VTLeanTeam supports Lean Transformation at Rochester Shoe Tree

Rochester Shoe Tree (RST), a medium-sized company in Ashland, NH serving the upper end fashion market with cedar shoe trees, cedar hangers, and other shoe care products in related markets, worked with the VTLeanTeam on creating value stream maps (VSM) of their shoe tree and hanger production lines. Picture 1 shows examples of the company’s products for which value stream maps were created.

Ten members of the VTLeanTeam spent the week of July 10, 2011 in Ashland working with twelve members of RST on mapping the current and future state value streams of RST’s shoe trees and hangers production lines. Picture 2 shows the value stream mapping team (members from RST and the VTLeanTeam) in front of the company’s manufacturing facility.

The first day of the week was dedicated to get a better understanding of RST’s manufacturing processes, the products RST sell, and to teach RST’s team members Lean Manufacturing principles. Picture 3 shows VTLeanTeam members in discussion with RST’s president, Deb French.

After the introductory plant tour, VTLeanTeam members conducted Lean training with RST’s team members. For most of RST’s employees, Lean was an unknown concept, which was, thus, regarded with some suspicion. However, the VTLeanTeam worked hard to involve all RST team members in the VTLeanTeam’s manufacturing simulation game developed by the Team (Picture 4), offering newcomers an easy way to learn about Lean concepts. The involvement of all VSM team members in the simulation allowed everyone to interact, to get to know each other, and to experience the power of Lean in a lively and playful way. Picture 5 shows the resulting current state VSM (e.g., the situation as it is at the present time) of the VTLeanTeam’s simulation game.

A value stream map shows the three critical areas of manufacturing, e.g., information flow, the process and material flows, and the timeline at the bottom of the map showing processing and lead times. The VSM team members mapped the current state of the simulation to better understand the processes involved and the problems existing (Picture 5). Then, the VSM team members (the experts of the process, e.g., employee involvement) worked out a future state using lean principles combined with their own knowledge and creativity. The improvements made by the participants resulted in a balancing and leveling of process steps, which resulted in shorter lead times, less work-in-progress, and one piece flow. Improvements included a reduction of lead time by 84%, a reduction of WIP by 91%, and an increase in per-employee productivity of 50%.

By Tuesday morning, after the VSM team was split into two, the shoe tree and the hanger’s teams started gathering the necessary data to create a current state VSM of both RST’s products.

The shoe tree team, consisting of Wayne Baker, Steve Kidder, Dave Maxam, Penny McClay, and Shirley Willey of RST and Angela Zhou, Earl Kline, Laszlo Horvath, Shawn Crawford, and Mathias Schmitt of the VTLeanTeam, started off to discuss and better understand RST’s customer needs and demand. This was followed by a discussion about the product family, products that are made with almost the same process steps, and in-depth training session of how to gather the necessary data for Value Stream Mapping. With the knowledge acquired, and equipped with pencil and paper, the shoe tree team walked the shop floor (go and see) to map the current state value stream. The VSM walk included the gathering of necessary figures like cycle time, lead time, changeover time, inventory in between process steps, and other relevant information. The shoe tree team finished their current state shoe tree value stream map by Wednesday (day 3 of the event) and also highlighted problems associated with process steps on the VSM. Examples of such problems include, for example, high scrap rates, insufficient machine reliabilities, or lack of communication. Picture 6 shows members of the VTLeanTeam working on assignments for the shoe tree value stream maps.

On Thursday morning then, the shoe tree team conducted a short training session about Lean methods and how to get from push to pull. This training session included discussions about supermarkets, Kanban, Heijunka boxes, two-bin systems, replenishment cycles, leveling and balancing of process steps, and many other helpful tools for improving the current state. With this knowledge, the team went on to draw the future state value stream map from supplier, to kiln drying, rough cutting to final assembly and shipping. New processes were mapped and new ideas incorporated. With the future state value stream map in place, the team also created an implementation plan of what needs to be done in which sequence to transform RST’s shoe tree production line to the future state.

The hanger team, consisting of Patricia Hyde, Lou LaCourse, Kelly Latuch and Dennis Matusewitz of RST and Adrienn Andersch, Akiko Nakata, Ana Serrano, Urs Buehlmann, and Michael Sperber of the VTLeanTeam, basically followed the same procedure as described for the shoe tree team to develop a current state and a future state value stream map including an implementation plan. However, when comparing the shoe tree and hanger production processes, little commonalities were found after drying of the lumber, justifying the idea of working in two separate, independent teams. Also, since the demand of hangers is increasing, focus was given on balancing and leveling the workload to meet customer demand in the future. Picture 7 and 8 show the hanger team members on the shop floor discussing the processes and taking time to better understand implications of suggested changes.

By Friday, both teams had created future state value stream maps with estimated reductions in lead time by more than 67 percent while reducing inventory by 73 percent. Additionally, both teams had created a list of action items to facilitate RST’s implementation of the future state. Steve Kidder, Assistant Plant Manager in charge of Lean, expressed his gratitude to the team and stated that “… the contributions of the VTLeanTeam were absolutely critical for RST to have created executable VSMs including action items in one week’s time.” A notion that was seconded by plant manager Lou LaCourse by stating that “… It was great fun and we took a giant step forward in our thinking.” Deb French, President of RST, underscored the importance of RST to continuously improve, especially in light of relentless pressure from imported products in the market place. “The VTLeanTeam has enabled RST to improve its market position by supporting the company’s improvement efforts and by motivating all team members involved.” She indicated that RST would remain focused on pursuing Lean and will be glad to continue the company’s collaboration with the VTLeanTeam..

Special thanks is extended to the Regional Wood Products Consortium, represented by Collin Miller, for initially connecting RST to the VTLeanTeam through their Specialized Innovation Workshop series on Lean Manufacturing for Small to Medium Sized Wood Products Companies and to Sustainable Forest Futures for providing partial funding to support the team’s visit to the company.