A call for more space in the Service Parts Building resulted in an Annual Cost Savings of $111,000.00 for Väderstad
Vaderstad
Founded in 1962, Väderstad is a Swedish family-owned company. The main part of their manufacturing takes place in the small town of Väderstad, Sweden, but they have a presence on all continents. Their passion, knowledge and goal to develop modern agriculture is their success, “We are where farming starts”.
Their products/specialty include tillage, seeding, planting and high strength parts.
Väderstad entered the US market with the 2021 acquisition of Väderstad Inc., in Wahpeton, ND. In May 2021, Väderstad bought 100% of AGCO-Amity JV LLC (AAJV), a company that manufactured, designed, and supported the Will-Rich, Wishek, and Concord product brands with 270 dealers worldwide, most of them in the US. With its manufacturing plant in Wahpeton, ND, AAJV was fully integrated into Väderstad’s growing global group of companies under the company name Vaderstad Inc.
Vaderstad was in need of Lean Thinking and Training within their newly acquired business in Wahpeton, ND.
Impact Dakota provided a no-cost Lean and Business Excellence Assessment to provide Vaderstad with a Lean Implementation Road map and areas to implement improvements.
Vaderstad engaged in training 24 employees in a 1 day Lean 101 and 2 employees in a 6 day Lean Enterprise High Performance Manufacturing training courses. These trained employees held several kaizens around the factory to date, including a Crate Cost Reduction and Final Assembly Area Flow events.
The Final Assembly Area Flow event's purpose was to train the Team and establish a 5S+ program in the Work Area. It was for two days, six hours per day, with cross-functional setup of Purchase, P&D, ME, Quality Tech, Operator, Team Lead, and Supervisor. For gemba walk, small groups formed and audited the Final Assembly area. The groups collected observations on problems, issues and opportunities (PIO) for improvement. The PIOs were prioritized, and focused on, for the 5S+ event. The Team did a great job in engaging and executing 5S+. The first day started with a refresher on Lean Principles; 5S+, Value Added and Non-Value-Added work, Visualization and Efficiency Flow Principles. The set up of Kaizen Event Scope with Objectives, Principles, and Rules was held. To align the group, we discussed the goal to keep an open mind, maintain a positive attitude, and to produce as many ideas as possible. For this event, after the Gemba walk, the Team produced over 60 PIO's! (Problems, Issues, and Opportunities). That means that every member produced over 6 issues per person. That is double the PIOs for traditional Events, it is incredibly positive and encouraging. During the event, the team focused on the first 3S; Sort out unused parts, Set in order & Shine. The team worked hard, got dirty, and had lots of open-minded discussions.
The Crate Cost Reduction Event helped to reduce production material in Service parts area. A cross functional team was set up, to brainstorm ideas based on waste reductions concept "DOWNTIME" and 5S+ setup. A two-day LEAN workshop was held.
In the Final Assembly Event the first step it is important to follow the first 3S, we will keep it simple in the beginning and check of in a laminated 5S sheet. The operator will spend the last 15 min each day to clean and then check of the sheet per area.
To determined best practice of knowledge we created a draft of "Method Flow Chart". This will make a foundation to standardize the work for the Team. Also, Supervisor with Mechanical Engineering take notes and drafts to define a standard of Visual Layout in the area.
In the sorting process the team used the Red Tag Process to compile and register Parts found that do not belong in the Assembly Area. The team found Parts that need to be in other Departments or could be reused.
The Crate cost Savings event resulted in an Annual Cost Savings of US$111,000.00. This cost savings is achieved through the reduction of transportation by 90%, standardization of Safety and 5S+ program, developing Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), and implementation of Kanban system. The Team also developed improvements in the Crates (wooden boxes) by using LEAN and Cross-functional Teamwork.
“Impact Dakota has provided our team the tools and knowledge to successfully integrate lean ideas into our business! Some takeaways from the Team-members:
Great Teamwork, what we could achieve when everyone comes along and take time together, to see everyone with cooperation get feeling that we all are a Team, everyone was listening to each other, sorting is safety, fun and healthy, it is great to see the openness of changes and understanding, contribution by everyone, from start to the end of day, inspiring to see & talk about future state, management understanding and get approved to take time for Event.”
—Josefine Hedborg
Production Manager – VEF Visual Efficient Flow