Sr Managers: V.P Mike Kuntz, V.P Dave Kuntz, and President John Hohmeier provided an overview of the business model at Kuntz and a review of the past 2 challenging years. Kuntz has weathered the economic storm quite well and right sized itself to embrace the future. The cornerstone to their strategy is their Lean initiatives that have been rolled out in both the motorcycle and automotive business units. Members provided feedback to the host and members can participate in some continued discussion in the special forum set up on the EMC website: http://www.emccanada.org/forums/kwsigs/kwforummarch10th

Sr managers also participated in an overview of MIN, and provided some valuable feedback to improve MIN and increase it's value to manufacturers.

Continuous Improvement:  Kuntz' Continuous Improvement Manager Mike Elig and his team provided the group with the following problem:

 Poke Yoke Systems for Identifying and Packing Finished Goods

Background

A family owned and operated business since 1948, Kuntz Electroplating Inc. (KEI) boasts North America's largest and most advanced metal finishing operation for original equipment manufacturers of steel and aluminum components. We are the leader in our industry.

As a Tier 1 and a Tier 2 supplier, our services include polishing, bright buffing, copper-plating, and decorative nickel-chrome plating on aluminum, steel and other substrates. Our polishing systems utilize the latest in automated and robotic technology available.

Context

One of our finished products is chrome tubes used on Ford pick-up trucks. They are packed with all right side and left side chrome tubes separately in customer supplied containers for shipping. They are packed in this manner for the end user for assembly.

Due to the nature of the appearance of finished chrome, a major challenge is to identify and pack the correct sides in the correct bins.

CI Opportunity

How does KEI Poke Yoke the packing of Tubes (many different types) without mixing them?

Current Situation

The following Flow/Operations

1. Wipe/inspection
2. Apply Traceability label
3. Bag
4. Move to Shipping Tote

Challenge

How can Kuntz Electroplating improve:

• Customer satisfaction by not mixing up the tubes.
• The Minimization the number of corrective actions.

 Since developing poke yoke systems for packing finished goods may also be (or has been) a challenge for others in their facilities, members came prepared to examine their own strategies and logic for this challenge as well.

Break-out groups provided a long list of suggestions for the host to consider to solve this challenge going forward. For details, please contact Mike Baker at EMC.

Health & Safety: Benchmarking Discussion: Leading Indicators and Metrics for Health & Safety

Many manufacturing companies have begun to identify key leading indicators to monitor and manage health & safety in their business. Since H&S is an ever changing and evolving challenge, so too should be our strategies to monitor and track H&S activities.

The following are some of the points brought up by the break-out groups that can be used as leading indicators:

 Human Resources: Hicks Morley Legal Update: Matt Mihailovich from Hicks Morley provided his annual update for local HR leaders with respect to Human Rights, ESA, OH&S, and specific references to Bill 168. To view a copy of the presentation, please go to the EMC K-W/Cambridge Consortium page: http://www.emccanada.org/membersonl/ontario/kitchener

See you all next month!

Mike Baker, EMC