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Naples, FL - The Thomas Riley Artisans' Guild is one of the best-know and respected companies in southwest Florida. Described as a premier manufacturing company for luxury residential homes, high-end interior designers, preferred architects, and general contractors, it includes a collection of master craftsmen and artisans that offer custom millwork, fine decorative finishes, architectural hardware, stone and wood flooring, and decorative plaster with "monumental quality craftsmanship and white-glove service." The 70 employees at the Naples, Florida, facility combine Old World techniques with state-of-the-art technology to create superior interior creations for an impressive list of clients that includes well-know personalities and some of the wealthiest people in the world. Artisans' Guild's overall goal was to increase output while eliminating defects. A second issue was that the company often gave services away, out of a desire to please their clients. A system was needed to capture payment for extra work the craftspeople often did while engineering a project or working on jobsites. New procedures needed to be developed that would allow artisans and engineers to track changes so they could be fairly compensated for additional labor. The system, however, had to be designed in a way that no client would ever be offended.Finally, in order to assure that work was completed according to the allocated procedure, company management wanted each of their team members to adopt Lean thinking so they could understand how their actions impacted the overall process. Artisans' Guild contacted the Florida Manufacturing Extension Partnership (Florida MEP), a NIST MEP network affiliate, for assistance. Florida MEP project managers conducted two Lean 102 workshops to approximately 40 of the employees, which included classroom training and hands-on simulation. The workshops were designed to help the artisans understand the principles and fundamentals of Lean Manufacturing and were geared toward the job-shop environment. Next, the Florida MEP facilitated a Value Stream Map (VSM) event that developed current and future state maps of the value stream, identified high-priority areas for Lean implementation, and helped create a strategic plan for a company-wide Lean transformation. Following the VSM, a team of engineers, management, artisans, and installers participated in a Kaizen Blitz event that focused on defining the problem, understanding the magnitude of the problem, and developing an implementation plan. Ultimately the team concentrated on improving the information flow to and from the artisans and installers as well as a system to track changes and charge for extra work. The system would allow the company to give the customers exactly what they wanted without surprising or offending them. The Florida MEP is an affiliate of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) under the U.S. Department of Commerce. The national MEP is a network of manufacturing extension centers that provide business and technical assistance to smaller manufacturers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Through MEP, manufacturers have access to more than 2000 manufacturing and business "coaches" whose job is to help firms make changes that lead to greater productivity, increased profits, and enhanced global competitiveness. For more information on the Florida MEP program call 1-800-MEP-4MFG. |