In 2001,
the management team at Athena Controls recognized
the dynamics of their marketplace was changing.
Products which are the bread and butter of
the company were seeing fierce competition
from larger manufacturers and overseas companies.
Athena
Controls’ internal processes were very typical
of a manufacturing company using work orders
and large batch mode processes and shop floor
personnel are functional specialists. Departments
were organized around functions, not on value
to the customer. Customer orders were processed
with the old “over the wall” approach. Cycle
time to manufacture printed circuit boards
was on average nine weeks, maintenance and
housekeeping was poor and quality was only
measured at the end of line resulting in
large amounts of re-work. Profits were rapidly
disappearing
and Athena Controls knew they had to change.
The significance of embarking upon change
would mean their survival!
In mid
2001, Athena Controls began education on the
concepts of the Lean Enterprise. The Delaware
Valley Industrial Resource Center and Brian
Maskell (BMA Inc.) were brought to Athena Controls
to conduct training and education.
Focus
teams were created consisting of shop floor
and management associates to produce improvements
for processes at Athena Controls. Focus team
results were astonishing as cycle time reduced
from weeks to days, inventory dropped and productivity
significantly increased. Initial results were
not enough; Athena Controls was ready to rapidly
accelerate their improvements after attacking
all of the low hanging fruit.
Athena
Controls realized that to continue the progress
of corporate re-organization to a Lean environment
they needed a modern real-time manufacturing
information (ERP) system. After a thorough
search of products available in the marketplace,
Athena Controls selected WinMan in the beginning
of 2004.
Athena
Controls took a very progressive approach
with the WinMan implementation. WinMan handles
sales
order management, BOM control, RMA management
and accounting. Material is expensed automatically
when it is received, which becomes the
material cost for the month. Material is
ordered through
WinMan's fully integrated KANBAN module
with electronic releases, using WinMan Real
Time
Communicator, sent to suppliers based on
the KANBAN cards scanned for the day.
Traditional
purchase order entry and purchase order management
is not needed since material is ordered at
the point of need using KANBAN cards. While
many non-value added activities have been eliminated,
WinMan still creates full sales, shipment tracking,
and purchase history for full reporting facilities.
WinMan has facilitated Athena Controls’ desire
to automate and accelerate many Lean techniques
within their production facility.
Athena
Controls changed its entire culture, from top-level
management down to the shop floor workforce
to begin the transition into a Lean organization.
Cultural change, process improvements, hard
work, desire, and a progressive implementation
of a Lean focused ERP software system all contributed
to the successful and profitable organization.
