Beyond the Shingo: Employee development plus increased efficiency fosters growth at AccuRounds

Beyond the Shingo: EmployeeDevelopment Plus Increased EfficiencyFosters Growth at AccuRounds MICHAEL MCCORMICK

AccuRounds, a profitable, family-run precisionmanufacturing subcontractor, began investigatinglean techniques in the mid-1990s, when its own-ers realized the company had to find ways to en-gage and empower its workforce if it was to notonly weather the economic and technological chal-lenges it faced, but also continue to grow andprosper. Despite being a subtier supplier withouta product of its own, the firm captured a North-east Shingo Prize Silver Medal for its achievements,and then used feedback from the judges to insti-tute additional physical and operational changes,including value stream mapping and an employeebonus program. The resulting improvements in de-livery, quality, and cost prove that even a con-tract manufacturer can reap great rewards from thediligent application of lean strategies. © 2011 WileyPeriodicals, Inc.

Can a contract manufacturer with no in-house prod-ucts successfully adopt and actively maintain leanprinciples designed to eliminate waste in the man-ufacture of a product where processes are continu-ally repeated? Despite the fact that it does not makea proprietary product, AccuRounds of Avon, Mas-sachusetts, has not only gone lean, but also cap-tured the 2006 Northeast Shingo Prize Silver Medalfor its efforts—the first contract manufacturer inNorth America to earn this level of excellence. Moreimportant, after the award ceremonies ended, Ac-cuRounds demonstrated the real value of its newapproach to continuous improvement by using theShingo Prize committee’s recommendations as inspi-ration to institute numerous physical and culturalchanges that have increased sales, improved quality,

and enhanced delivery performance—all while low-ering manufacturing costs.

The Challenges of Going Lean in a ContractMachining EnvironmentEstablished in 1976, AccuRounds is a second-generation, family-owned business that manufac-tures precision cylindrical components to customerspecifications. Its clients include firms in the medi-cal, defense, aerospace, semiconductor, and oil/gasindustries. Although AccuRounds has always main-tained a solid reputation in the manufacturing com-munity, its managers realized that staying with whatworks does not guarantee long-term success. Asthe economics and politics of the new global econ-omy began devouring many historically successfulcompanies during the 1990s, the managers at Ac-cuRounds recognized the danger to survival of theirown plant, which relies on strong continued com-merce in the contract machining industry.

The job shop or contract machining business modelgenerally sells to original equipment manufacturers(OEMs) as a tier I or tier II supplier. These shopsmake components that specifically comply with cus-tomers’ design requirements. Contract machiningmay involve one part, several parts, or even sub-assemblies that eventually go into finished productsor devices. Most of the work that these manufac-turers perform is via a contract award or purchaseorder. Thus, the survival of the business dependson the ability to manage the key elements of qual-ity, delivery, and cost. Because of the relatively openmarket, competition can be fierce. For a company

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Global Business and Organizat ional Excel lence • DOI : 10.1002/ joe .21402 • November/December 2011 27

to succeed, it has to outperform the other players inthose three areas.

Working as a subtier supplier in a high-tech set-ting is quite different from producing a product lineover which a company has full design control. Sincethe costs of patent ownership, copyrights, and de-sign engineering are rarely included in pricing orprofit structure, revenue primarily is generated fromthe ability to manufacture and assemble mechanicalcomponents better, faster, and at a lower cost thanthe competition. Subcontract operations often findthemselves falling into the trap of basing their entirebusiness plan on one market segment or even onemajor customer. Changing technology, shifting mar-kets, and inevitable competition eventually catch up.Other shops might be satisfied with a status quo inwhich a certain basic level of product quality oramount of service faux pas are built into their ef-forts to keep costs down. In such cases, customerdemands and poor reputation can hamper success.To grow their business, other subcontractors mightbe tempted to delve into processes outside their abil-ity or comfort zone. Ultimately unmanageable, suchgrowth can end up doing more harm than good.

