consultingwoodworker.com Blog

Time, in this posting, to begin closing the loop I began with the “What is Lean” posting. Over the next several postings, I intend to help you sort through Lean Manufacturing Techniques, and how they can apply to your business.
Lean Manufacturing seems on the surface like another business fad that gets lots of press and bluster, but realistically does nothing useful. (Can you say, “ISO 9000”?) But if you can cut through the jargon and dig out the good ideas, getting Lean can help you substantially.
I will NOT be trying to teach you terms like Kanban, and Six Sigma. The last thing you need is to try and learn a new language. I WILL try and help you find the gems contained within the jargon and use them to improve your business.
One last point before I begin: I’m very sure that there will be some folks who will condem the idea that you can take only what you want from Lean Manufacturing. Those deeply involved in the process are used to working with larger manufacturers making lots of very similar items. As a custom cabinet shop, each cabinet is an individual unit, and no two cabinets, let alone two kitchens are quite the same. You simply cannot impose a rigid control system on top of such a flexible manufacturing model. So we will go on, and decide what we want to take, and what we want to leave behind.
The first task in Lean Manufacturing is to realistically clean up each work area, sort through the tools and equipment used at that station, and organize the area and storage. Think for a few minutes how much time is lost each day trying to find tools, hardware, and parts. Work stations need to be clean and organized, and basic, regularly used tools must be close at hand to keep production moving along.
You need to extend this organization to the machines too. Each machine area is a workstation too. Any tools, lubricants or whatever needed to adjust, maintain or otherwise use the equipment must be close at hand. Take a look at your edgebander. Are the tools needed to tune and adjust it nearby? Do you have rolls of tape stacked and unraveling all over getting dirty and damaged? Are there convenient racks to hold the solid wood strips and the different glues? We have already discussed how much proper maintenance and tuning can improve your business. The tools necessary to quickly and efficiently keep the machine tuned and maintained must be close at hand and organized or operators will tend to skip or shortchange the schedule.
All this cleaning and organizing can be a VERY daunting challenge when you look out over the entire shop floor, but it really must be done. Start with one station at a time, and work your way through the shop place by place. Work with an incentive plan to keep the plan going. Each week, you can reward the crew from the cleanest station, or most improved or whatever. A public presentation of $10.00 per person, or a gift card or whatever, can reinforce the lessons. And as workers find how nice it is to work in a clean environment, with well tuned equipment, they should keep up the stations voluntarily, as well as pressure the slobs (like me!) to do their part.
In closing, I will ask a favor of you, my readers. I know how many folks are reading this on any given day, but I do not know if my readers are totally random, or if some are coming back to see where this blog is going next. Please feel free to comment on these postings, good or bad. Let me know if you are using the RSS feed, and I would be very grateful if you would drop me a quick line and let me know that you have come by and what you think. I promise not to use your e-mail address in any way unless you want me to let you know when new postings are made. I can be reached at: rbagnall@consultingwoodworker.com

For the last few weeks I have been discussing how the traditional cutbacks might actually hurt your business during this downturn. The next few weeks will cover the things you can do.
You can begin with a review of your Capital Equipment Plan. If your business does not have one, it should. This is the map you create of what major equipment you plan to purchase, and when you plan to purchase it. You need this plan to help balance growth and efficiency with your current work, your cash flow and debt load. It can be, and needs to be, a VERY flexible document. Obviously, as the economy has slowed fairly quickly in many regions, big purchases may need to be rescheduled. In other cases, a new job may justify the addition of equipment that was not even part of your plan. Think of your Capital Plan as a roadmap. It can show you the routes, but detours are often nessesary.
Now is a good time to review your Plan (or begin one) and make some choices. Go over the whole operation. There may be several areas when you can put off buying new equipment and still improve your efficiency.
Upgrading Existing Equipment: Many larger units are modular in nature, and upgrades are a possibility. An edgebander may be able to take on a new station. A drillbank or C-drive may be added to your existing CNC.
Tooling Improvements: This is an area that is most overlooked. Tooling manufacturers are constantly innovating, and improving their offerings. Often, new tooling added to your existing equipment can solve existing problems or even add new capabilities. For example, insert tooling can now be used on your CNC that allows for changing profile cuts without needing to change tools or even reset tool lengths. This can delay the need for a bigger tool changer and make changing jobs more efficient.
Fixturing: Creative fixturing can widely expand your capabilities at very minimal cost. Dedicated router tables can be shop built to perform common light duty tasks at far less than the price of a new shaper, and when on wheels can be stored out of the way when not in use. The purchase of a new angled head shaper can be put off until better times by building a slant table that adapts your existing shaper. I have built jigs that allow for circular moldings on a normal shaper, and on Woodmaster Molders.
Lastly, outsourcing can help put off new equipment purchases. You can typically buy out many of the items you need, and these times are an excellent time to begin reciprocal relationships with other shops that can increase the capabilities and profits of both shops.
So take the time to review your Capital Equipment Plan, and see if there are areas you can modify the plan to reflect your current state. The results can be surprising.

As the economy tightens, and businesses look to cut costs, maintenance is often one of the early casualties. As with layoffs, I am convinced that this is a huge mistake. Maintenance for most of us is one of those nagging things like dental appointments. We know we should be doing it, but always seem too busy to properly keep up with it.
The truth of the matter is that maintenance is a really good return on investment. A small amount of scheduled time, and your production keeps running. A few tools and a bit of lubrication and you avoid replacing expensive parts. A few hours of scheduled downtime a year, and you can prevent thousands of dollars in service calls.
The damage caused by unscheduled repairs goes way beyond the cost of parts and technicians. It can be very difficult to truly calculate what is lost when your production is interrupted by breakdowns. There are the clearly visible costs discussed above, but the damage goes deeper. At best, you’ll need to pay out overtime to catch up to the schedule. At worst, you miss deadlines, and possibly lose customers. Lost customers are a blow at any time, but during a slow economy, it is a business killer.
Knowing that a proper maintenance protocol can save money, it is not hard to see how it can be a source of increased profit. While reviewing a client’s operation, I noted that 4 people were tasked to cleaning up edgebanded parts. I spent a few hours with their edgebander operators, showing them how to measure the stock and set the glue line properly, lube and adjust the trimmers, and keep the cutting tools clean. Without having to upgrade their old bander, one person is now tasked to checking and cleaning the parts as they come off the bander, opening up three others for assembling the cabinets.
Good maintenance also pays dividends in quality. A table saw that is clean and aligned accurately cuts cleanly, leaving crisp edges and fewer tool marks. And tools that work properly are safer for your workers, reducing lost time accidents, OSHA fines and lawsuits.
So how do you begin squeezing the advantages from maintenance? Every tool in your shop has, in it’s manual, a maintenance schedule. Compile that data for all your equipment. There will typically be daily, monthly, quarterly, and yearly intervals. Sorting through this information, you should be able to set up a schedule.
Maintenance needs to become part of your company’s culture, and that can only come down from the top. Workers need to know that you expect them to do their maintenance chores and do them right. That any time they find problems like loose bolts, they must take the time to get the proper tool and fix it, or find the person who can. Ultimately, they need to know that their job is not at risk for taking proper care of their machines, but at risk if they don’t.
So begin gathering your data, create a schedule, and devote specified time to keeping your equipment running safely, accurately and predictably. You will find that although counter-intuitive, you will likely realize savings rather than expenses.

Please feel free to comment here or by email. I’m presenting these ideas in the hopes of spurring discussion.
Email: rbagnall@consultingwoodworker.com
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ralphbagnall