State manufacturers coached on getting lean

Norwich - For Bill Greider, being honest with employees is one of the most overlooked steps in converting to smarter manufacturing techniques.

"You have to get up in front of your company and say, 'We're screwed. We've got problems, and we've got to change things,' " Greider, an executive with Dur-A-Flex in East Hartford, said Wednesday during a seminar on lean-manufacturing techniques at Consumers Interstate Corp.

In these difficult economic times, added Jack E. Feinberg, president of Nutron Manufacturing in Norwich, all that might be required is to say, "Guys, we have a problem. We need to change things in order to ensure our survival."

Employee buy-in to embrace major changes in the work environment is key to making the streamlined production techniques of lean manufacturing work, agreed Christopher Barrett, principal process engineer at Electric Boat.

"Getting started is usually the most difficult part," he added.

Barrett, one of the seminar panelists, indicated that initiating more efficient manufacturing techniques in a union environment can be challenging, but going lean never means laying people off. He suggested starting with agreed-upon measurements to gauge improvements in manufacturing time and quality and then work with a supervisor who is excited about trying something new.

Barrett said going lean is a continuous process that started seven years ago at the submarine manufacturer but "has barely scratched the surface."

"Get the ball started small and just keep it going," he said.

But Sonny Pecci of Romatic Manufacturing in Southbury said lean techniques may fail if employees fear change.

Ken Pickering, president of Putnam Plastics Corp. and another panelist, said workers don't fear change; they fear the unknown. Supervisors need to convey to employees that the change will be good for them, increasing their job security, he said.

"You're changing a culture," he said. "You have to make the case for change."

Greider of Dur-A-Flex said change also can wind up in employees' pockets, pointing out that he handed out checks to employees averaging more than $8,000 at the end of last year, thanks largely to the efficiencies of lean manufacturing.

But panelists said money isn't the key motivator to get workers to change their ways. Developing a philosophy of improving lives - both the workers' lives and the lives of their customers - will win out in the long run, they said.

"The key is the manager,'" Greider said. "We are the Ritalin of this whole thing."

But it's hard to keep up excitement about lean techniques. The Worcester, Mass.-based Manufacturing Advancement Center says lean movements at companies often don't last beyond three years.

"It's so easy to backslide," said Paul Barrow, manufacturing manager at Sterling Engineering in Winsted.

Eric Olson of Bradford Soap Works in West Warwick, R.I., said lean techniques involve a radical shift in thought. "If everything is wonderful, don't start," added Greider. "It's not about small improvements."

And while they can help the bottom line by reducing costs, smarter manufacturing techniques do nothing for top-line growth. Companies still need to do strategic planning and aim for new products and expanded markets to stay in business, panelists said.

"The auto companies did a lot of lean," said Pickering of Putnam Plastics. "How did they make out?"

l.howard@theday.com