Can you tell a difference?

Here are some before & after photos sent to us by Don Nelson, our Lean Advocate at the Martinsville Nationwide location:

Before...

And after...

It's looks just a little bit different in there now, huh?

Nationwide Again

Yesterday, I visited the home base of Nationwide Custom Homes in Martinsville, VA. I saw many of the same things that I saw in the Siler City plant, which makes sense since they adopted the building practices of Martinsville when they converted to a Nationwide plant. Here are some observations from Martinsville:

• When the homes come off the end of the assembly line, they are complete. There is no outside rework area, nor is there a "finish-out" plant like in Siler City. This puts a lot of stress on the line. Whenever a home has a unusual feature (for example, wood interior wall panels instead of drywall), it can delay completion of the home. This means that the line can stop, because the house can't leave the plant unfinished. Since everybody on the line knows that the house can't be worked on outside the plant, there is a sense of urgency to fix these problems to avoid line stoppage.


• They have a components plant located between the two main assembly plants. This component plant produces floor joists, trusses, etc. for the main line. Components are built to order (not stocked) and delivered to the main assembly plants in a just-in-time manner. Siler City does this also, but their component processes are located right next to their internal customers, in the same work space essentially. In Martinsville, the material has to travel a pretty good distance to reach its interal customer.


• One of the assembly plants is a "shotgun" line and the other is a "side-saddle" line (similar to what most of our plants have). The first thing I noticed was the ample space that exists on the shotgun line. This makes it much easier to work safely and to get material closer to the point of use.


• Both Siler City and Martinsville set the roofs earlier on in the production line than most of our plants. Typically, the main structure of the home (floor, walls, roof) is intact at the point on the line where we'd typically be just setting the walls. As an added bonus, much of the shingle work is already done before this point. Having the main structure complete so early allows the secondary structural installations (electrical, drywall, exteriors, etc.) to get started in time to finish before the home reaches the end of the line.

Both our Martinsville and Siler City plants are interesting to observe. They make use of common-sense practices and take extra time to check quality. That being said, they're still not Lean. As stated in my post yesterday, many opportunities still exist to improve the flow of work within all of the Nationwide plants.

Fortunately, the management team at Nationwide seems to have embraced Lean as the best option for drastically improving the productivity and flexibility of their production line. Martinsville has a Lean Advocate, Don Nelson, that has a combination of Lean knowledge (he's a Lean Six Sigma black belt) and manufactured housing savvy (former manager at Crestline). The VP of Operations, Tommy Rakes, is a Lean enthusiast, so I expect any barriers to improvement to be knocked down with zeal. I look forward to seeing their success.

It Ain't Just Racin' Country Anymore!

Siler City, NC is in the middle of nowhere, unless you're a NASCAR reporter looking to interview some hard-core fans. Stuck in this hinterland between Winston-Salem and Raleigh-Durham is a Nationwide factory ran by Andrew Snuggs. According to the stories, this plant used to struggle quite a bit. Then, the facility was converted over to a Nationwide plant.

First, the factory was renovated. Then, Nationwide building practices were implemented. Now, all of the quality checks and common-sense practices that are hallmarks of Nationwide are faithfully executed by Andrew and his team. Siler City has become a positive example of how a modular assembly line should operate. Here are some highlights from what I observed:

• Components (floor joists, trusses, etc.) are cut, notched, bored, etc. right next to where they will be used, and are only produced for specific orders (not for stock).


• Interior walls are framed and the wall panels are installed on the same table by the same people. This eliminates the inventory (waste) that exists in the typical configuration of most of our plants, where the framing and panel installation are done on different tables by different people. This inventory takes up space, necessitates the double-handling of the framed walls, and increases the overall lead time for an interior wall.


• Wall-builders and wall-setters are part of the same work group. If the wall-setters get behind, the wall-builders will help them catch up instead of overproducing walls (waste). This helps deal with the problem of cycle time imbalance that exists on our main assembly lines.


• The homes are low to the ground, which makes them easier and safer to enter and exit. They are also flat and level, which is preferable to the cambered floors that we work on in many plants.


• Shingles are installed in the roof build department, which is safer and more efficient that doing it after the roof is set.


• The house is leveled, measured for squareness, and certified by the QC inspector before the exterior wall sheathing is installed. Also, sheathing is installed on the marriage lines to increase the rigidity of the home, which prevents drywall cracking.


• Drywall is not mudded until the sheathing is installed, to prevent cracking.


• Drywall finishing is done prior to installation of cabinets, appliances, etc. which makes the process more productive.


• Windows and doors are not stocked, but ordered per house. The downside of this is the lead time from the supplier. The upside is reduced inventory levels, smaller space requirements, flexibility in ordering anything the customer wants, and less D&O risk.


• After the home is structurally complete, it moves to a "finish-out" plant where cabinets, appliances, etc. are installed. This area is free of the noise, debris, and distractions that are necessarily present in the main plant. I would think that this environment is more conducive to the finishing work that has to be done to make a house aesthetically pleasing.

All that being said, I still wouldn't classify them as Lean. Some of the work flows looks like spaghetti, some areas of the plant are a little disorganized, and visual control isn't evident throughout. Fortunately, their culture and leadership is quite conducive to a successful implementation of Lean. They have already performed excellent introductory training for ALL associates, and are committed to continuously learning more. Lean homebuilding may not replace NASCAR as the object of obsession for this region, but I think we've got a shot at #2.