AccuRounds has been able to avoid such pitfalls,thanks in part to a diverse customer base that in-cludes a variety of industries and companies withineach market sector. If a particular industry or cus-tomer experiences a severe downturn in business, theimpact is not great to AccuRounds. AccuRounds fo-cuses on the manufacture of round components, pri-marily less than 3 inches in diameter and requiringthe fine finishes and close tolerances that the com-bination of precision machining and grinding couldprovide. Maintaining the highest-quality standards,the company has built a solid reputation, earningbusiness from customers worldwide.

Implementing a lean strategy poses a challenge tocontract manufacturers that do not make a singletypical product and, therefore, do not use standard-ized layouts, tools, or infrastructure. In servicing

customer needs at AccuRounds, it is not unusualfor many different jobs to run through a single workcenter or for an unexpected job to arrive via a phonecall or an e-mail. Some companies view such an envi-ronment as the “reason why lean won’t work in ourshop” and use it as an excuse to avoid even trying.

Implementing a lean strategy poses a challenge tocontract manufacturers that do not make a singletypical product and, therefore, do not use standard-ized layouts, tools, or infrastructure.

The Quest to Drive Strategic ChangeWhen the AccuRounds managers realized thatstrategic change was necessary to ensure the con-tinued success of the firm, they conducted researchthrough the National Tooling and MachiningAssociation and used other industry networkingchannels to find a reputable consulting firm withthe ability to help the organization embark on anew path. The consultant correctly identified theAccuRounds workforce as the company’s most valu-able asset. Thus, the first order of business was toschedule unprecedented off-site training sessions inworld-class manufacturing for everyone in the com-pany. These courses were held off-site to demon-strate the importance of the training and to get thecomplete attention of all the participants.

Employee input led to the development of the newprogram named The Quest, and a steering com-mittee with a rotating roster of management andshop-floor members was formed. The most notice-able change that The Quest called for was the rear-rangement of all the plant equipment into cells whilea new floor and a new ceiling were installed—clearsigns to employees and customers that things wereindeed changing at AccuRounds.

The vulnerable nature of the contract businessin which AccuRounds was engaged soon became

28 November/December 2011 Global Business and Organizat ional Excel lenceDOI : 10.1002/ joe

apparent. The ink pump cell that had been designedaround one strong product line suddenly found it-self with no orders to fill because the printing andprepress processes that those subassemblies sup-ported were becoming obsolete. This pointed to anissue that future planning sessions would have toconsider.

Meanwhile, through the work of the steering com-mittee and various teams operating under TheQuest, many incremental changes were taking placeon the plant floor—for example, setup reduc-tion, workspace organization, and automated toolmanagement. Eventually, the emphasis on cellu-lar function was replaced with one on continuousinvestment in the latest machinery and technolo-gies. The newer, multi-axis equipment being broughtin was essentially an entire cell in a cabinet withcomplex machining capabilities.

Over time, as the company’s managers became ac-quainted with the Toyota Production System (TPS)championed by James Womack, Daniel Jones, andDaniel Roos in their book The Machine ThatChanged the World (1991), the focus on world-class manufacturing shifted to lean. Toyota’s successwas linked to the same continuous improvementculture that had been gradually taking hold at Ac-cuRounds. Moreover, TPS revolved around havingthe organization’s people perform key value-addedtasks, something that AccuRounds had espousedright from the start. As improvements and changesincreasingly came from the shop floor rather thanfrom formal meetings and conference rooms, thecompany’s steering committee became obsolete.

Well aware of the fact that a dedicated workforcewas essential to the success of their endeavor, theowners of AccuRounds realized that a comprehen-sive program like The Quest could not be sustainedfor long without an incentive system to reward par-ticipants for their efforts. Therefore, they crafted abonus program, dubbed the Best Practices and Im-provement Program (BPIP), to help increase revenue

and growth by addressing the factors that were mostimportant to the customer base. Since OEMs mostvalue quality, delivery, and cost when doing businesswith suppliers, these had to be the fundamentals ofthe program. And since income would dictate theavailability of compensation, sales volume neededto be the starting point for measuring growth. Thecost of manufacture in terms of labor, materials, andoperating expenses as a percentage of sales woulddictate how much would be available for the re-ward program. Historic baseline figures for qualityand delivery performance were used to establish rea-sonable targets that would demonstrate the successof The Quest. These customer-centric targets wouldneed to be met for any payout to take place. Employ-ees took more interest and ownership in operations,processes, and procedures outside their own area offocus.

