Intrex Corp - Louisville, CO

When Greg Dice joined Intrex Corp as General Manager in 2003, he immediately identified the need for a company-wide culture shift to reduce lead- times and non-value adding activities and processes. As a Six Sigma Black Belt and an experienced hand with applying Lean in previous organizations, he understood the need for a framework in which to put improvement activities. He quickly brought in CAMT to conduct a variety of Lean Manufacturing trainings, including the Principle of Lean, 5S and others. Understanding that shifting a company culture takes classroom lessons, examples, and implementation, along with repetition, Intrex Corp has been utilizing CAMT services for three years and plans on completing additional sessions soon.

The latest sessions were a week-long Kaizen and a Set-Up Reduction class with teams working on floor projects. Greg explained that virtually all lean classes used at Intrex are to reduce set up time. The goal at Intrex Corp is to have as much machine "up-time" as possible. In Intrex Corp's Kaizen, several projects were initiated, including reducing waste oil, and streamlining the metals recycling and chips management processes. Several new processes were put into place to ensure that both inventory and waste products processes were timely and reduced set-up time of machines.

When asked about the immediate impacts he has witnessed in the company since receiving lean trainings, Greg says that the culture has been transformed into a more disciplined systematic work environment. The lean trainings helped Intrex Corp identify sustainable processes that eliminated wasted time and motion at all levels of the manufacturing: inventory, set up, quality, and packaging.