 1945 and rooted in Dearborn, MI with a manufacturing facility in Taylor, MI, has spent decades shaping innovative, niche solutions for the automotive industry. As a trusted leader in grille and audio cover design, the company pairs craftsmanship with forward-thinking engineering. That same drive for innovation fuels Oakwood Energy Management, creator of SafetyPlastic®, a high-performance impact absorber designed to help protect vehicle occupants from head and side injuries caused by contact with interior surfaces. Oakwood Group is powered by a dedicated team of 900 employees.
Challenge
Facing rapid growth, Oakwood Group risked falling short of customer demand due to production constraints. When a key customer raised their required output from 200 sets per day to 386 sets per day, the company faced an urgent need to scale operations efficiently and meet the increased demand without significant capital investments.
Solution
Oakwood Group partnered with the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center (MMTC) to address capacity challenges, leveraging funding from the Going Pro Talent Fund. A Program Engineer from Oakwood Group participated in MMTC’s Six Sigma Black Belt Certification training and led a project focused on optimizing the work cell for the company’s speaker grill assembly. It was determined that excessive downtime on the fixture placed retaining customer orders at risk. Through process mapping, structured brainstorming, design of experiments, and strategic sampling, the project identified effective improvement opportunities. By analyzing and refining each station within the work cell, Oakwood Group’s team improved cycle time from a baseline of 144 seconds to 120 seconds (effectively increasing parts per hour from 25 to 30). Strong and proactive controls were implemented to ensure the enhancements were sustainable over time.
Results
- Cost Savings: $82,700/yr
- 17% increase in throughput
- Retained Jobs: 1