Automotive Case Study
Trojan Battery Company
Trojan Battery Company was founded in Southern California in 1925 and has led the industry in the design, manufacture and marketing of premium
deep cycle batteries. Trojan Batteries are used in Floor Machine, Marine, RV and Utility Vehicle applications. Trojan Battery’s 600 employees continue
to provide market-leading high quality products. Trojan’s workforce is primarily Hispanic.
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“With CMTC’s consulting support, we saved
1,283,639 annual kilowatt hours for the same
amount of production. We are on our way to
reducing our energy costs by $1,000,000 per year.”
Chad Bentley
Manager Manufacturing Technology
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Issue/Needs
Trojan’s Management wanted to stay in California and increase their
competitiveness. The company’s goal was to improve battery
assembly production to meet growing demand. To accomplish this
goal, Trojan management recognized a need to improve key
production processes and reduce cost per unit.
Implementation Highlights
Project objectives included increasing assembly throughput by
standardizing processes and organizing the key constraint point, the
”Post Burning” assembly operations. CMTC assisted in streamlining
manual processes that produced the posts for each battery. The
processes were mapped to determine a more fluid flow. Prior to
implementing the improved process flow, a comprehensive training
program was implemented on Lean manufacturing principles to
prepare employees to properly implement and sustain project
improvements. Following the training program, several improvements
were made to systematically implement the new processes. The project
began in March 2006 and was completed in approximately three
months.
Improvement Description
The manual processes were streamlined by improving the layout of the
work area and reducing walk and wait time. As a result, the lead
melting and battery post forming processes were made more efficient
-- providing a 33% increase in productivity. The Post Burning
assembly operation increased productivity from 2,730 to 3,640
batteries per shift.
Financial and Investment Impact
Following project implementation, Trojan Battery recognized a
production increase of 900 batteries per shift and a reduction in costs
of $218,000.
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