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Lean manufacturing courses aiding DuBois area businesses By Michele Moyer
Employees of Metaldyne Sintered Components of St. Marys, Pa., assemble parts on a mock production line as they learn hands-on the latest lean manufacturing techniques. Metaldyne sent 18 engineers, production planners and sales representatives through a six-part Lean Manufacturing series offered by Penn State DuBois Continuing Education and the Northwest Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center. From left are Dave Cheatle, Amy Timm, Lyn Delhunty and Nick Sette.	Improved efficiency and increased profitability are just two of the benefits local manufacturers may experience as the result of a new training package being offered by Penn State DuBois and the Northwest Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center (IRC).   The campus and IRC have teamed up to conduct a series of Lean Manufacturing courses designed to help local manufacturing plants remain viable in today’s increasingly competitive global market.   The courses are being offered in response to growing demand from local companies that want to adopt the lean manufacturing process, according to John Piccolo, director of Continuing Education at Penn State DuBois.   “This new partnership with the IRC makes us the primary provider of lean manufacturing training in the regional labor market served by the campus,” Piccolo said. “Lean manufacturing has been used successfully in other countries and is being adopted across the United States, with excellent results. Now, through this partnership, Penn State DuBois can offer these same techniques to local companies who want to retain and grow their share of the marketplace.”   Lean manufacturing eliminates non-value-added processes in an organization, noted John Blasdell, campus Continuing Education representative.   Most local companies use the principles of traditional batch production, he explained. They produce a product in large batches and then move these batches from one step in the process to another, creating expensive stockpiles along the way.   Lean manufacturing, just as its name implies, means doing more with less. In this technique, smaller batches of product are produced and moved in a continuous path through the manufacturing process to eliminate stockpiling after each step. It also calls for a cross-trained workforce that is empowered to make decisions on the plant floor to further increase efficiency and improve production time.   Benefits of this process are manyfold, Blasdell said.   “The application of lean techniques helps drive the company in a healthy financial direction,” he said. “Companies that adopt the lean process can reduce manufacturing lead time and the costly stockpiling of inventory; improve workmanship, on-time shipments, productivity and floor-space utilization; and increase cash flow.”   The Lean Manufacturing series being offered by Penn State DuBois and the Northwest Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center was developed by the Manufacturers Extension Partnership, an arm of the National Institute of Standards and Testing of the U.S. Department of Commerce.   Created by experts and field tested, the series offers local manufacturers a complete lean manufacturing program with a standardized curriculum that has gained national acceptance, said Howard Wilson, applications engineer for the Northwest Pennsylvania IRC and Penn State DuBois instructor for the series.   “This is a hands-on program with lots of simulations that put theory into practice,” Wilson noted.   To better serve the needs of local industry, the series is being offered two ways. Manufacturers interested in training a number of employees may choose to have the training on-site. Individuals or smaller groups may enroll in classes scheduled at the Industrial Technical Education Center (ITEC) in Ridgway.   The ITEC series features six one-day workshops held on Tuesdays. The series started in the fall with sessions on Introduction to Lean Manufacturing, Value Stream Mapping, Visual Workplace Organization and Standardization, Setup Reduction, Cellular/Flow Manufacturing and Total Productive Maintenance.   Several companies also have signed up for on-location training, Piccolo said, and the success of the series may lead to a Lean Manufacturing Certificate program to be offered in the spring.   “I truly believe that our local manufacturers will be forced to implement lean manufacturing techniques in order to compete in this fast-paced global economy, and Penn State DuBois, in partnership with the IRC, will be here to help with that transition,” Piccolo said.   More information about Lean Manufacturing courses and other training programs is available from Penn State DuBois Continuing Education at 800-346-ROAR (7627) or 814-375-4715.