Project Case Studies

Federal Premium located in Anoka, MN is the world’s largest producers of ammunition.  The use superior engineering and technology to provide industry leading ammunition solutions.   Total Process Consulting partnered with Federal Ammunition to help establish a culture of using data and continuous improvement to the production floor. 

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While Federal builds superior quality ammunition, their production system is complex and difficult to manage due to the amount of SKUs and volumes they produce.  We designed a custom lean six sigma training program to train key personnel on how to utilize data to find opportunities and solve complex problems.  It was truly unique as the personnel we worked with had years of experience on the operations floor but most had not had any formal education in many years.  We devised a very visual training approach that leveraged the company’s data to hyper target key opportunities.

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In addition, Federal needed assistance in coordinating and leading some of the projects.  We were able to step into that leadership role and make both an operational and financial difference on several projects.  Some of our results include more than doubling utilization, lifting production output on several production centers by 30-40%, cutting scrap costs by thousands of dollars, streamlining safety protocols and outlining many more substantial projects.

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Most importantly, the management team and the employees have bought into the process ensuring that significant gains will continue.

Harris is a leading national mechanical contractor specializing in design and engineering, construction, building automation, service, manufacturing.  In Zumbrota, Minnesota is their HVAC and Plumbing manufacturing facility.  Harris like many fabrication facilities was having issues with short lead times, constant stream of hot orders in the system and a lack of space due to the bulky nature of their production operations.

Total Process Consulting partnered with Harris Mechanical to create a path to a more profitable and efficient production center. 

 

Initially, our team went through a comprehensive data and process mapping exercise to build a plan to optimize the operations.  Next through a series of Lean Kaizen events collectively we were able to free up substantial floor space to alleviate pressure on the production floor.  In addition, our team tackled how information flow was impacting the business.  A reporting system and mechanism to handle hot orders were developed which helped to significantly improve production. 

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Over time our team has tackled several other significant issues facing Harris in Zumbrota and many of their other facilities.  Through a comprehensive training plan, Harris has been able to sustain and execute many events.

E.A. Sween Company proudly makes over 70 million sandwiches a year, distributing them all over the country. Total Process Consulting partnered with EA Sween to co-facilitate highly focused continuous improvement projects that were directly connected to finances of the organization.  We trained a team of high impact employees on Six Sigma and Data Analytics skills.  We mentored each group on a weekly basis to leverage their training and make a difference to the organization.    We mentored the teams on project management, six sigma and presentation skills to prepare the teams for success. 

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The results of the projects were astonishing in a short time frame.  Due to the connection with finance in our projects our team was able to verify thousands dollars of savings.  This was accomplished though reducing physical waste in the system and by virtually eliminating defects and rework in a major process within the organization.

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Each team presented their finding to senior management and were able to demonstrate a high level of proficiency.  The COO of the firm indicated that the operational success moving forward will be all come from more of these types of projects. 

Medica is a large health plan provider headquartered in Minnesota serving over 1.5 million people with their health plans.  Medica is Total Process Consulting teamed up with Medica to deliver a lean six sigma green belt program designed specifically for the insurance industry.

The program was unique in that it taught not only traditional LSS materials, but how to deliver effective presentations and data analytics skills.  The program was created in a highly collaborative approach.  Our teams co-developed the curriculum over several weeks and simultaneously developed training for the leaders on how to lead effective project teams. 

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Over 8 weeks we delivered the program 100% online.  Upon completion of the classroom training for the next 5-6 weeks we led live mentoring sessions online to help the teams complete their first projects.  These projects were unique in that the teams were located in multiple locations and that the projects were complex and involved multiple departments and divisions.  Together with Medica, Total Process Consulting helped to assist Medica develop new value streams and systems.

Is a family-owned distillery located in Philadelphia, PA.  Total Process Consulting conducted their exclusive 3-day operations and supply chain audit process with Jacquin’s.  The purpose of the audit was to discover the key issues that could significantly increase the valuation and improve the profitability of Jacquin’s.

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Over the course of the audit we were able to discover several key issues impacting Jacquin’s.  Some the key issues were related to inventory, space utilization, production scheduling and optimization as well as challenges with labor.  We outlined a change management and project management plan to help transform the organization to becoming profitable over the next year.  Once we developed the transformation plan we also identified and helped hire the personnel to help conduct the transformation.

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Over the next 12 months the company went through a remarkable transformation.  On-time delivery improved, capacity and utilization improved and overall costs of goods sold were reduced significantly.

Suttle is a manufacturing firm that was facing issues around high levels of inventory, on-time delivery, quality issues and challenges around uptime.

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Initially, Total Process Consulting worked with the management team to create simple dashboards that could validate current company performance and show signs of improvement as solutions were implemented. The dashboards provide the company a simple and consistent approach to the data.

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To set the stage comprehensive customized training on six sigma and lean techniques were developed and delivered. Total Processing Consulting delivered a customized Lean Six Sigma green belt to many of the key employees in the production facility. In addition, every employee was given lean fundamental training to begin the process of establishing a culture of continuous improvement.

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Lean focused projects were implemented throughout the production facility. Initially the projects focused on the obvious wastes in the system such as excess movement and hygiene of the facility. As the wastes were removed, key manufacturing indicators of cycle-time and delivery began to improve. Subsequent projects began to focus on visual management systems and quality improvement.