Process Improvement: Implementation Featuring Gortrac - Essay Example

YOUR Process Improvement: Implementation Featuring Gortrac Gortrac, a manufacturer of specialized door parts, recently implemented a major process improvement technique called Lean Manufacturing. As noted below, this decision was rewarded with remarkable results in terms of employee involvement, space utilization and process efficiency.In the course of increasing its production output and reducing costs, Gortrac improved its employee involvement. By using a daily production meeting to discuss manufacturing output and emphasize its stated goals of growth, cost control and production output, management kept the company's goals in the forefront of employee thinking while giving them a sense of personal ownership of the result.

The manufacturing space efficiency was dramatically enhanced by adjusting rack placement, organizing a bin storage system, improving part labeling, and the use of project construction tables. The manufacturing process itself was improved through the use of inventory reduction, the creation of a process map and a custom packaging scheme.The three most immediately effective changes were the rack placement, part organization and process map implementations. The combination of these changes resulted in a greatly enhanced production facility that saved floor space and reduced personnel costs dramatically.

By changing the rack structure, the company condensed its storage space and allowed easier access to parts. When the parts were reorganized into readily-identifiable bins, the employees were able to increase the ease and efficiency of part procurement. Finally, the use of a process map allowed the managers to construct the production process flow in such a way that the actual time required to build the products was reduced by 50%. The combination of these elements created a process that directly correlated to the stated goals.

The company had time and room to grow, adding a new product line without construction of additional facilities. Manufacturing costs were dramatically reduced as production output increased, surely resulting in significantly higher profitability.Additional process improvements within the scope of current operations would be difficult to conceive. Possibly, with the cumulative effect of these added efficiencies positively impacting the bottom line, the company could afford to allocate resources to research and development of more new product lines as well as the construction of additional facilities.

By employing the same Lean Manufacturing concepts, Gortrac would dramatically increase its manufacturing output and market share.Gortrac is a case study in effective implementation of process improvement. Its streamlined manufacturing system allowed it to improve employee morale and add a new product line. while increasing manufacturing output, and reducing costs. Works CitedPutt, Jay. "Process Improvement: Implementation Featuring Gortrac." No Date. DVD Video. SUNY Learning Network. 23 February 2006. .