Lean Manufacturing

Omnova Solutions - Chester, South Carolina

THE OVERVIEW
Glen Pellett, director of operations at Omnova Solutions Inc., attended a one-day lean manufacturing workshop at York Technical College. The workshop, called Principles of Lean Manufacturing and conducted by the SCMEP, provided tools for increasing production from existing equipment and procedures. Omnova makes specialty chemicals for textiles, graphics, paper coatings and construction.

THE CHALLENGE
Pellett and his production manager attended the initial Lean Manufacturing 101 workshop. Their goal was to understand lean practices that would help them increase capacity from one unit as they moved some production from Greensboro, NC, to Chester. From the class, Pellett saw immediate opportunities to make similar improvements in Omnova's facility and wanted to move quickly to implementation.

THE SOLUTION
Pellett invited Rhonda Huskins, a manufacturing specialist with the SCMEP, to the plant for an assessment, called a Competitiveness Review. They analyzed the entire operation, from customer call to product delivery. "We've just begun the learning process," Pellett said. "Now we need to get a critical mass of people who better understand it [lean manufacturing] and are as enthusiastic about it as I am."

Since the initial course, Omnova employees have participated in two on-site Lean 101 courses and one Value Stream Mapping course. One employee commented, "We have gained a new way of thinking on how to manage a manufacturing facility."

In March, the Omnova management team began Policy Deployment, a tool whereby strategic and business plans are transferred into a control plan. The control plan is then used throughout the supervisory and managerial segments of the organization, aligning the management team's activities so overall company objectives can be met.

THE IMPACT
The initial lean manufacturing workshop showed Omnova how to increase cycle time for a savings of $63,000 and 240 hours per year; how to improve yield; and how to get more finished product for every pound of raw material, worth another $13,000. And that doesn't count the reduced environmental impact and inventory reduction worth $60,000, Pellett said. The annual savings resulting from elimination of intermediate production is about $76,000; however, Omnova realized even greater gains through quickly bringing in significant new business volume without investing capital or time to design, acquire permits, and construct new equipment systems. In the future, Pellett expects an overall lean strategy to enable the company to reduce lead times on orders and inventory, thus positively affecting cash flow.

Glen Pellet, director of operations at Omnova Solutions, stands in front of the company's 100,000-square-foot facility. Previous to Omnova's purchase of the facility, workers there invented permanent press, a resin used by textile companies to prevent fabric wrinkles.