Saegertown and MFCS Curtis Teamwork

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Saegertown and MFCS Curtis Teamwork

Steal shamelessly is a motto that most would be embarrassed to live by, but this does not hold true in terms of MacLean-Fogg overall corporate Lean initiatives. During the annual Operational Transformation summit, all OT members were encouraged to steal and implement any and all the fantastic ideas that have been developed at sister plants and bring them back to their home facilities. There is no better way of doing this than involving resources from other MacLean-Fogg divisions in kaizen events at the plants. This helps bolster working relationships and strengthens the overall event outcome.

The internal Lean Professional program allows all participants the chance to build working relationships with team members throughout the MacLean-Fogg family. Working with a fellow employee from the MFCS Cornelius plant provided a Saegertown employee with a great Lean resource to bounce off different ideas.

In October 2015, Saegertown held their first SMED event on Cold Former 105. The team was looking for an outside set of eyes to come and contribute to the event. They reached out to MFCS Cornelius and asked if they could help. MFCS Cornelius sent a knowledgeable employee to the event for the week. He was a great addition to the Saegertown team. They greatly appreciated all of the input and knowledge he brought to the table. The MFCS Cornelius contributor helped strengthen the Saegertown team with his computer skills and additionally learned a great deal about how parts are produced at Saegertown.

A Saegertown OT Manager was able to participate in a Multispindle plant layout event at the Cornelius plant. Having outgrown their current facility, the Cornelius plant is in the process of building a new plant. The focus of the event was to lay out what the Multispindle department should look like in the new plant. Two MFCS Cornelius employees did a great job creating an extremely knowledgeable team to drive the event. Saegertown worked with operators, engineers, set-up techs, and engineering techs to develop a lean layout. Through cardboard engineering and simulation, the group was able to come up with 50-75% potential reductions in motion. The changes will free up the operators, allowing more time to focus on the actual machining process.

Collaboration and teamwork help strengthen capabilities and ensure that lessons are learned and shared and work across MacLean-Fogg facilities.  When one facility reaches out to other facilities, each is able to avert the normal mistakes that occur during a transformation.

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