Operations Management Articles Home
Quick Article Search
Contact Operations Management Articles
Operations Management Article Categories:
Branch news: Thames Valley Branch - Visit to John Crane - Industry sectors Article
The article entitled: "Branch news: Thames Valley Branch - Visit to John Crane" is in the Industry sectors Articles section of Operations Management Papers area...
ARTICLE DESCRIPTION: John Crane has been making pump and compressor seals since 1917 and has been in Slough for over 50 years. However, it has seen somewhat of a revolution in its operating methods and organisation over the last seven years.
MORE INFO: Branch news: Thames Valley Branch - Visit to John Crane John Crane has been making pump and compressor seals since 1917 and has been in Slough for over 50 years. However, it has seen somewhat of a revolution in its operating methods and organisation over the last seven years. On 15th March the Thames Valley Branch was treated to a behind the scenes view of this transformation and the benefits it is bringing. The evening started with an engaging and informative over view of the John Crane business and recent history. Host for the evening was Steve Harrison, who was clearly passionate about the changes and who has been a principal architect and change agent as they have implemented continuous improvement and, more recently, lean methods. After a brief resume of the company’s history, Steve went on to explain how the ‘Little Improvements For Everyone’ (LIFE) process was the linchpin of their continuous improvement programme. The programme is built on 4 principles: Business Strategy, Communications, People Development and Tools & Techniques; although, as Steve said, this branding is flexible enough to allow other facets to be integrated as seen necessary. As far as strategy goes, this was clear. Put in its simplest terms the goal is to maximise the difference between operating costs and sales revenues (ie. the net margin). While this is the goal of every company, it was clear that John Crane has gone to great lengths to make this concept as easy to understand as possible, such that every employee can see how they play their part in this objective. The results presented showed that they had been quite successful in achieving their targets. Over a three-year period, sales have increased by 25%, while costs have decreased by the same amount. They clearly believe that their programme has been instrumental in helping sales. Steve Harrison commented, “Clearing the back orders has a significant one off impact on the sales line (it is like achieving two months sales in one month). However, far more important is the sustained improvement in delivery service.” Following the interactive presentation, the visitors were invited to tour the facilities. “We try and be ‘inspection ready’ all of the time” said Steve. “We have a strong 5C’s programme (equivalent to the traditional 5S lean tool), which includes weekly photographs of all areas.” In common with all lean programmes, a focus on waste is core to their strategy. “One of the biggest opportunities is the identification of wasted time” commented Domenic Di Ciocco, Business Manager, during the tour. “During our analysis we found that an assembly engineer could walk up to 2,000 metres during assembly of a relatively simple seal, in an area only 4m square!” Use of spaghetti diagrams, value stream mapping and non-value added analysis allowed them to streamline these operations. “The most commonly used items and tools are now immediately to hand, and average assembly distances have decreased by nearly 70%” said Domenic. This may sound a little academic, but these methods, and ones like them, have resulted in a tripling of overall productivity for John Crane. Lead-times have also reduced, with seals that used to have an eight-week lead-time now being available in two weeks. For an engineering environment, I have to say the facilities were exceptionally clean. Shadow boards were in place for all tools and they even had a Kanban system operating on their frequently used machine tools. The ‘zap-ban’ area particularly impressed me. John Crane have developed relationships with some of their suppliers to the extent that they will maintain the purchased materials inventories through re-stocking the area two or three times a week. They even fill the shelves, thus eliminating another non-value adding task for assembly staff. The ‘zap-ban’ itself is quite an interesting gadget. It is a hand held electronic bar-code reader that is linked to their planning and purchasing system. Simply by scanning a bin as it is emptied, it triggers another purchase request to their supplier. Another innovation was the use of a touch sensitive screen on the shop floor for communication and training. While there are literally thousands of seal configurations, assembly methods are far fewer. As employees are expected to be flexible, it may be several days or even weeks between assembling similar seals. If an engineer wants to check on the latest correct way, they can go to the screen and see a short video, which has been prepared by the most skilled assembly operators, to refresh their memories. Over all, John Crane is an impressive role model for anyone wanting to see lean techniques in action in a light engineering environment. They are using tried and tested lean methods and making them work for them. They should also be applauded for being pioneers within their organisation for this type of activity. While John Crane employs over 6,000 people in 47 countries, and is itself part of the much larger Smiths Industries, the decision to embark on this improvement programme appears to have been a local one. For me there is only one missing link, and that would be Six Sigma. In a high precision machine shop, I would expect some of their waste to be due to lack of process robustness and control. (In fact, in the speciality seals area, we heard anecdotes of a seal returning from the test bed many times). An appropriate Six Sigma effort, including design for Six Sigma if necessary, can greatly aid understanding of the quality critical parameters and avoid rework. However, starting with lean is the right first step, as there is no point in getting extremely good at activities which don’t add value! I understand that John Crane is currently investigating how to best apply the design for Six Sigma approach. The Thames Valley Branch would like to thank Steve Harrison, Domenic Di Cioccio and the rest of the team at John Crane for their most informative and inspiring open evening. We also look forward to the follow up event promised for later in the year. (Further insights into the John Crane lean initiative can be found in “Smelly Feet & DIY Shelving” in Volume 31, Number 1 of ‘Control’.) John Hardwick, FIOM
PUBLISHER: Institute of Operations Management
Page number: 9 Word count: 1025
Vol 31 - No 03 - May 2005
The article can be downloaded in full from the publisher's site i.e. the Institute of Operations Management.
Thank you for searching on Operations Management Articles.co.uk for Industry sectors article entitled: Branch news: Thames Valley Branch - Visit to John Crane in the Operations Management / Industry sectors Articles and Papers Category.