The Company
Located in Mount Sidney, VA, Tyco Electronics is a branch plant with headquarters in Harrisburg, PA. Tyco is made up of many operating entities and product brands. This branch is the largest operating group within Tyco International Limited employing more than 78,000 people. The Mount Sidney location manufactures tooling for use by Tyco organizations worldwide.

The Situation
Tyco Electronics has an extremely complex information flow system for their "singulation line." The current process includes: applications engineering, quote, die design, manufacture, custom assembly and test. This process flow requires two weeks in engineering and three weeks in fabrication. The quote process alone is three days. Current resources cannot accommodate the required lead times.

The Response
GENEDGE ALLIANCE in partnership with the Shenandoah Valley Workforce

Investment Board recommended that a Value Stream Mapping project be implemented to establish a plan to eliminate waste, or reduce the "non-value added" work elements. This project would map the "singulation line" process to determine areas of improvement for future implementation.

The Results
The project uncovered many areas needing improvement, and generated several ideas to incorporate "value added" processes. For example, it was discovered that over 100 hours of process waste could be eliminated. As a result, the plant capacity has increased.

The application of new operational methods have benefited Tyco Electronics by:
• expanding business to meet customer demand,
• reducing the lead-time by two weeks to build customer satisfaction,
• reducing inventory,
• and improving the "in stock" condition.


Management’s Comment
Gregg Strangways, Manufacturing Engineering Manager says, “GENEDGE ALLIANCE's Value Stream Mapping Project created an atmosphere where we can implement positive changes and everyone has buy-in. Outcomes of defined roadmaps and specific goals gives everyone a course towards permanent improvement.” Natasha Naderi, Learning and Organizational Development says, "Value Stream Mapping is powerful because it puts a team of diverse minds and perspectives on the same page... 'this is what we are now and here is our vision of what we want to become.' Having clarity of vision and a defined path to get there, sets the foundation for improvement."

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