Blog

Another Kaizen success for the L.E. Smith team!

On Monday March, 16th a group of 9 L.E. Smith associates spent the day tackling the total material utilization process from beginning to end.  They reviewed material opportunities across manufacturing categories including laminate countertops and solid surface countertops. The goal of the Kaizen event was to find “waste” within our processes that we could correct to better align our material expenses with our sales revenue.  The team began the day with a “Gemba Walk” through the facility, spending a couple hours observing current processes and asking questions to understand why we do things the way that we do.  After this…

Read More

Craig Francisco to speak at KBIS 2015

Craig Francisco, COO, of The L.E. Smith Company will be speaking at this year’s KBIS Voices from the Industry event in Las Vegas, NV. Craig’s topic, Improve Your Culture and Bottom Line: Kaizen Implementation Success Formula will be held in the Las Vegas Convention Center, room N223 at 4:30pm on January 21, 2015.  Craig’s seminar is aimed at helping employers to not only keep their associates engaged in this fast paced, ever changing landscape, but to also increase productivity and decrease waste.  Craig has had a great deal of experience in implementing a Kaizen based culture, most notably during his tenure…

Read More

Kaizen #5 Post Form

Kaizen #5 began Monday with a classroom presentation on LEAN Theory, Waste Identification, Visual Management, and 5S.  The team made two visits to the shop floor to identify opportunities for improvement, then were divided into teams to tackle the various areas.  This team has brought a tremendous amount of energy to the kaizen event and the end result will be a more efficient, visual and accessible Post Form department. Kiazen Team Members (left to right): Mike Kelly, Matt Bockover (kneeling), Aaron Walz, Dick Kuzmaul, Brenda Williams, Rob Caustrita, Amie Davis, Troy Zimmerman, Steve Burns, Chris Fogarty The following teams were…

Read More