What 6S Says About the Way We Work
Walk through a manufacturing facility and the details tell you a lot.
Where are the tools? How are work areas organized? Is material where it belongs? Are standards consistent from one area to the next?
Those details matter.
That's why we're strengthening our focus on 6S: Safety, Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize and Sustain.
6S is a system for creating workplaces where people can perform their work efficiently and consistently. For us, it's also part of something bigger: raising the standard for how we operate.
Small Details. Bigger Impact.
In a manufacturing environment where people work with large molds, overhead cranes, power tools and heavy machinery, safety has to be at the forefront.
Dustin Oertle, Manufacturing Manager, believes that starts by paying attention to seemingly small things, like keeping walkways clear, cleaning spills, organizing work areas, and returning equipment where it belongs. "If you put emphasis on the small things and make them a big deal, then the big things are a huge deal," he said.
Those habits support safety and efficiency. An organized workplace reduces unnecessary movement and workarounds, allowing employees to spend more time focused on the work itself.
Turning Standards Into Habits
Each morning begins with walkthroughs of the moldmaking and CNC areas to identify opportunities to improve organizations and consistency. Korey Trozzi, who is helping lead our 6S initiative, communicates priorities across the team, while weekly meetings help leaders review what’s working, what’s not and what needs to happen next.
Moldmaking and CNC leaders are taking ownership within their areas, helping translate priorities into action on the floor. They’re reinforcing expectations with their teams and following up to make sure action items are completed, helping identify solutions that work for the people doing the work every day.
That leadership is critical because the objective isn’t simply to improve an area once. It’s to build consistency.
“Standards are something that’s so easy to get away from,” Korey said. The goal is to make the right way of doing things so familiar that it eventually becomes habit.
That effort is taking shape throughout the facility. Work areas are becoming more standardized, items have designated locations, bays have clearer expectations, and new signage and guidelines are helping make those expectations easier to understand and sustain.
When something doesn’t work, the team comes together to solve it. As Korey puts it, the question becomes: “How are we going to fix it?”
Building Confidence Before the Work Leaves Our Doors
6S also creates something customers can see.
A clean and standardized manufacturing environment demonstrates attention to detail before anyone even looks at the finished tool.
Korey has already heard customers notice. Visitors have commented on the cleanliness of the facility, its organization and the availability of clearly designated cleaning stations and supplies.
That matters because the standard we set for our own facility says something about the standard we'll bring to a customer's work. "If we care about our own shop," Korey explained, “customers can see that we're going to care about their products, too.”
It's another way we're building trust through action.
Come See 6S in for Yourself
On September 24, we're opening our doors and inviting you to experience the New Integrity Tennessee firsthand.
Walk the floor and experience how investments in our equipment, processes, people and operating standards are coming together to build a stronger manufacturing operation.
Korey has one goal for what customers experience when they walk through the facility: the "awe factor."
We'd rather show you than tell you.
Join us for the Integrity Tennessee Open House on September 24.
Experience the New Integrity Tennessee. See What's Changed. Build What's Next.