Kaizen At Fleetwood
- Topics:
- Growth
- Tags:
- Fleetwood RV,
- Global Production System,
- It Operations,
- Lean Manufacturing,
- Plant,
- QCI International,
- Tqm/Six Sigma/ISO 9000
- Source:
- QCI International
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Overview: This article highlights a case of RV manufacturer who reinvigorated its process with less-in-more approach. Fleetwood RV's plant was having growing pains. Despite a slow start--the oil embargo kept the plant from opening until 1984, five years after it was built--by 1997 its annual gross sales had reached $110 million a year. To grow, the plant needed more room and higher production numbers, but it needed to attain them without the expense of added labor or new construction. It ultimately adopted TBM's Global Production System (GPS), essentially a tailored amalgam of the Toyota Production System and lean manufacturing principles driven by kaizen methodology. A GPS's primary purpose is to help the company produce more with less while adding value constantly. As a result, so far, 19 of plant 77's departments have been "kaizened," resulting in a 65-percent overall reduction in work-in-progress and a 22-percent overall reduction in cycle times. The market would certainly allow Fleetwood room to grow--the plant currently has a 1,300-unit backlog.
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Format: HTML | Date: Jan 2003 | Pages: 1
