RANGER DIE: Facility Reorganization Increases Cost Savings
The team at The Center did a great job of organizing and administering the 5S/Visual Control training. With the Lean tools, our team engaged early and completed this project on time. The results were significant as one of our customers couldn’t believe the transformation. We look forward to using the tools we learned and the experience we gained on our project.
-- Paul Allen, Operations Manager
Ranger Die (www.rangerdie.com) is a supplier of Class A dies and metal stampings. Since 1955 Ranger Die has grown with its customers by offering services ranging from initial design to production. By 2013, operations growth had outpaced their Walker, Mich., building, leading them to relocate to a new, state-of-the-art 105,000-square-foot facility in Coopersville, Mich. Led since 2007 by Joe, Leo and Steve Raap – brothers with 83 years of combined experience with the company – Ranger Die continues to grow with more than 70 employees serving customers worldwide.
Challenge
Since moving to its new location, the company has added new products and equipment and has had to expand products onsite to meet customer needs. This has led to poor space utilization, less than optimal product flow, and increased time searching for supplies. Ranger Die was looking for ways to resolve these issues and to introduce employees to Lean.
Solution
Employees were introduced to Lean thinking through a 5S/Visual Control training program offered by the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center (The Center). Participants were taught how to create, maintain and improve the Lean standard so exceptions/variations are visible, and action can be swift to identify and correct root cause. The outcome was a complete reorganization of the second-floor warehouse space.
Results
- Cost Savings: $30,984 (Reduced material handling, spent less time looking for products and improved productivity)
- Investment: $5,147
- Returned value-add sort operation in-house for better visibility and control.
- Added monthly sustainability walks to ensure space is maintained as intended.
- Excellent starter project to get team culture to focus on Lean processes.