Case Study – Breakthrough Performance with Lightning Speed Lean

The Riggs Fellowship Team from Harvey Mudd College (HMC) was invited by two companies to conduct a 10 week lean transformation in order to improve the production and efficiency of their plants. Prior to the teams' arrival, the companies had a large backlog, an excessive amount of inventory, and extensive machine downtime. By the end of the project, the Riggs Fellows were able to incorporate significant changes such as a full line relayout with an efficient flow, a new cell design, and reduced changeover procedures using principles of SMED and kaizen. The team also focused their attention on empowering employees and transforming both companies' culture so that it centralizes around problem-solving. These changes to the companies' production lines required under $100,000 of investment and resulted in over $600,000 saved annually.