Will Sampson talks about how continuous improvement or lean manufacturing really has to be an on-going effort to succeed. His guest is Lance Grimm, senior vice president of continuous improvement at Kodiak Building Partners, where he is tasked with applying lean manufacturing principles to the building supplies and lumber sectors.
This episode of the Woodworking Network podcast was sponsored by FDMC magazine. FDMC magazine is your vital source of information to improve your woodworking business. Whether it is keeping you apprised of the latest advances in manufacturing, helping you solve your wood technology problems with Gene Wengert, or inspiring you with case histories about successful businesses and best practices, FDMC magazine is there to be the sharpest business tool in your shop. Learn more and subscribe for free at woodworkingnetwork.com/fdmc.
Woodworking Network is a home for professional woodworkers, presenting technology, supplies, education, inspiration, and community, from small business entrepreneurs to corporate managers at large automated plants.
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Intro music courtesy of Anthony Monson.
Intro:
Welcome to this episode of the Woodworking Network Podcast. Join us as we explore the business of woodworking big and small and what it takes to succeed. I’m Will Sampson.
Today’s episode is sponsored by FDMC magazine Today my guest is Lance Grimm, senior vice president of continuous improvement at Kodiak Building Partners, where he is tasked with applying lean manufacturing principles to the building supplies and lumber sectors. But first I want to talk about:
Pushing the envelope
Ask ten consultants and you’ll likely get ten different terms for efficiency programs. There’s lean manufacturing, continuous improvement, Six Sigma, Toyota Production System, Theory of Constraints, Batch One, one-piece flow, mass customization, assembly line production, and the list goes on.
What they all have in common at the core is just one thing. We can’t be satisfied with the status quo.
“But it’s the way we’ve always done it,” somebody will say. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make it right or wrong. Times do change. Company needs and customers change. Machinery, technology, and workforce skills change. Customer tastes change. Materials and finishes change. With all of that change, if you aren’t adapting to keep pace, you are losing ground.
However, you can’t just grab for whatever shiny new thing is floating by. What any improvement program requires first is analysis. It makes it lots easier to change the status quo if you have empirical evidence that the existing system has problems, and even better, some data that might clue you into a source. Then you must analyze the data to look for improvements, test your solutions, keep analyzing, and keep improving.
Too often people see all these efficiency initiatives as goals in themselves. “If I can just develop a Batch One production system, we’ll be in great shape!” Not so fast.
One of the most common methods of improving efficiency is to look for bottlenecks and attack them. Of course, once you do that, you’ll quickly discover you never actually eliminate a bottleneck. You just move it somewhere else in your plant. Making one process more efficient will reveal the inefficiencies somewhere else.
That’s why the improvement must be continuous. You need to be ever vigilant for potential gains. And you have be reconciled to the fact that your reward for making any improvement is going to be dealing with another challenge somewhere else. You find that your finishing department is the biggest bottleneck in your operation, and you focus all your energies there, eventually achieving huge gains in efficiency. Suddenly, now the CNC router seems to be holding everything up. Or maybe it’s assembly or a rough mill operation, or the front office and engineering.
One of my favorite books on production improvement is Eli Goldratt’s “The Goal.” If you read it, you’ll realize that it’s a very ironic title. A goal sounds like a destination, some physical place you can reach. But there’s no such thing in modern production. We’re dealing constantly with a moving target. And, if we are ever lucky or skilled enough to hit that target, there are plenty more ready to pop up to take its place.
When you embrace continuous improvement, be sure to focus as much on the continuous as you do on the improvement.
Before we get to our interview with Lance Grimm, let’s pause for a word from our sponsor.
FDMC magazine is your vital source of information to improve your woodworking business. Whether it is keeping you apprised of the latest advances in manufacturing, helping you solve your wood technology problems with Gene Wengert, or inspiring you with case histories about successful businesses and best practices, FDMC magazine is there to be the sharpest business tool in your shop. Learn more and subscribe for free at woodworkingnetwork.com/fdmc.
Now, let’s talk with Lance Grimm.