MW News

Contact: Rosa Martinez, rosa@idpl.org, (773) 523-2516

07.01.2007 -

Nearly 70 area manufacturers over the last 18 months have benefited from a City of Chicago initiative designed to grow skilled job opportunities by introducing company leaders to the principles of Lean Manufacturing.

This initiative is ManufacturingWorks, a program of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley's Office of Workforce Development (MOWD). The overall goal of Manufacturing Works is help companies attract and retain employees who have the skills for today's technology- and knowledge-based manufacturing jobs.

ManufacturingWorks provides customized, job training and job recruitment services to Chicago-area manufacturing businesses.

"We're proud of this program," says MOWD Commissioner David Hanson. "By providing demand-driven programs we better serve the individual job seeker and employers. As we help businesses become more productive and provide incumbent worker skill training for them, those businesses grow and hire more people at higher hourly wage rates."

One way ManufacturingWorks accomplishes its goal of supporting high skill, high wage job creation is by linking workforce development to overall company performance. To that end, ManufacturingWorks, through the Chicago Manufacturing Center (CMC), helps businesses learn about and apply Lean principles to their operations. CMC conducts monthly Lean 101 workshops at Westside Technical Institute in Chicago. The workshop are offered free of charge through Manufacturing Works.

Alistair Stewart, CMC Senior Business Advisor, says the Lean 101 workshop "helps participants understand how Lean can have an immediate impact on their company's income statement and liquidity. The hands-on simulation shows managers and shop personnel how to shrink lead time, improve workflow, and reduce waste and cost. The workshop is the first step in realizing the benefits of implementing Lean Manufacturing."

One company taking advantage of this opportunity is Lakewood Engineering. Each year, the company produces about 3 million box fans and 1 million space heaters. Last year, sales totaled nearly $85 million. Lakewood employs 300 people at its plant in Chicago's Kinzie Industrial Corridor.

Four Lakewood Engineering managers attended a Lean 101 workshop along with 10 plant managers and executives from five other area manufacturers, including Bryco Machine, PM Motor Company and WaveZero.

The day started with a brief lecture on Lean, followed by simulated production runs making electronic circuit boards for a fictitious company called Buzz Electronics. Between sessions, the group evaluated the production line and made recommendations to improve flow and output. The catch: only recommendations that required little or no cash expenditure were allowed.

Among the solutions they devised through four rounds were moving work stations closer together, stockpiling raw materials at workstations, and producing on demand, rather than building inventory. By the last session, the group had increased output from 34 to 134 circuit boards.

As a result of lessons learned in the workshop, Lakewood Engineering decided to revamp the production line for its three-speed, 20-inch box fan.

"We're not looking to speed up how fast people are actually working," said Paul DesJardins, vice president. "But we're increasing productivity by restricting how much material we keep around, how far we move it, and how many times we handle it."

Besides increasing throughput, DesJardins expects to produce a better quality product. "The offshoot of not handling (the item) a lot is that the improvement of quality is automatic," he said.

The company has opted to train 45 employees with an on-site lean simulation conducted by representatives from ManufacturingWorks and CMC.

For more information on Lean Manufacturing Simulation workshops and other ManufacturingWorks services, contact Alistair Stewart at CMC at 312-542-0457.

"We were able to obtain ETIP dollars to do customized training in less than four weeks for our leadership team. Our managers were very impressed with the ManufacturingWorks team and their ability to get the ball rolling so quickly!"
- Frank Castro, Human Resource Manager, Collections Etc., Inc.