P-K Tool & Manufacturing is a Chicago manufacturer located on the Westside of the city with additional plants located in Kentucky, New Mexico, and Juarez, Mexico to provide flexible and timely response to their customers. They were founded in 1944 by the Kaiser family with a continuous pattern of growth serving primarily the automotive and computer industries. All of their plants are ISO certified. P-K Tool & Manufacturing is proud of its record of quality and customer satisfaction. They combine experience with expertise to meet the customer’s metal-forming needs.
P-K Tool & Manufacturing provides a variety of services in precision metal stamping, metal-forming and assembly. They work with the customer from the initial concept through to the on-time shipment of their product. Their capabilities include presses from 28 to 600 tons, as well as slide-forming, plastisol and nylon dipping, prototypes, and short-run metal fabrication. Their equipment is continually updated to include the latest in die protection technology.
Dennis Kane is Chief Operating Officer at their Chicago plant. In conversations with Dylan Tuttle of the Jane Addams Resource Corporation, Dennis confided that the Chicago plant has suffered from space constraints. This has had a negative impact on the assembly and packing area in particular, reducing workflow and throughput. Various workarounds had been attempted with little progress due primarily to space constraints.
P-K Tool & Manufacturing has been a long time supporter of the Jane Addams Resource Corporation. Having used their training services in the past, Dennis was open to considering a new offering focused on management issues. In collaboration with Sean Palmer of SEEAP Consulting and the City of Chicago – Department of Housing and Economic Development, the Jane Addams Resource Corporation was able to deliver a two and a half day kaizen event to right size the work area, improve the flow of materials, and eliminate non-value added activities. When asked if he had any additional comments, Dennis said “very professional.”
A 5S and cell design event was designed in collaboration with the client. The initial sort exercise created line of sight and improved communication, enabling visual management and eliminating 45 to 60 minutes per day in material handling. The set-in-order exercise led to the consolidation of tooling from five to two racks and the elimination of a barrier to material flow. The cell redesign and layout exercise reconfigured the layout to promote efficient material flow and point of use (POU) and established pre-staging areas for work in progress (WIP) and packing materials. The measurable impact included additional floor space, reduced material handling, and reduced scrap totaling over $15,000 in projected annual savings.
These numbers may not seem that spectacular, but as Dennis indicated these are actions that would not have been taken otherwise. Combine this with a teambuilding exercise that helps everyone understand their contribution to the success of the organization and a focus on practical exercises that meet class objectives and the intangible benefits begin to add up. When asked if they had any additional projects that they might be interested in including in the next round of Multiple Company TIFWorks, Dennis stated that they would be interested in another 5S kaizen event to optimize work flow at their satellite facility also in Chicago.
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