Page 44 - MetalForming May 2012

Workforce Development\GR Spring & Stamping
MetalForming/May 2012 www.metalformingmagazine.com
every six weeks promote the pro- gram and review department per- formance against continuous- improvement goals. The meetings also showcase examples of recently implemented improvements to help generate more ideas.
In FY2011, GRS&S implemented and documented 7068 individual improvements related to its key per- formance indicators, resulting in a cost savings or avoidance of more than $800,000. Placing that in con- text, the U.S. manufacturing-com- pany average is less than two imple- mented ideas per person annually, while in Japan, proactive companies may receive 75 implemented ideas per person per year, according to GRS&S management. More than 90 percent of GRS&S employees have forwarded improvement ideas which, according to Dulyea, do not have to be earth-shattering to make an impact.
“When I first started here 19 years ago, I worked in the shipping depart- ment,” says Dulyea, recalling his first experience with the company’s con- tinuous-improvement program. He now runs some of the company’s World Class Idea meetings. “My job at the end of the day was to go around the plant and empty trash cans.
Instead of emptying all the cans, then going back to the cabinet to get trash bags and travel around the plant again to place new bags back in the cans, I just placed a handful of bags in each trash can so I would only have to go around once. I did that, frankly, because going around twice annoyed me. I told my boss, ‘I hope you don’t mind, but I put extra bags in the cans so I don’t have to waste 10 minutes going around the plant twice.’ He said, ‘That is a world-class idea.’ I had no idea what that meant. But those are the types of improve- ments that, over time, really make this place run efficiently. That is the whole point of the program: getting people to think about improving their process.”
“We’re averaging more than 25 implemented ideas per associate for the each of the last 10 years, adds Zawacki. “This positive culture and our workforce-development pro- grams have attracted a customer base that many would envy, and has allowed us to develop a strong, nationally recognized safety program, eliminate time clocks and maintain high quality standards.”
For example, Dulyea explains, the pressroom mini-company as an
Training manager Rose Jonaitis: “ We bring in a lot of employees without experience in their field, so we can teach them with a fresh start. They are not bringing any bad habits from a prior press manufacturing job.”
annual goal of 28 fully implemented improvements per person.
“We track these and review progress at both our quarterly bankers meetings and at our com- pany-wide WCI meetings, held every six weeks,” he says.
The number of suggestions approved ties to a dollar amount given out at an annual company hol- iday party. Buy-in on programs such as World Class Idea is a big reason why GRS&S has remained profitable while averaging 1 to 2-percent cost downs annually (value-added only) on existing sales.
GRS&S fosters goodwill among associates in other ways, too. Weekly department meetings pass along management information, review department performance, promote problem solving and allow feedback from associates. This kind of com- munication lets associates know that they have a voice in company mat- ters. In addition, quarterly business reviews share profit/loss statements, information on new business con- tracts, safety performance and a gen- eral ‘state of the company.’
“Communication is critical to building trust,” says Dulyea, “so asso- ciates are always provided with com- pany information. Very little is sacred here.” MF
Quality Training Brings Quality Career
Jennifer Robinson, management representative-supplier quality, started at GRS&S in 1999 in the shipping department.
“From the beginning, I wanted to learn everything I could,” she says.
That willingness to learn propelled her to a shipping lead position. Interested in
a posted quality position, Robinson was recommended for the job by her boss. The transfer to quality led her, through the company’s tuition-reimbursement program, to college courses where she is working toward a degree in quality engineering.
Responsible for more than 100 GRS&S suppliers, and also an ISO and TS representative, Robinson’s compensa- tion has gone from hourly to salaried, which doubled her pay.
“If you have the desire and drive, there is always room to grow here,” she
says. “There is openness here. You see the president and chairman of the compa- ny on the shop floor, which never happened at my former employer. And we have meetings where management explains where every dollar goes.
“And, there are no time clocks...are you kidding me?” Robinson exclaims. “That is a level of trust on behalf of the company that I want to keep.”