| The Company
Climate Control, Inc. (CCI), a subsidiary of Comfort Systems USA
and the nation's second largest mechanical contractor, is the premier
full service HVAC provider to the commercial and industrial construction
markets within a ninety mile radius of South Boston, Virginia. CCI
was founded in 1970 and has approximately 200 employees.
The Situation
Although sales for HVAC system installations were strong, productivity
in the sheet metal shop declined significantly in 2006. CCI President
J.R. Griffin met with Jim Simons of GENEDGE ALLIANCE in January
2007 to discuss opportunities for improvement in the sheet metal
shop.
The company wanted to ascertain the potential capacity for the
20,000 square foot manufacturing facility, as well as improve material
flow and establish productivity standards in the shop. CCI requested
new plant layouts to address the material flow in the existing sheet
metal shop.
The Response
An in-depth tour of the sheet metal shop was conducted by GENEDGE
ALLIANCE Project Manager Charles Barker. Working in conjunction
with CCI senior management and shop personnel, GENEDGE ALLIANCE
then developed a systematic approach to achieve the following objectives:
- Accurately assess the overall efficiency of CCI's sheet metal
shop in terms of material flow.
- Estimate the true potential manufacturing capacity of the sheet
metal shop in its present configuration.
- Develop an improved plant layout of the existing sheet metal
shop that would take into consideration the best practices of
Lean Manufacturing.
- Establish productivity standards for the sheet metal shop.
- Review current procedures for the disposal of scrap metal and
develop recommendations for improvement to these procedures for
future cost savings.
GENEDGE ALLIANCE then conducted a forty-hour time study analyzing
eight (8) positions and capturing data relative to the manufacturing
process. GENEDGE ALLIANCE secured additional data during its assessment
in order to estimate the actual manufacturing capacity of the shop
in its current state, and to determine the projected capacity of
the plant provided the recommended improvements for material flow
and overall plant efficiency were fully implemented. GENEDGE ALLIANCE,
in collaboration with the School of Engineering at Virginia Tech,
then developed a series of plant layout drawings to illustrate the
present layout of the sheet metal shop and a proposed future-state
layout of the existing facility.
The Results
The knowledge gained through the collection and analysis of data
by GENEDGE ALLIANCE was summarized in a final report to management.
Recommendations adopted by CCI to-date have had a profound effect
on the sheet metal shop, to include the following results and estimates:
- Labor analysis identified opportunities to significantly increase
annual sales of approximately $5 million dollars while using existing
staff.
- Seven (7) fabrication positions were retained and received training
to increase their productivity in the machine shop for an impact
of $285,000.
- Capital spending was reduced in 2007 once the true capacity
of existing equipment was identified.
- The proposed future state layout created for the existing facility
is currently under consideration by CCI management.
Management's Comments
"We have been very pleased with the results of the GENEDGE
ALLIANCE study thus far. We have already made some changes to the
manufacturing floor layout that were suggested and are making plans
for additional changes later this year. We have invested in some
new equipment this year to further improve our productivity and
have additional equipment on order to replace some aging equipment
that has reached the end of its life cycle."
"We enjoyed working with the GENEDGE ALLIANCE team and found
them very responsive to our needs and additional requests that were
made as we moved thru this project."
"We feel that the modifications that are being made to our
sheet metal operation are positioning us to be very competitive
well into the future as we continue to grow our business."
- J. R. Griffin, CCI President
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