Today we revisit one of LEI’s most popular case studies – the case of Phase 2 Medical Device Manufacturing of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Phase 2 was in a good place where our story begins. They had been engaged in a gradual, steady lean transformation over five years, and had numerous gains to show for it. They were perfectly happy with their progress.
Then all that changed.
Enter medical-device conglomerate Medtronic Advanced Energy (MAE), Phase 2’s biggest customer. The leadership at MAE had had an epiphany. Their production of medical devices was currently split between Phase 2 and one of their own plants, also in the Portsmouth area. This proximity and the fact that both plants were producing the exact same products was creating remarkable amounts of waste. It was time to take action. MAE opened global bidding for the combined production of the two plants.
Phase 2 wanted that business. But it would not be easy. Although MAE’s best business move would indeed be granting full production to Phase 2, the latter still had to prove it could “meet the global price, efficiently expand capacity to handle the volume from Portsmouth, and stay profitable.”
Achieving that required a fast and broad expansion of their ongoing lean transformation – one that ended up with Phase 2 winning MAE’s full production responsibilities.
Revisit this enlightening case study in LEI’s Knowledge Center, as well as the below interview with Phase 2 CEO Adam Prime at the 2016 Lean Transformation Summit in Las Vegas. You’ll learn:
- The details and critical importance of their “Golden Triangle” operating system and how it continues to guide continuous improvement efforts today
- The two-pronged approach that Phase 2 adopted to hone their focus in on the most important areas for improvement
- The tools and practices used to ensure that gains would not just be realized, but sustained as well
- The strategies used to address resistance in an open and non-confrontational manner
- How and why they made the shop floor the primary area of focus in the transformation
- Their efforts to create an ideal Cell Operating System that could handle the capacity demands of their aggressive production goals
- And more.
See the results of Phase 2’s lean transformation firsthand as part of the upcoming workshop “Value-Stream Mapping for Manufacturing: Gemba-Based Workshop.” Participants will learn about effective value-stream mapping while walking the gemba at Phase 2’s New Hampshire production facility, under the guidance of LEI faculty member and manufacturing veteran Matt Zayko. Learn more and register here.
