Lean Is Cool

“The first cart made was for a coupled route where the carts stay attached to a tugger. The supply train stops at scheduled times, and the carts are unloaded into the flow racks that go to the operator at each line,” Pate explains. These quad-steer carts travel in the exact path as the tugger for safety; they don't veer off to where people or materials might be hit.

“The next lean cart built was for a decoupled route, where we needed a cart that's easy to maneuver when not being tugged because the carts are uncoupled and left with materials on them,” he adds.

These decoupled carts have six wheels with tall, rigid wheels in the middle. All four corner wheels swivel. The result is that the carts track easily and are safe and convenient to maneuver by hand.

Efficient Movement

Trane now has a variety of carts that dispense tubing, wiring, flow controls, switches and other materials throughout the plant to various lines from the central supermarket, as well as completed assemblies from one line to another.

“We're efficiently moving components without starving any of the lines,” Pate says.

A key factor in the relationship is constant contact between Trane and Valley Craft/Ovation engineers, with plenty of idea exchange and “a lot of give and take,” Pate explains, adding that communication is essential because “they work with me to find the solution.”

Valley Craft's Metzdorf says the feeling is mutual. “We have a common goal of customer input and feedback into our process for customized, one-of-a-kind material handling solutions,” he says. Pate said Trane and Valley Craft engineers are now engaged in designing a new cart that's unlike anything else out on the market.

Pate is justifiably proud of his plant's lean event team results. The plant has more than 100 lean events per year, and he can point to the returns in money, time and reduced downtime as a result of his team's customized material handling solutions.

Bob Rumpza is a freelance writer in Eden Prairie, Minn.