JIT Manufacturing, Inc.
Cowpens, South Carolina

THE OVERVIEW
JIT Manufacturing was founded in 1992 in Spartanburg County by Vickie and Reggie Wyatt in a 2,800 square foot facility. It was later moved to its present location in Cowpens, SC, and expanded to 8,750 square feet. In 2004, the plant’s footprint was enlarged again, adding 9,400 square feet. With 18 employees, Vickie Wyatt says the company plans to add eight additional employees in the next two years. JIT Manufacturing fabricates sheet metal parts, offering CNC punching, laser cutting and precision forming for a diversified customer base. JIT Manufacturing also sells to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) specializing in packaging equipment, electrical panels, electrical control boxes, mining equipment, textile machinery, and hospital equipment. Its main goal is quick turnaround for customers, and it specializes in short runs.

THE CHALLENGE
Disorganization in each cell of the facility affected production. Employees spent a portion of each day looking for the materials they needed to complete customers’ jobs. Employees were moving at a fast pace, but many did not know where materials were kept when they needed them. The Wyatts recognized the need for improvement in shop flow and turned to SCMEP Manufacturing Specialist Larry Jolly to help them decide how best to do this.

THE SOLUTION
The Wyatts read about SCMEP’s work in a local newspaper and called the organization. A team made up of SCMEP consultants and JIT Manufacturing staff implemented a 5s program. “It was a very thorough program,” said Vickie Wyatt. “We did housekeeping tasks a small shop like ours never gets around to doing because of the focus on getting raw materials in the door and quality finished parts out the door for customers.”

First, the team took everything out of one area of the plant and put each item into a category based on its amount of use. Then everything was labeled and assigned a specific spot within easy reach. For example in the post-5s welding area, employees have within reach the items they use every day. Seldom used supplies and equipment were put in other locations.

The team moved on to implementing 5s in each cell of the facility. It then implemented a procedure that had employees spending 10 minutes each day cleaning up their respective areas.

THE IMPACT
As a result of 5s implementation, JIT Manufacturing has experienced a reduction of 15 minutes per day per employee of production time, saving the company an estimated 750 hours per year in production time which translates to $56,250 annually. “The added benefit is our employees are proud of their clean and organized work areas and there is a noticeable improvement in moral,” said Vickie Wyatt.

After spending $10,000 to move equipment to create an improved shop layout, Wyatt reported the company recouped that investment in just one year and now experiences an annual savings of $39,000 and 520 hours.

“This [lean manufacturing] is a totally new concept for small job shops like ours,” Wyatt said. “It’s amazing when you try to cut costs that you look at the big things and ignore the little things. SCMEP helped us see that the little things can save so much money. Using these techniques has helped our production by moving parts through our shop in a timely fashion. We are going to expand more into lean manufacturing this year with the help of SCMEP.”

The Wyatts feel SCMEP’s specialists really care about helping small manufacturing companies enhance their competitiveness.