ABSTRACT
Shipping department was essentially a job shop because each of the five cells in our Machine Shop was a high-mix low-volume job shop and both molding cells – Cold Compression Molding and Hot Compression Molding – were high-mix low-volume flow shops. The Shipping department was a high-pressure work environment. Its employees had just one goal every day – receive the “stuff” coming in from the door that faced the shop floor and get it out the other door where a truck was waiting in one day. There is considerable benefit for any business that establishes a partnership with one or more Industrial Engineering departments to involve Industrial Engineering students and faculty in their Lean implementation. Training of employees is a key to the success of any Lean implementation. The Shipping department could have benefitted from every Lean and Six Sigma tool.