Well aware of the fact that a dedicated workforcewas essential to the success of their endeavor, theowners of AccuRounds realized that a comprehen-sive program like The Quest could not be sustainedfor long without an incentive system to reward par-ticipants for their efforts.

Going for the Shingo Prize Leadsto Further ImprovementThrough the Greater Boston Manufacturing Part-nership, a nonprofit training organization helpingto strengthen industry and increase employment op-portunities in the northeastern United States, theowners of AccuRounds learned about the ShingoPrize for Operational Excellence. They viewed theprocess of seeking this award as an ideal way togauge the progress and effectiveness of The Questprogram and to help discover additional ways toimprove the business so that it could remain com-petitive and grow. If the company were to win aprize, the bonus might be recognition that could

Global Business and Organizat ional Excel lence November/December 2011 29DOI : 10.1002/ joe

potentially lead to new business opportunities. Inter-nally, involvement in such a well-regarded and com-prehensive process might also help stimulate moreshop-floor interaction and foster a higher level ofactive participation.

From the Shingo auditors’ perspective, judging acompany like AccuRounds presented some uniquechallenges. In 2006 there was very little historyof contract manufacturers applying for this award.Thus, there was no similar benchmark for themto compare AccuRounds to. Clouding the pictureeven more was the fact that varying customer de-mands were often contrary to lean principles, suchas batch deliveries and restrictive limits to processalterations. Plus, each work center at AccuRoundswas strapped with near-constant demand changesand none of the standardization that might be evi-dent in producing a consistent product line. Every-day life at the facility was not akin to everyday lifeat most of the other operations that the Shingo au-ditors had judged. Nonetheless, there was enoughevidence that lean systems were taking hold. Im-provements in quality, delivery, and productivity re-flected the application of continuous improvementand waste-reduction efforts. Specifically, the audi-tors noted many successes with 5S activity, quickand easy kaizens, strategic planning, and solid com-munication through tiered meetings. As a result,in 2006 AccuRounds was awarded the NortheastShingo Prize Silver Medal.

Although the judges were pleased with lean prin-ciple adoption, progress, and interim results at Ac-cuRounds, they noted that there was still room forimprovement. Among their comments:

� “Velocity through the shop from batch reductioncan come from value stream mapping” (VSM).

� “Many opportunities exist that the value streammap would uncover.”

� “They should begin to apply VSM to productionprocess quickly, review their cell structure to re-ally take advantage of a pull philosophy.”

� “A potential area of process innovation that hasnot been exploited is that of making speed a realcompetitive weapon in the marketplace. Perhapsthe arrangement of equipment and cells couldbe better organized to reduce lead time and re-ally take advantage of a simulated one-piece flowbased on a market demand takt time.”

� “Go deeper with the value stream maps as soonas possible and post where the workers can see it.This is by far one of the most powerful and visualtools to go after waste.”

AccuRounds clearly had its marching orders towardthe value stream mapping concept. According tothe auditors, if AccuRounds altered its methodol-ogy, “the creativity of the employees would con-tinue on a greater slope and the benefits would growdramatically.”

The judges also noted, however, that in their effortstoward continuous improvement throughout the or-ganization, the folks at AccuRounds sometimes mayhave gotten in over their heads:

� “Linking projects to company goals with a mea-surable result seemed to be missing from the cur-rent management by objective.”

� “There were so many goals and initiatives thatI could not tell what was important to the busi-ness.”

� “The strategic planning process seems to be a bitcomplex.”

