Young Electric Sign Co. - Denver, CO
YESCO designs, engineers, manufactures, installs and maintains signs
for businesses and institutions. Founded in 1920, the Young family still
owns and manages the business. With nine manufacturing plants scattered
throughout the western US, and 22 additional sales and service branches,
YESCO employs 1,600 people. Ninety-two employees work at the Denver Division
of YESCO.
Some YESCO plants over the past few years had found great success through
the adoption of lean principles. As story after story of their successes
reverberated across the company, the Denver Division decided it was time
to get on board with Lean. Bill Brown of the Denver Division contacted
CAMT for assistance in integrating lean methodology throughout their operations.
Since early 2006, CAMT guided all division employees thorough the Principles
of Lean training and simulation, worked with management to identify non-value
added activity through value stream mapping of several areas of operation,
and trained and assisted the staff in the implementation of 5S efforts
on the YESCO shop floor.
Bill explains that there’s much more than making signs to YESCO
operations. Often several rounds of code research-- to ensure they meet
city sign codes regarding sizes, construction and location of signs--,
as well as design, estimating and engineering is necessary before a sale
is finalized. YESCO first realized benefits from its new lean efforts
in pre-sales activities and order processing.
By utilizing lean principles, YESCO has streamlined workflow in the proposal
development process resulting in shorter average development time and
fewer proposal revisions. The amount of time needed to determine code
allowances for signs have been reduced by approximately one week through
better collection and organization of the information needed at the beginning
of the process. Additionally, YESCO eliminated four days from design time
by identifying work that could flow concurrently, versus old linear practices.
Lastly, YESCO has been successful in reducing their lead time from order
to production by four days.
“In a division that is growing as fast as we are, lean methods are
helping us get the most out of our facilities and allow us to meet increased
demands on our resources, while we plan future additions,” states
Bill Brown. The Denver Division of YESCO plans on working further with
CAMT to maintain the improvements made thus far, to increase workflow
on their plant floor, and to develop a more modern scheduling system consistent
with the lean methodology.
Results:
- Reduced lead time from order to production by four days
- Reduced design time by four days
- Reduced code research time by one week