Textile company reduces waste by controlling space
By Brenna McCabe, Valley Breeze Staff Writer
2/25/2010 - WOONSOCKET, RI - While other textile companies are boarding up their doors in light of the recession, Hyman, Brickle & Son Inc. is hiring more employees and re-creating space.
One year ago, the company, at 235 Singleton St., started implementing the Toyota Production System, or TPS, a process which comprises a management philosophy with manufacturing processes aimed to improve company efficiency.
Brickle's Chief Operating Officer Robert Dirienzo says the process calls for the rearranging of machinery and products to make a more effective use of space while only running manufacturing equipment when orders come through.
The founder of Toyota (the automaker) has been credited with the creation of TPS, originally called "Just In Time Production," that re-creates the usage of allocated space to increase efficiency. According to company president Max Brickle, TPS has been in existence for 40 or 50 years. It is also referred to as a "lean" process.
Dirienzo said he was starting to see the financial bottom line now that the company is almost at the 12-month period in the process.
"Four years ago, this space was filled with rolls (of material)," he said. "We eliminated 30 to 40 percent of the inventory requirement."
One of Brickle's biggest concerns was making sure the company wasn't "leaning" people out of a job. But Brickle said he has actually gained more business by running more efficiently, allowing the company to expand its employee base.
"We could reduce the waste by 25 percent, but no one was laid off or fired. We just decrease the amount of space," Brickle said.
"The process tells you to stop producing inventory, and you are literally not selling product," Dirienzo added. "If there's no order, we're not making it. Originally I thought, we're losing a fortune by not having that machine running. It's absorbed in the overhead costs and there are initial negative impacts. But then you start at ground zero."
The company has increased its staff from 13 to 15 percent this year, working through a temp agency to supply most of its staff. This does not include office staff or inventory management, Dirienzo said.
As part of the TPS process, the Brickle Group has transformed its three levels of manufacturing at its Woonsocket location into organized spaces with visual aids, tools ready at employees fingertips and specific marked floors.
"We use visual aids, and if you take a look at the boards we have, you can see what products are being produced at that time and what the yields are," Brickle said. "We don't want to waste time with people asking questions. We moved the fax next to (the secretary's) desk because she uses it the most. It's simple stuff like that."
The process is aimed at not only eliminating wastes of space and increasing production effectiveness, but also to boost the relationships between the employee and employers. Leaders on the floor are constantly asking for input from employees about what makes the process more efficient "because they're on the floor, so they know best," Brickle said.
Whoever engages in the production system must be "fully committed," Brickle added, or it won't show any results.
"We can't be only 20 percent successful," he said. "There needs to be a certain level of communication every minute of every day."
[VIBCO's] five [sic] years of lean conversion, according to www.leanri.org, [has achieved] specific goals, including:
* Cutting setup time on CNC equipment from 2.5 hours to 10 minutes;
* Improving on-time delivery rate to 99 percent, measured as same-day or next-day shipping;
* Improving overall equipment effectiveness from 20 percent to 52 percent;
* Increasing productivity in selected work cells as much as 300 percent;
* Reducing inventory by 40 percent (more than $2 million) in two years;
* Turning work-in-progress (WIP) inventory 88 times annually with many stock keeping units (SKUs) turning once per day.
Brickle said he modeled his process after that of Karl Wadensten, president of Wyoming-based VIBCO, who has been implementing the lean process for about five years. Now a part of the state Economic Development Corporation, Wadensten is pushing for a "lean" state.
"He has taken this to another level, and it's not a big secret," Brickle explained. "He gives plant tours and everything. He wants to help other businesses in the state spread economic development."
Wadensten's company was a test run in Brickle's eyes.
"Karl has gotten his company to deliver four to six days and is shooting for next-day delivery," Brickle said. "Their goal is to have an hour delivery after the order comes in. It sounds impossible, but everyone in his plant never thought they could deliver in one day either, so I don't know."
The VIBCO president aims to teach professionals how to implement sustainable programs through TPS structures and urges all groups and organizations to look at all aspects of their operations, down to the most minor details.
Streamlining the process has allowed Brickle's company to accept deals like it did last year - a $19 million, six-year contract to manufacture berets for the U.S. Department of Defense. It also produces the yarn bases for official Major League Baseballs.
Additionally, the company makes raw material for oil filters, which takes up 38 percent of production, and just started its first brand of knitting yarn called Wool Again, made from 100 percent post-consumer fiber. "It's become vogue to use recycled products now," Brickle said.
