New Flyers Industries

New Flyer Industries Site Tour Report

May 20th, 2017

New Flyer Industries Background

New Flyers Industries (NFI) was founded in 1930 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Since it’s founding, company has grown to become one of the leading bus manufacturers globally. Currently their headquarters are located in Winnipeg, and have factories in Winnipeg, Canada, Crookston and St. Cloud, MN, Anniston, AL, Jamestown, NY, United States. Due to various trade agreements between Canada and the United States, New flyer was required for 60% of its busses to be built in the US, leading the opening of the two facilities based out of the United States. Throughout the years, NFI has realized the potential behind lean management systems and implemented them throughout the entire company. In this report we will discuss NFI’s implementation and success of their lean operations at their Winnipeg factory.

Operational Excellence at Winnipeg Factory

To assess the implementation of NFI’s lean practices, the company allowed a group of fellow students and myself to attend a tour of the facility. A team leader, Joey, who had worked at NFI for 27 years, gave the tour. He was a Six Sigma yellow belt and had the basic understandings of what a lean operation was and how it was incorporated at NFI.

As Joey was a team leader and not an executive or director of lean operations, he was unfortunately unable to give information of NFI’s incorporation and implementation of lean. The tour however was very informative in that it provided many examples of lean practices and how they were developed.

Before the tour started, all of the students including myself had gathered in the main hallway where there were already a few examples of operational excellence. The station for punching in and out was directly inside the main employee entrance, facilitating the tracking of labor hours for the company (See Appendix A, i.). Another example were charts and info graphics posted on a bulletin board, this was directly outside of the workers change rooms so that once workers first arrive they’re able to see the operations efficiency before even getting on the floor. Leading out onto the shop floor there are clear lines showing where one can walk safely. This allows for forklifts to operate in a designated area without constantly needing to slow down for those walking past. These walkways also serve a dual purpose in that in the cold months, employees can walk around the designated areas for exercise, 4 laps of the facility equal to one mile.

Each manufacturing section is called a cell. In each cell there are cell leaders from various departments such as stock management, engineering, and a leader who is specialized in the manufacturing section. At each cell there are overhanging signs stating who the leaders are in each cell, allowing for anyone to be able to quickly find the leader they’re looking for (See Appendix A, ii.). These cells and individuals from differing departments allows for standardized work throughout operations. At all workstations there is an Andon system (See Appendix A, iii.) of noise and lights that alerts the management that there is a problem that needs attention. This allows for the problem to be solved quickly and allow for further development towards true north. Each department has their own board showing their KPIs, an example of this would be that of the painting section having a KPI of having less than 10% error for specific parts (See Appendix A, iv.).

New Flyer Industries is a great example of a company striving for perfection, their own true north. Currently they are implementing sustainable lean management throughout the company by training their leaders. Joey, the tour guide, mentioned that all cell leaders are trained in six sigma before they’re allowed to be promoted. This ensures that any management position will have some idea of what lean is and how to achieve it. NFI promotes development within so that the employees carry through the core values of the company throughout every day. This inside development ensures that there is a sense of ownership within the company, that the employees will care for and develop processes further. NFI reminds its employees about its core values at every turn, whether in the exit or an office space, these values are written on the walls (See Appendix A, v.). These aspects of NFI lean operations give reason to believe that the company is on a path to sustainable lean manufacturing.