� “They seem to be focusing on the application oftools (utilize manufacturing technology and leanpractices) rather than adopting the principles ofthe lean enterprise to drive the organization.”

That last comment, in particular, hit home. Ac-cuRounds certainly was not looking to be super-ficial in its adoption of lean. The tools of a leanorganization were evident. The expected resultsof the lean enterprise were understood. The obser-vation that there might be a disconnect between thetwo meant that there would be more work to do


and, more important, that it could pay additionaldividends.

Although it is natural to react defensively to criti-cism, the employees of AccuRounds did not adoptthat position. Instead, the company’s owners andmanagers willingly accepted the input of the Shingojudging panel.

For AccuRounds, this gap analysis proved to be thereal prize received from the Shingo competition ex-perience. The judging identified the need to stream-line flow wherever possible on the shop floor. Forthe company to benefit from the critique, a great dealof planning had to take place, and every employeeneeded to have a say in the metamorphosis. Divid-ing the manufacturing process into the efficient valuestreams that the Shingo judges had espoused seemedthe most apt strategy to ensure growth. Although itis natural to react defensively to criticism, the em-ployees of AccuRounds did not adopt that position.Instead, the company’s owners and managers will-ingly accepted the input of the Shingo judging panel.

Benchmarking Points the Firm in a New DirectionAccuRounds was now at another critical point. Asnoted, in 2006 and 2007 there were no other con-tract manufacturers to consult with that could pro-vide ideas or a template for addressing the inputfrom the Shingo judges. Therefore, the teams thatwere set up to research the possible options hadto network with enterprises in much different linesof business. The company’s receipt of the North-east Shingo Prize Silver Medal lent it the credibilityto initiate reciprocal plant tours with a number ofcompanies that were also implementing lean strate-gies. The difficulty in observing how other opera-tions have incorporated continuous improvement isin visualizing the commonalities between two to-tally disparate businesses. The improvement team

members at AccuRounds kept their focus by recall-ing that Toyota, whose TPS they were trying to em-ulate, was not a contract manufacturer either.

One local well-recognized company that had hadsuccess with implementing lean principles was NewBalance, an athletic shoe manufacturer. There wassome skepticism when AccuRounds employees ini-tially visited its Lawrence, Massachusetts, plant.After all, what would a contract manufacturer beable to learn from a sneaker company? During thetour, the AccuRounds visitors learned that New Bal-ance had reduced the time it took to produce a pairof specialty shoes—something the firm does quiteoften—from nine days to four hours. As PatrickO’Connell, the AccuRounds vice president of op-erations who was on that tour, said, “With that rev-elation, we realized that these guys do what we do.We didn’t want to know how to make shoes better.We wanted to know how to manage our process bet-ter.” The tour guides at New Balance credited DavidMann’s book Creating a Lean Culture (2005) as asignificant inspiration for their success.

As the Shingo judge had observed, AccuRounds wasusing many of the common lean tools but was notbringing the total package together. At this juncture,AccuRounds would have to craft its own version ofwhat it meant to be lean, and Mann’s book wouldhelp with the blueprint.

Value Stream Mapping Gets the Company MovingOnce AgainWhen planning the next phase of its transformation,AccuRounds found additional direction in Chapter5 of Jim Collins’s book Good to Great (2001),inwhich he suggests that company leaders ask them-selves two basic questions: What can we be the bestin the world at? What can we be passionate about?

Since its inception, AccuRounds had an underly-ing, if not always written, mission and a very goodhandle on what the company did and why. The


current mission is “to be a role model for US man-ufacturing.” Nonetheless, self-analysis—in the formof in-depth soul searching, research, and additionalbenchmarking—was not going to be easy. The infor-mation gleaned at this stage was essential to layingthe groundwork for value stream mapping or anyother physical or cultural changes.

