Our June SIG took place at Hamill Machines, (http://www.hamillmachine.ca/) a jobbing shop who complete over 1000 jobs a year and 900 of those are new work/unique.  They specialize in helping companies get their machinery back working quickly by providing A1 service and delivery.

Our discussion for this SIG focused on Improving the Value Stream at Hamill from receipt of order to customer delivery.  Hamill Machines has been busy over the past years and is growing and expanding into new markets.   Bob Benner, President of Hamill Machines walked us through the current process and time line as well as provided us with a tour of the facility.

Some of the suggestions and compliments that were made on the Value stream and other areas noticed on the tour included:

-          Combining some of the tracking forms to simplify the process

-          The job traveller was fantastic as it has a bar code scanner that employees scan to track their hours on the job

-          Bring the schedule to the plant - put clipboards on the machines; even make them a specific colour so they are easy to see and identify

-          Get employees involved in 5S by giving all employees a certain area that they 'own'

-          Peg boards by machines to store parts

-          Plexiglass cabinets if they need to be locked so you can visually see what is inside

-          Set time each week to push 5S

Remember with visual management it doesn't have to be fancy but the idea is someone from the outside should be able to come into your plant and understand what work is being done on what machine.

Thanks again to Bob, Bryan and the rest of the team at Hamill for a great tour and discussion!

For more information on the Hamilton/Niagara consortium and the upcoming Strategic Interest Groups please contact Laura Gibson at lgibson@emccanada.org or 226-388-3894.