CLIENT SUCCESS:  GyrusACMI
Stamford
178 employees  

Company Profile
GyrusACMI is a leader in the design and manufacture of precision optical and digital medical devices and accessories. The Stamford, Connecticut operation employs 178 in the manufacture of endoscopic and diagnostic solutions to allow urologists and gynecologists to "see and treat" patients in minimally invasive surgery.

Situation
In July 2005, ACMI Corporation was acquired by Gyrus Incorporated and formed a new identity, GyrusACMI Corporation. When the organizations merged, it was clear that Lean Manufacturing was a predominating factor in the Gyrus culture; the Stamford operations knew it needed to change from the traditional practices of batch and queue processing, however, during the first nine months, the operations struggled to launch a successful Lean initiative. Growth continued to stall with low yields, increasing costs and poor customer response.

The leadership believed the only way for Stamford's manufacturing operations to succeed was to completely overhaul the organization with new leadership passionate about Lean and with the investment in operation-wide education, training and hands-on application. This was not a simple task in a union environment as the new plan called for a culture change in order to break down the traditional hierarchy management style, empowering every employee. The new organizational model emphasized flexible, self-directed business units and training to promote the Lean transformation.

Solution
On paper, the plan seemed clear, however, the challenge was in the execution with a union that feared job elimination and a management team with limited knowledge and experience in cultivating change. GyrusACMI called on CONNSTEP's Lean Specialists and after meeting with the leadership team, CONNSTEP constructed a plan to educate all employees with Lean Awareness training and 5S instruction. Additionally, an in-house Continuous Improvement Champion Certification (CICC) Program was developed and launched in July of 2006. A team of 18 employees became CI champions - managers, team leaders, manufacturing engineers and production associates - and then, in turn, re-trained the entire employee population on the basics of Lean Manufacturing. Each training module incorporated a real-time project, allowing GyrusACMI to achieve tangible, bottom-line results, while providing employees with practical Lean Manufacturing experience.

Results
The CONNSTEP-led CICC training was just the start of the GyrusACMI Lean transformation. Through the development of internal Continuous Improvement Champions, GyrusACMI has realized gains across the operation:
  Increase in on-time delivery from less than 70% to over 95% 
  Reduction in lead time from 27 days to less than 29 hours on average 
  Steady increase in inventory turns from 2.5 times to over 5 times 
  $140K in annual savings from a reduction in overtime and excessive inventory. 
  58% reduction in space utilization saving GyrusACMI $350k annually.

In addition, the GyrusACMI Stamford Operations received the prestigious 2007 Connecticut Bronze Shingo Prize after only 15 months of Lean initiatives.  

The GyrusACMI success story (.pdf)