Bollman Hat
Bollman Hat & Dwight Bowen
Bollman Hat is committed to continue it’s local manufacturing operations and prepared to do what it takes to create an environment which will maintain it’s employee/owner’s jobs and the company’s viability. That is proving to be a difficult task and the company has little room for waste in its operations. Competition from abroad, especially the Far- East, has challenged the viability of this 135 year-old employee/owned company. Bollman needed to react and, then Chief Operating Officer and now President and Chief Executive Officer, Don Rongione made the commitment to become a world- class competitor. The tool selected was the nearly 100 year old process, Lean Manufacturing, popularized by Toyota.
The five steps to a Lean transition are: 1) identify the value your company creates, 2) map the value and eliminate the waste, 3) create continuous flow of your product or service, 4) pull the product to customer demand, 5) continuously improve each process. Just five steps but so much work is needed to achieve these objectives. Bollman set its focus and, in the summer of 2001 after attending a series of Lean events, the company made the decision to undertake it’s initial Value Stream Mapping event. Dwight Bowen, President of Dwight Bowen Associates specializing in creating Lean Enterprises and located in Lancaster, was selected as the event facilitator. Eight employees, representing a cross-functional slice of the organization, formed the Value Stream Mapping team, which focused on a “product family†from customer demand through to, in this case, finish goods stock in the distribution center. Positive results from this event and the all-important implementation of the plan led to tremendous, measurable operational gains.
Since the initial Value Stream Mapping event the company has held four additional events in other manufacturing divisions. In addition, Bowen has provided training in the areas of Kaizen (team based rapid continuous improvement process) and 5-S (the “pillars of lean†which maintain organization, order, cleanliness and safety). The company now audits its 5-S program weekly. The audit scores continue to improve as the 5-S process begins to become a part of Bollman’s rich culture.
Bollman Hat is clearly becoming a Lean success story. According to Gary Craley, Vice President of Manufacturing “The principles of Lean Manufacturing are critical to our future success in manufacturing. We have implementations that have greatly reduced work in process, shortened manufacturing cycle times, and lowered manufacturing costs. We are excited about the results but realize that many improvement opportunities still exist.â€Â
Don Rongione adds “we have re-invented our Company with strong Brands and our progress with adopting lean principles have been essential to support our reputation for great service for those brands while actually reducing inventory and improving profits.â€Â
