It’s been a great year for Schlam, as we’re closing in on our biggest year yet for dump tray sales. Our Forrestfield production team have played a big part in this achievement by using global smarts to improve efficiencies to enable us to build and sell more trays.

Inefficiencies can be detrimental to any manufacturing organisation, causing wastage, inventory issues, unnecessary movement of people, equipment or machines, and defects that require costly correction. Not to mention headaches.

To eliminate inefficiencies and to maximise productivity, Schlam has recently implemented Lean Manufacturing principles – using global smarts to improve production processes and efficiencies at our workshop in Forrestfield.

Our Continuous Improvement Manager, Manuel, utilised the LEAN PRODUCTION METHODOLOGY to create a “War Room” – a command centre that brings together members of the engineering, fabrication, procurement, and assembly teams to monitor and review individual production projects.

This is a concept that is used by many major manufacturers around the world, including Boeing and Toyota.

The war room features a large board with designated areas of the production line. Once a project begins (e.g. a new tray) it is added to the board with teams cycling through a process of planning, executing, and evaluating.

The method involves constant collaboration with team members at every stage to identify any bottleneck issues and related solutions. This process also aids with continuous improvement to further increase efficiencies.

Schlam’s Manufacturing Manager Andrew reflects on previous procedures at the workshop.

“Previously we were running weekly operations meetings, which we found was time-consuming and often resulted in delays, as time critical actions were only assigned weekly and in large numbers.” He said.

With the demand for Schlam’s products steadily increasing, finding a suitable procedure was crucial to guarantee efficiency and quality for our valued clients.

“Now we have a daily stand-up meeting where the actions are identified and assigned every morning, resulting in more efficient outcomes and further develops our continuous improvement principles.” He said.

After only two months of using the Lean Principles, the changes have been significant, with each project seeing improved efficiency, elimination of waste, higher quality products and overall improved client delivery times.

Due to the sensitive client information, images of the ‘War Room’ cannot be made public.