AMRON LLC

Profile

Location: Antigo, WI
Years in Business: Founded 1967
No. of Employees: 123

Products: Medium caliber cartridge cases for the U.S. military

NWMOC Projects: 5S Visual Systems

Situation

Amron has both a skilled workforce and a sophisticated system to ensure high product quality. They wanted to introduce a vision that would create a physical work environment that all associates would be proud of. They asked NWMOC for assistance.

Project

NWMOC staff met with the management team and the shop floor leaders to develop a 5S vision: "A clean, orderly, efficient, safe work environment that everyone can be proud of." A plant-wide meeting was held to explain the project.  The 5S team then received training and went to work. Over the next few days more and more associates were empowered and much of the facility was transformed to the 5S vision. Additional resources were made available and the initial goals of the project were greatly exceeded.  Several action items were identified and completed over the next several months as part of their continuous improvement actions.

Results

• Environment: Significantly improved general housekeeping throughout the entire plant
• Efficiency: The 5S techniques applied to our gage tables and work benches created increased efficiencies
• Safety: The 5S impact to our housekeeping has made a significant economic improvement to our safety record
• We have exceeded $100,000 in savings associated with worker's compensation YTD
• Employee involvement: The empowerment energy throughout the workforce exceeded the anticipated results of the initial project scope--this is exciting as we go forward in our vision for a leaner organization