If New Balance was able to create several valuestreams for its outwardly similar products, certainlyAccuRounds could map its shop’s product flow.First, a team was formed to clearly define howvalue was being added to the products that Ac-cuRounds produced for its customers, bearing inmind previous lessons learned (remember those inkpumps!) and the pace at which high-tech manu-facturing was moving. Consisting of management,engineers, and operators, the team participated ina weeklong kaizen event. Extensive analysis deter-mined that value streams could not be set up to servespecific customers, specific markets, or even specificproducts. The processes at AccuRounds fell into twobasic value streams, and would most likely continuethat way:

1. Products that started as raw material and werefinished to customer requirements in a single step

2. Work that required multiple steps, secondary op-erations, or subcontracted activities, such as heattreating and plating

A division of resources in this manner would tran-scend the inevitable changes in customer base, prod-uct types, markets, materials, and processes thatwere seen in the past or might be seen in the future.

To make operations more efficient, the shop’sequipment would have to be moved once more. Allemployees were directly involved in planning theplacement of equipment into value streams. Elec-tricians and riggers were brought in to positionmachinery as the employees had designated. Per-haps the only item that was not moved in this

transformation was the Shingo Prize banner proudlydisplayed on the shop wall.

Taking a Four-Pronged Approach to CultureChangeIn Creating a Lean Culture, David Mann (2005)emphasizes four key elements to a lean environ-ment. They would become central to post-Shingotransformation at AccuRounds: daily accountabil-ity (reasons for misses), leader standard work, visualcontrols, and leadership discipline.

The physical changes that took place—the visi-ble before and after—not only were far-reaching,but also enabled the more significant and crucialtransformation that was to take place. In a radi-cal departure from typical organizational structure,the quality department was divided into two sep-arate functional units, each supporting a differentvalue stream. The engineering staff also assumed in-dividual value stream roles, and shipping and receiv-ing personnel became value stream members, too.Perhaps the most important change was the assign-ment of sales personnel to the value streams. Thiscompleted the direct link to the customer that wouldbe critical to efficient information flow. Once thesevalue streams were in place, each with a value streamleader and two value stream coordinators, the oper-ation was ready to focus on the process, which wasthe only place where value was added to customers’products.

The physical changes that took place—the visiblebefore and after—not only were far-reaching, butalso enabled the more significant and crucial trans-formation that was to take place.

Any improvement effort had to begin on theshop floor and start with daily accountability. The


machine operators and setup personnel reportedoutput, progress, and problems on an hourly basis.When targets were not met or if trouble was evident,the coordinator was responsible for helping with asolution or involving the value stream leader so thatthe proper resources could be provided. This was akey element in creating leader standard work. Thismeant that people and equipment resources were tobe efficiently used to add value to customer prod-ucts with less waste. The coordinators entered theoutput, schedule, and progress of each key shopresource onto large white boards in central areas.These served as visual controls for all to see andreact to when necessary.

The reporting initially produced an avalanche ofdata, especially in “reasons for misses.” The resolu-tion of these misses involved more leader standardwork for coordinators; value stream leaders; oper-ations, engineering, maintenance, and quality per-sonnel; and others. Once categorized, this input soonconfirmed the Pareto principle that 80 percent of theproblems emanated from 20 percent of the causes.This data gave AccuRounds some low-hanging fruitto go after in improving shop-floor efficiencies, qual-ity, and throughput. In the past, AccuRounds mighthave sat back and waited for bigger issues to beresolved before tackling these problems. But withcontinuous improvement and waste reduction nowa part of its culture, AccuRounds continuously an-alyzes reasons for misses as an important part of itsleadership discipline.

The culture shifts were not all shop-floor-specific.One of the tougher paradigms to break in both pri-vately held and publicly held organizations can bethe sometimes all-consuming focus on monthly salesfigures, which can foster short-term decision mak-ing. The classic example would be making a sched-ule change to finish a big-dollar project to “makethe month” even if this were an inefficient use ofresources or if other customer obligations might becompromised. AccuRounds was once just as guiltyas any business in that regard. It did not take much

reflection to realize that a smooth, efficient sched-ule would be easier to manage internally and wouldbetter serve every customer. The revenue would stillbe there, with margin gains made through a better-organized utilization of personnel and equipment.

