INSIGHT
Nord-Lock among finalists for Swedish LEAN award 2012
themselves, the suppliers, the owner and the external LEAN coaches. These kinds of results are usually seen in companies after working with LEAN for ten years or more, says LEAN coach Anna Godevärn from Produktionslyftet, who has guided Nord-Lock throughout the journey. The efforts have also gained national recognition, with Nord-Lock among the five finalists for the Swedish LEAN award 2012. “As a LEAN professional, you can identify the most alarming wastes of resources almost from day one,” says Erik Jonsson, LEAN manager at Nord-Lock and one of the keynote speakers at the LEAN seminars of M.A.X, Manufacturing & Automation Expo in Stockholm. “However, it is not until you hear your co-workers - in the production lines, the technical department and management - talking about waste and improvements that you know you have succeeded. In order to make LEAN work, everyone needs to be committed.” “In one year the 110 employees of the Mattmar based factory have come up with an impressive 900 suggestions for improvement in their own work. So far, the company has carried out about 550 of
T
he immediate and very impressive results - on all 32 key KPIs - have taken everyone involved in the process by surprise; Nord-Lock
these. As an employee it is truly rewarding to experience that you have such a great deal of influence on your work processes,” says Jonas Panther, operator of the factory gluing line, and coordinator of his team’s improvement work. “Nord-Lock has not worked with individual rewards for best improvement work, but rather seen every department reading their specific goal as an occasion for the whole factory to celebrate. In this way, Nord- Lock has managed to create a really good team spirit around the transformation process. So far, the LEAN transformation has included half a year of one full day’s training every week, for 25% of the personnel, on top of the cost for a full time LEAN manager and coordinator. But all figures indicate that the investment will be paying off for a long time to come,” says operations manager Anders Jönsson. “Smooth supplier relationships is key
to a successful LEAN transformation, it was decided to go through the process as a close cooperation with special steel supplier Duroc, one of the most important partners to Nord-Lock. In the beginning of 2011, we had more warehousing space than production space,” says Leif Petersen, team leader for the tooling department. Purchase manager Victor Stjernefeldt agrees: “Now we have worked out a solution with flexible deliveries, and
6.M50
LEAN goes far beyond being a management tool or system. This was what Nord-Lock realised in 2011, after a few years of smaller projects aimed at making production more efficient. The company decided to go all in - a LEAN manager was hired, and assigned the mission of creating a corporate culture where personal responsibility and constant improvements are incorporated into everybody’s “business as usual”.
smaller batches, which has simplified our supply logistics significantly, and given us more space for expanding our production. When talking to our suppliers we keep LEAN on top of our minds, with the aim to set up similar, flexible solutions with all key suppliers.” At the site itself, Nord-Lock has moved
around machinery, to shorten throughput time and also make the production flow more transparent. “Where we used to have 10,000 tractor kilometres annually only moving washers between the different steps in the coating process, we are now working with a well-planned and rational route,” says Production Manager Daniel Eriksson. “For the customer, the results of the new LEAN culture primarily show in the significantly improved lead times.” Although Nord-Lock has already
exceeded everyone’s expectations in the very first year of the LEAN process, Jönsson still sees heaps of work to be done. “In three years from now, we will have a truly transparent flow throughout the whole production system, as well as the administration. Also, we will have deepened our supply chain relationships with both suppliers and customers, in order to extend the LEAN process as far as possible.”
www.x-series.com
Nord-Lock speakers at the LEAN seminar in Stockholm
For Nord-Lock it’s about quality in every step
98 Fastener + Fixing Magazine • Issue 79 January 2013
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