ABSTRACT
Ubercraft Cabinets based in Jasper, Indiana, is a leader in the design, manufacture, and assembly of a wide range of cabinets, consoles, shelves, and other furniture. The products built by Ubercraft were sold through distribution and large retail stores such as Home Depot and Lowes. Justin Sherman, who was the Vice President of Operations at Ubercraft, was very keen on making several changes at the company to better position it to meet customer expectations and retain its market share. Ubercraft was in the middle of a companywide lean implementation and had previously implemented changes in its high-volume segment of branded products area. To expand the concept further, Justin wanted to have another project in a different area of the company with the intent that resulting changes would be making a significant impact. The lead time for contract manufacturing products was long by industry standards, especially for consistent orders. Some of Ubercraft’s customers used multiple-sourcing strategy, creating additional pressure on Ubercraft to perform better than competition. Justin believed that competing on delivery time could help Ubercraft strengthen its relationship with customers and hopefully get larger share of orders in future. With contract manufacturing being the bigger part of the business, it was also a great choice to look for a manufacturing process improvement initiative. To analyze and make changes in the contract manufacturing area, Justin called in the same team that had worked on the previous project for standard products. The team consisted of Industrial Engineer Kyle, Finance Manager Mona, and Manufacturing Manager Darryl. Justin not only trusted these three based on his interaction with them over the last 2 years, but he was also impressed by the work this team had done in the previous project. After some preliminary discussions and analysis, the team decided to reduce the total lead time by 50% to 3 weeks.
