Page 34 - MetalForming June 2017

A Three-Pronged Approach to Greatness
This Canadian stamper defines its journey to excellence in productivity via three defined activities: error proofing, skills training, and mastery of its enterprise- resource-planning software.
BY GEORGE KEREMEDJIEV
Henry Ford said, “Coming together is a beginning; keep- ing together is progress; work- ing together is success. Vision without execution is just hallucination.”
I often am asked by readers of my columns and articles to describe recent examples of modern, successful met- alforming companies with which to benchmark against. After having con- sulted with hundreds of companies over the past 30-plus years, I can most definitively hold up metalformer Larsen & Shaw Limited, Walkerton, Ontario, Canada, as among the finest practitioners of the three critical busi- ness components that, in my opinion, define such success:
• Use of an electronic sensor-based error-proofing program;
• An internal shop-floor skills-train- ing academy; and
• Mastery of an effective ERP pro- gram.
A family-owned business since 1919, Larsen & Shaw employs some
George Keremedjiev is president of Tec- know Education Services, Inc., Boze- man, MT; 406/587-4751, www.mfgad- vice.com.
100 people in its
Walkerton facility;
it also operates a
newly opened
plant in Rome, GA.
Its metalforming
and assembly spe-
cialties include production of custom, standard-continuous and architectural hinges, as well as other varieties of stamped metal products, including hardware.
On the Subject
of In-Die Sensing
“’We’ve come a long way,’ are the words I would use to describe our progress on the subject of in-die sens- ing, inhouse technical training and ERP utilization,” says Mary Jane Bushell, president and CEO of Larsen & Shaw, in describing the company’s journey to productivity excellence. Having had the pleasure of watching her company successfully navigate the path to manufacturing excellence, I can truthfully attest to this. For, just a few years ago, die crashes, part-quality issues, lack of skills training and mas- sive paperwork bottlenecks were the norm at the company. Today, all of that
32 MetalForming/June 2017
www.metalformingmagazine.com
Mentoring is part of the hands-on training that operators under- go at Larsen & Shaw.
is a distant memory for Bushell and her team.
The company’s first step toward worldclass manufacturing: implemen- tation of a full-time sensor-applications expert position, with a full error-proof- ing sensor laboratory for research and development. The goal was to develop digital (die protection) and analog (in- die part-quality measurement) sensor applications. Many of the company’s hinge-stamping dies incorporate com- plex tooling stages in order to achieve tight-tolerance part geometries.
Describing the sensor program, Bushell says, “We launched our formal die-sensor program in 2011, and since then die sensing has become a way of life. It prevents downtime associated with misfeeds, as the press stops auto- matically or the tooling adjusts on the fly thanks to use of small servo motors. This has eliminated the concern of potential machine/tool damage or