One of the tougher paradigms to break in bothprivately held and publicly held organizations canbe the sometimes all-consuming focus on monthlysales figures, which can foster short-term decisionmaking.

Raising Awareness Throughout the PlantThe empowerment that characterizes a lean envi-ronment requires a significant amount of informa-tion to be disseminated throughout the shop. To dothis efficiently, each value stream conducts a dailystand-up huddle to report on the progress of both thevalue stream and the company overall, the applica-ble news of the day, activity on target improvementproject action items, ideas and suggestions, reasonsfor misses, and any other data that would be ofinterest. In each value stream area, this same infor-mation is posted onto white boards that include anopen idea section. Here, anyone can post an idea fordiscussion and action. A monthly all-hands meet-ing, which employees named the POWER meeting(for People Opportunity Work Excellence Results),covers important communications and other news-worthy topics.

Invariably, one of these mechanisms will uncoveran issue that sparks questions, solutions, suggestionsfor changes, or other input from the shop floor. Dur-ing the annual managers’ meeting, when the entireorganization is asked to participate in the SWOT(strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) anal-ysis, the contributions are remarkable. Everyonein the company is now so well versed in its ac-tivities and accomplishments that plant tours are


Exhibit 1. AccuRounds Five-Year Cost of Quality Analysis

0.90%0.93%

0.97%

1.14%

1.01%

0.79%

-17.5%

11.4%

21.8%

-3.3%

-26.7%

-12.2%

12.2%

-4.3%

-7.8%

0.00%

0.20%

0.40%

0.60%

0.80%

1.00%

1.20%

1.40%

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

SA

LE

S

-30%

-20%

-10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

% C

HA

NG

E

Total COQ

Yearly % Change

Cum % Change

often conducted by machine operators rather thansales personnel or upper management. Lean em-powerment and the philosophy of continuous im-provement have created a workforce of managers,all focused on improvement, waste reduction, andgrowth. Today, the underlying philosophy at Ac-cuRounds can be summarized as:

HD + S⇔G

That is, human development plus speed enablesgrowth, and vice versa.

AccuRounds Gets Tough on Itself—and ReapsImpressive RewardsBefore its adoption of a lean culture, North-east Shingo success, and application of world-class

manufacturing principles, AccuRounds was highlyregarded for its service and quality. The company’sexemplary BPIP performance numbers in these twocategories were met with praise from customers andvarious awards from suppliers. In the spirit of con-tinuous improvement, AccuRounds closely analyzedhow these figures were generated.

Nonconformances that were discovered by thequality department, downstream operations, orcustomers had always been recorded as scrap.The administrative costs of this element also wereincluded in calculating the real cost of quality. Ob-servations on the shop floor by managers and others,however, sometimes revealed unreported scrap sit-ting in a metal chip bucket or a trash can. These wereparts that the operators culled when monitoring


