Innovative use of Eaton’s LEAN and BUSINESS System improves STAKEHOLDER Success

The Eaton Electrical Low-Voltage Distribution Assembly Milton plant is in its 4th year of LEAN deployment. Milton continues to aggressively implement LEAN in order to become a world-class operation and to dramatically increase capacity and manufacturing efficiency. The culture in Milton has dramatically changed from the traditional factory atmosphere to a participative, team-focused and engaged workforce with a “can do” mentality. Milton continues to have 100% employee participation in LEAN activities and participation of employees in cross-functional problem solving teams is approaching 90% enabling employee engagement and innovation in business matters. The eight tools available through the Eaton LEAN System (ELS8) include VSM, Standard Work, 5S, Continuous Flow, Setup-Reduction, Error-Proofing, PULL, and TPM. Milton ’s leadership team has implemented a series of initiatives in order to create an environment for empowerment and innovation. The use of kaizens within ELS8 and Employee Focus Teams contribute towards this goal. ELS8 is now incorporated into the Strategic Planning process – a component of the Eaton Business System (EBS) – as a KEY SUPPORT PROCESS for the assembly/fabrication, order management, and production planning KEY VALUE CREATION PROCESSES. All Stakeholders are considered in LEAN’s Stategic Plan development and deployment in Milton including customers, employees, shareholders, suppliers, and the community/environment. The LEAN Strategic Plan in Milton also includes a short, mid, and long-term view of where LEAN needs to be and what actions are required to get there.

Milton is the Low Voltage Distribution Assembly (LVDA) plant for Eaton Electrical, Canadian Operations. Milton is located 44 kilometers west of Toronto, in Ontario, Canada. The plant was occupied in February 2001 and operates in a non-union environment of 111,000 square feet. There are 140 employees.

Milton is the main location for Eaton Electrical’ Canadian Operations Panelboard, Switchboard, Automatic Transfer Switch, and Power Distribution Unit business. Milton’s role is to customize and engineer these products, fabricate steel and copper components, plan and supply inventory to smaller satellite manufacturing facilities located in BC, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada, as well as supplying Canadian customer needs directly.

Dwayne Kolodka , Operational Excellence Manager

Dwayne holds a B.Sc. degree in Chemistry from the University of Winnipeg and a M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of North Dakota. In addition, Dwayne holds ASQ CQE and CQM certifications. His career assignments have included:

• Quality Engineer with Celestica in Toronto, ON.
• Senior Quality Engineer with Nortel Networks in Calgary, AB.
• Manufacturing Engineer for Eaton Electrical SPPC in Calgary, AB.
• Operational Excellence Manager for Eaton Electrical LVDA in Milton, ON.

Dwayne has been successful in implementing lean manufacturing processes in both production and front-end office environments through the use of PULL, 5S, VSM, Standard Work, Continuous Flow, TPM, Setup Reduction, and Error-Proofing. His advanced knowledge in quality systems has ensured that cycle time and inventory improvements have been met with equal success in quality indicators through LEAN deployment activities.

Mike Bernardo, Lean Coordinator

Mike started with Westinghouse’s electrical division in 1984, which was later purchased by Eaton in 1994. He has held a number of positions within the organization including Manufacturing Coordinator and Panelboard Product Engineer. Mike became the Milton Lean Coordinator in 2003 and has achieved Train-the-Trainer status in understanding and deployment of Eaton’s Lean System. As the Lean Coordinator, Mike has had great success in championing LEAN implementation as recognized through Milton’s accomplishments:

• Milton has achieved the highest validated LEAN system deployment score of any Eaton Electrical plant for the 3rd consecutive year.
• Recipient of the CME innovation award at the 2003 AME conference in Toronto, ON.
• Winner of the Most Improved Award in 2003 consortium Challenge.
• Featured article in Plant magazine, 2003.
• Featured in Target Innovation at Work magazine, 2004.