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Champion Home Builders Perfect Miters Project Overview
- 1. Champion Home Builders Perfect Miters OM 300-001 | Team 8 KAMINSKI | MERIDITH | KUEBLER-JOB
- 2. Project Overview Company Description Roger Carignan “Perfect Miters” Project Opportunities for the Future Career Lessons
- 3. Company Overview International Headquarters – Troy, MI Leader in manufactured housing industry Multifamily, commercial and industrial modular construction
- 4. Company Overview – Continued 27 manufacturing plants worldwide United States, Canada, United Kingdom 4,400 employees
- 5. Interview Information CI Manager CEO
- 6. Perfect Miters Lindsay, California January 1 – March 31, 2012 12 members in Waste Elimination Team
- 7. What Was the Problem? Gap in molding of door exterior
- 8. Layout of Door Trim Area
- 9. Layout of Door Trim Area
- 10. Challenges and Solutions Helping employees adapt to new production process Bottleneck effects on production Hour training seminars Problem solving techniques
- 11. Benefits Increased sales Lowered direct labor hours Decreased production time Increased customer satisfaction Increased employee job satisfaction Improved employee motivation
- 12. Future Opportunities New competitive advantage Enhanced manufacturing layout Freed up time in manufacturing
- 13. Leader Career Lessons Job Satisfaction Challenges Path to Success
Editor's Notes
- Business Description. Champion Home Builders is a division of Champion and focuses on multifamily, commercial and industrial modular construction. They specialize in the following manufacturing product categories: manufactured homes, modular homes, mobile homes, park models and commercial modular buildings. However, they have recently expanded in new industries, such as hotels, colleges and apartment complexes. In addition to having manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Champion also has international operations consisting of Moduline Industries and SRI Homes in Canada and Caledonian Building Systems in Europe. They have produced more than 1.7 million faculty built homes throughout North America and continue to provide customers with quality and luxury. Their homes are built and sold through a network of more than 1000 builders, retailers, and developers. Champion Home Builders is the leader in the manufactured housing industry and is one of the largest builders for modular homes in North America. They operate 27 manufacturing plants spread throughout North America and the UK. Their facilities consist of approximately 4,400 employees worldwide, 3200 of those being in the U.S.
- Champion Home Builders was founded in 1953 in Dryden, a small town in Michigan. However, their international headquarters is now located in Troy. The facility earns $204.4 million in annual sales revenue.
- Interview Info Roger Carignan is currently the Continuous Improvement (CI) manager at Champion Home Builders, Inc. He started with the company 30 years ago in 1983 right out of high school. His experience allowed him to work at all organizational levels and fully understand how the business works. Some of the roles and responsibilities as a CI Manager include preparing and managing a budget for C.I. operations, planning and organizing improvement events, conducting reviews to assess the effectiveness of improvement activities, constantly reviewing the factory improvement activities for effectiveness, and adjusting the approach as required. He travels to all the company plant locations throughout the country and strategically comes up with solutions for any arising problems. He manages and interacts with employees in all departments, hosting seminars and training events. During the interview, Mr. Carignan stressed the importance of upper level management in regards to helping employees adapt to new changes and innovations. He also mentioned that his responsibility as a CI manager is always constant. His primary goal is to continously find new solutions to each problem and look for ways to improve the company. Interview Location: Champion Home Builders, Inc. 755 W. Big Beaver Rd. #1000 Troy, MI, 48084 United States Interview Contact Information: Roger Carignan (248) 614-8200 rcarignan@championhomes.com Jack Lawless (248) 614-8200 jlawless@championhomes.com Members Present: Maria Gabriela Meridith Molly Kuebler-Job Jacob Kaminski
- Project Overview. The project is called “Perfect Miters” which lasted several months (January 1 - March 31, 2012). This project would best belong to the LEAN implementation category. Champion Home Builders had two main issues that they sought to resolve with their project. The first issue they needed to improve was a bottleneck problem in their production. The second issue that the project focused on was fixing the gaps of the doorframe moldings. These two arising problems led Mr. Carignan to pursue the project. There were a dozen members on the team consisting of two continuous improvement managers, two maintenance workers, one production manager, two foremen, one sales machinery representative, one door builder, one door/trim installer, and two plant employees. Their rationale for this team membership was choosing a variety of employees from different departments and organizational levels. Each member had a lot experience and was able to contribute a different perspective on the problems and solutions.
- Project Description. Before the project was implemented, there were customer and employee complaints about the gaps in the molding in the doors. They were using a chop saw with a manual sequence involving numerous steps to create the molding. Mr. Carignan saw an easy solution: replace the machinery with a double miter saw and a V-Nail machine, as well as changing the layout in the production lines. This would reduce the steps in the procedure and would allow automation to make more precise cuts.
