Saint-Gobain Abrasives, Inc.
Travelers Rest, South Carolina

THE OVERVIEW
Since 1885, Norton Company (acquired in 1990 by Saint-Gobain) has provided abrasive products to the automotive, aerospace, woodworking, bearing, sporting goods, do-it-yourself, and foundry markets. Headquartered in France, Saint-Gobain is the world’s leader in the abrasives market with a strong presence in the U.S. and operations throughout Europe, Asia, and Latin America. The company provides bonded abrasives, coated abrasives, and superabrasives for use in precision grinding in a wide range of applications. Saint-Gobain sells its products through the internet, distributors, catalogs, home improvement and woodworking retailers, and the automotive aftermarket. The Travelers Rest, SC, facility employs approximately 80 employees, and its customers include General Motors, Ford, and General Electric.

THE CHALLENGE
As leaders at the plant were struggling to see value in lean manufacturing concepts for their facility, they met SCMEP through a Lean 101 course being taught at Greenville Technical College. SCMEP introduced company leaders to Premiere Source Lean Manufacturing Group (PSLMG), a third-party consulting company specializing in the implementation of lean manufacturing initiatives. Together through analyzing the results of SCMEP’s Competitiveness Review (CR) report and implementing a Value Stream Mapping (VSM) initiative, they identified a problem in the Travelers Rest facility - production lead time was 27 ½ days from the time a customer’s order hit the floor to the time it was shipped out the door. The lead time had to be reduced in order to help keep the plant competitive. That time frame did not count the additional 13 days of scheduled time needed to move orders through the customer service and engineering departments.

THE SOLUTION
As an initial step, group leaders planned two kaizen events - four days per event of intensive team analysis and involvement - and used Standard Work and Cell Design lean tools during the events. The plan was to decrease production time through a more efficient flow of the make-to-order products in Saint-Gobain’s production lines. The kaizen events resulted in the movement of several machines, including milling equipment, CNC machines, and lathes. In addition, the team was able to identify opportunities to improve scheduling processes to decrease the 13 days’ worth of waiting time before the order ever made it to the plant floor.

THE IMPACT
Kaizen events enabled Saint-Gobain to decrease production lead time to 10 to 15 days (from 27 ½ days). Pascal Riviere, manufacturing director at Saint-Gobain/Travelers Rest, was also able to report a reduction in scheduling time to five days and a production increase in the 10 percent to 20 percent range.

“SCMEP and PSLMG helped us get a head start on implementing lean manufacturing techniques and understanding how those techniques could really benefit our organization,” says Riviere. “We are now implementing more lean initiatives plant-wide and expect to see even greater results from our efforts.”