Exhibit 2. AccuRounds Five-Year On-Time Delivery Analysis

88.5%

86.5%

91.2%

96.6%

89.0%

94.8%

2.9%2.5%

3.9%

1.9%

-2.3%

0.6%

3.1%

7.1%

9.2%

80.0%

82.0%

84.0%

86.0%

88.0%

90.0%

92.0%

94.0%

96.0%

98.0%

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

SA

LE

S

-4%

-2%

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

% C

HA

NG

E

Total OTD

Yearly % Change

Cum % Change

Exhibit 3. AccuRounds Five-Year Sales Analysis

6,549,266

8,148,4798,029,784

7,240,478

8,936,712

10,773,660

9.7%

-10.1% -9.8%

48.8%

10.6%

64.5%

24.4%

36.5%

22.6%

6,000,000

6,500,000

7,000,000

7,500,000

8,000,000

8,500,000

9,000,000

9,500,000

10,000,000

10,500,000

11,000,000

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

SA

LE

S

-20%

-10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

% C

HA

NG

E

Total Sales

Yearly % Change

Cum % Change


Exhibit 4. AccuRounds Five-Year BPIP Cost Analysis

80.1%

77.6%77.4%

82.7%82.9%

74.5%

0.3%

-6.8%

-0.2%

10.1%

3.1%3.4%

-3.2%-3.5%

7.0%

70.0%

72.0%

74.0%

76.0%

78.0%

80.0%

82.0%

84.0%

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

SA

LE

S

-8%

-6%

-4%

-2%

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

% C

HA

NG

E

Total BPIP Cost

Yearly % Change

Cum % Change

their process. Rather than treat this as a necessarycost of doing business in a close tolerance environ-ment, operators began including all this waste in thecompany’s reporting. This became another sourceof data that revealed process issues that the sup-port teams could address. Various tactics, such asplanned tool changes to avoid excess wear, wereemployed to prevent such waste. Greater shop-floorawareness of the potential cost of excess scrap mayhave been the most rewarding result of these efforts.Instead of going up, as was expected with the imple-mentation of these tighter controls, the cost of scrapactually went down (see Exhibit 1 on page 34).

In a similar analysis of the paradigms involvingdelivery performance, the close partnership thatAccuRounds had with its customers created a

somewhat false sense of satisfaction on both sides.It was not all that unusual for a product’s deliverydate to be renegotiated with an apologetic phonecall when things were falling behind. In cases whenthe customer did not need the items at the moment,there was no harm, no foul; however, Joe Barry,vice president of sales, saw this practice as a crutch.“We should measure ourselves on initial promisedate only,” he insisted. That philosophy—quite adeparture from business as usual—now permeatesboth value streams. As a result, delivery performancenumbers did not go down as expected, but ratherrose to record levels (see Exhibit 2 on page 35). Theshop’s improvements were not achieved throughinventory padding, but with better planning andscheduling and more downstream partnering withmaterial and service providers.


Through these physical, cultural, operational, andphilosophical changes, along with hundreds of otherrelated improvements, AccuRounds is achievingwhat it set out to do years earlier. Not only doesthe company remain a viable precision machiningoperation, but it also continues to grow and is hir-ing to support that growth. As shown in Exhibit 3on page 35, AccuRounds has broken sales records,beating tough, self-imposed quality and deliverygoals along the way. Fully immersed in the lean wayof working, employees recently enjoyed the largestBPIP payout ever (see Exhibit 4).

AccuRounds continues to demonstrate to its man-ufacturing peers, customers, and industry that leanworks. And the firm continues to strive toward itscore purpose: to be a role model for US manu-facturing. Each organization that evolves as leanhas to travel its own path. That path is notsmooth, straight, or downhill. And, because im-provement is continuous, the journey does notend. But many rewards are to be found along theway.

ReferencesCollins, J. (2001). Good to great. New York: HarperBusiness.

Mann, D. (2005). Creating a lean culture. New York: Pro-ductivity Press.

Womack, J. P., Jones, D. T., & Roos, D. (1991). The machinethat changed the world. New York: Harper Perennial.

Additional ResourcesGreater Boston Manufacturing Partnership

UMass Boston College of Management

100 Morrissey Boulevard

McCormack Hall, Suite 5/209-211

Boston, MA 02125

Tel: (617) 287-7630

http://www.gbmp.org

LEI, Lean Enterprise Institute, Inc.

One Cambridge Center

Cambridge, MA 02142

Tel: (617) 871-2900

http://www.lean.org

National Tooling & Machining Association

6363 Oak Tree Boulevard

Independence, OH 44131

Tel: (800) 248-6862

[email protected]

Womack, J. P., & Jones, D. T. (1996). Lean thinking. New

York: Simon & Schuster.

An employee with AccuRounds in Avon, Massachusetts,since 1979, Michael McCormick is the engineering man-ager responsible for process planning and concurrentdesign engineering with customers, as well as equip-ment and facilities management. He can be reached [email protected].


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Beyond the Shingo: Employee development plus increased efficiency fosters growth at AccuRounds