- Project Description Continued. The original layout was very cluttered, unorganized, and the space was not being efficiently used. The jambs, double chop saw jig, and pallets of trim were all removed completely. The space for the extra WIP was significantly reduced. The trim cart, tile saw, tile cutter, glass door table, and work bench were all rearranged. The V-nail machine and perfect miter machine were added. Essentially, the tile area was moved, and the molding machines were also moved closer to the door build area.
- Project Description Continued. The new standard work layout reduced the steps from 17 to 8. The door trim miter machine cut the door trim in multiple directions, and only cut enough for one day. Then it would load the cut material into the V-Nail racks. The V-Nail machine would attach the pre-cut door legs to the top header piece. The spin assembly would attach the legs, load the hoops onto the hoop cart, deliver one side to the door make-up, and deliver the other side of the door make up with the pre-hung doors. The flex plan for the door builder was to stop building doors when the door carts were full, then move the miter machine and build door case hoops for the next house. This eliminated the extra WIP and the rework. The new machines were designed to cut trim for both side’s of the door. This eliminated trimmer cutting trim 3 times for each door and installed it in one piece. This solution was chosen because it was the only option due to the constraints placed by the the bottle neck issue in their manufacturing process. The new process successfully eliminated all bottleneck effects and solved the gap crisis. Mr. Carignan hosted trainings for all the employees in the plant to teach them how to efficiently use the new equipment. Overall, the process worked out well and met all expectations.
- Challenges. Some of the main challenges were getting all employees on board with the new changes. Mr. Carignan did hour trainings and events for all employees, where he went over PowerPoint presentations based on skill sets and the basic principles and terminology of LEAN production. He also taught workers how to solve problems in their area and remeasure the processes or improvements. Another challenge was dealing with the bottleneck effects on the production lines. He stressed the importance of timeliness and aggression when dealing with these problems and trying to get the production “ramped up.” Solutions. Before, the total walking distance was 2168 feet, which was 180 feet per door; 12 doors were built a day. The total time per house was 112 minutes and the average time to produce a door was 9.3 minutes. After the process was implemented on the first house, the results were the following: 1780 feet in total walking distance (148 feet per door); the total doors built a day was still 12, but the total time per house was reduced to 88 minutes and the average time to produce a door was also reduced to 7.3 minutes. Essentially, the new layout and process reduced the walking distance by 17%, reduced the total time per house by 24 minutes and reduced the average time to produce a door by 2.3 minutes, which was 21.5% increase in production.
- The entire process and change in layout had many improvements: Reduced the pre-hung door WIP from six houses to three (50% decrease). Miters fit precisely with no putty required. Increased sales by 21% Overall quality increased. Lower service costs and higher customer satisfaction. Door installation time was reduced - trim was installed on only one side during the door build process. The labor became flexed by removing ½ person from the department.
- Many opportunities have arisen out of the implementation of the miter saw and new layout. By fixing the door moldings with the saw, this gave Champion a competitive advantage in their homes over there competition, giving them the opportunity to gain more sales. Also by they learned new techniques on how the enhance the layout of there manufacturing sites to be more efficient that they can now implement into there other factories. So far, they have implemented this process on 15 other plants throughout the nation and the results have also been successful. This year, they plan to further implement the LEAN process on two more plants. With the average time to manufacture a home reduced significantly, this frees up time in their manufacturing schedule that they can use to produce more homes or use it to manufacture other products.
- The most satisfying thing about working in operations would be the implementation of change and motivating the employees to love their job. Mr. Carignan loved having the ability to have success and make a difference in the company. Throughout every project, he implemented change and saw positive results, which was the most rewarding aspect. The most challenging factor in operations for Mr. Carignan would be dealing with problems as they come about as effectively and efficiently as possible. To do so, he had to have all the employees on board and on the same page. This required a lot of strategy and involvement with the workers to encourage teamwork and cooperation. Mr. Carignan mentioned that his 31 years of experience, numerous workshops, and constant training contributed most to his success. His ability to learn and gain knowledge in his industry gave him a competitive advantage.
- Dear Mr. Lawless and Mr. Carignan, We would like to genuinely thank both of you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to meet with us. We really appreciate both of you going out of your way to help us out with our final project for our operation management class. We enjoyed learning about the typical activities and challenges a CEO and a CI manager go through on a daily basis. It was interesting to see what it would be like to work in the industry of manufacturing. We are very grateful to have had the opportunity to learn from both of you about the company as a whole, the project itself, and your journeys that have led up to your success. Again, thank you for your time and hospitality. We wish you both the best of luck with Champion Home Builders. It was a pleasure. Sincerely, Maria G. Meridith Molly Kuebler-Job Jacob Kaminski