Aerospace & Defense Case Study
Metrex Valve Corporation
Metrex Valve Corp., located in Glendora, California, provides the global marketplace with valves designed to modulate and control water flow. A $4 million
manufacturer employing thirty diverse team members, Metrex Valve has successfully competed through quality, service, flexibility and value for the past 45
years. Metrex Valve offers a broad line of standard and custom application water regulators sold commercially and through government contracts. They
employed 30 people at project start.
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“CMTC’s training approach put us in control of
our processes and we achieved significant savings.”
Doug Jorgensen
President
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Issue/Needs
Metrex Valve Corporation has a long-standing relationship with CMTC.
It was during the recent ISO 9000 project that Metrex Valve management
realized the processes that were being documented were not netting the
results expected. The senior CMTC consultant suggested a different type
of consulting service; an analysis of the processes and procedures currently
used by Metrex Valve. After investigation, it was determined that an
educational approach would achieve the greatest results. A four phase
project was created. The first phase would instruct Metrex Valve’s
management team and supervisors on how to complete a self-audit. The
instruction covered basic concepts of assessment, flow charting and
process re-engineering. The lab phase had every participant interviewing
process owners and flow-charting business processes.
The second phase was a class covering the best practices of Supply Chain,
Scheduling, Inventory Management, Shop Floor Control and Bill of
Material. The objective was to provide the knowledge necessary for
Metrex to reengineer and document the current processes.
Two Kaizen improvement events focusing on the shop floor and bar
coding were planned as phases 3 and 4.
Implementation Highlights
The project started in April 2005. The seven core team members of
Metrex Valve spent three half days interviewing each process owner. As
the team presented their findings to the group, an appreciation for the
complexity of supporting manufacturing with documented process and
audit procedures grew throughout the management and supervisory staff.
Metrex Valve needed actual cost data in order to improve their estimations
as well as better data to support scheduling supervisors and shop floor
employees. To accomplish these objectives, Metrex Valve conducted shop
floor reporting and bar coding Kaizens documenting the processes needed
to make better business decisions. The project ended in June 2005.
Improvement Description
The phase 3 and 4 Kaizen Events produced outstanding results. Not only
did Metrex see a cost savings at the end of the project, but the current process
was investigated along with the capability of the ERP Software. A new bar
stock material handler position was created to replace the practice of operators
removing their own material from inventory. During the Kaizen Event, the
team chosen for safety and effective handling of material over 2” in diameter
instituted a location change and an outside investigation of storage and
handling equipment. A two month project was planned to include the
relocation of 7 general purpose machines and the acquisition of handling
equipment. An audit was also planned one month following the event.
Financial and Investment Impact
An investment in training, material handling equipment and Bar Code
Scanners led to better pricing and an estimated increase in sales of
$200,000. Due to improved information processing productivity,
reduced materials handling, better labor reporting and less raw materials,
Metrex Valve will save $60,000.
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