On August 12, 2003, Jerry Bussell addressed WorkSource’s High Skill, High Wage committee. Jerry’s topic was “Lean Thinking for Organizations." Jerry Bussell is VP of Global Operations at Medtronic Xomed and a proven Lean change agent. Jerry was recently awarded the prestigious Medtronic Wallin Leadership Award for transforming the Xomed traditional manufacturing operation into a nationally recognized model of Lean manufacturing.
His company, the Medtronic Xomed facility in Jacksonville, was named as one of Industry Week's "2002 Best Plants." The competition recognizes quality performance, on-time delivery, productivity improvements and profitability, as well as management tools and strategies that will fuel future results.
The company has also been awarded the prestigious Shingo award, dubbed the “Nobel Prize of Manufacturing” by Business Week. The Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing focuses on lean manufacturing that was first implemented in the Toyota Production System.
Jerry explained some of the principles of lean manufacturing to the audience of board and community members. Lean Manufacturing is an operational strategy oriented toward achieving the shortest possible cycle time by eliminating waste. The benefits generally are lower costs, higher quality, and shorter lead times. The term "lean manufacturing" is coined to represent half the human effort in the company, half the manufacturing space, half the investment in tools, and half the engineering hours to develop a new product in half the time.
The characteristics of lean processes are:
• Making product just when the customer orders it; carrying as close to zero inventory as possible
• Just-In-Time materials/pull scheduling
• Highly flexible and responsive processes, machines and equipment
• Continuous flow work cells
• Compressed space
• Multi-skilled and empowered employees
Lean companies eliminate waste by mapping processes and keeping workplaces immaculate, which helps boost productivity and efficiency.
The results of lean thinking have produced some amazing results for Medtronic Xomed’s Jacksonville plant. In three years, the team has:
• Reduced scrap by 85%.
• Reduced rework by 57%.
• Doubled net inventory turns
• Reduced manufacturing cycle time by 97%.
• Improved labor cost per unit by 47%.
• Reduced overall distribution cost by 42%.
• Reduced order to shipment lead-time by 54%.
• Recorded zero lost-time injuries for more than 750 days.
Bruce Ferguson, interim CEO for WorkSource, is interested in how workforce development organizations can promote lean concepts in the business community. "Becoming a lean enterprise increases worker productivity and increases a company's opportunity to expand," stated Ferguson. "Workers skilled in 'lean' help the company grow and create more jobs, and that's our mission, as well. We plan to explore the issue further."
