Contact: Phyllis Levine at 845.896.6934 X3001 or by Email
HVTDC ASSISTS HATFIELD METALS STREAMLINE OPERATIONS
Poughkeepsie and Fishkill, New York, July, 2007 - Hatfield Metal Fabrication Inc. in Poughkeepsie (www.hatfieldmetals.com) has been woman owned since 1978 and is registered with New York State as a Woman Business Enterprise (WBE), and with the New York State Dept. of Transportation as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE). In the fall of 2006, Henry Hatfield, Vice President of Operations for Hatfield Metal Fabrications, turned to the not-for-profit business resource center the Hudson Valley Technology Development Center (HVTDC) (www.hvtdc.org) in Fishkill for Lean 101 training programs after their company obtained a NYS Department of Labor 37L grant. Owner Ann Hatfield states, “We pride ourselves on the depth of our technical knowledge, our spirit of innovation, versatility, quality workmanship, plus our on time delivery and competitive pricing. What we wanted was to get better control over our operations in order to be more competitive. Manufacturing firms face numerous cost pressures of operation and our business has been growing, so we wanted to help our employees efficiently and effectively keep up with the volume while we managed our costs.”
Founded in 1947, Hatfield Metal Fabrication Inc. has built a reputation for providing all aspects of metal production. Vertically integrated, Hatfield provides top quality custom metal fabrication, complete machine shop services, laser cutting and water jet cutting of steel, all types of welding, industrial painting and powder coating, and finishing. Backed by decades of experience, the company is staffed by seasoned veterans in the metal working industry and equipped with the latest in machining equipment technology, quality and precision. Their shop consists of departments that range from complete machine shop, sheet metal work, industrial painting, welding, and laser cutting to water jet cutting, finishing, complete ASME fabrication and repair, turret punching and more.
After receiving the grant, HVTDC Business Development Engineer, David Tooker, began educating Hatfield’s management on how HVTDC assists manufacturing, technology-based and small to mid-sized firms and organizations adopt new business practices to excel in their industries. “Our role,” explains Tooker, “is to help companies and organizations work more efficiently, effectively and profitably by educating employees on Lean Principles of Manufacturing. Lean Thinking is based on eliminating waste where employees look at every step of daily operations in an effort to streamline and improve productivity.”
Tooker initiated a comprehensive, company-wide Lean training program at Hatfield Metals with Hatch’s heralded “5-S” training program. “The objective of 5S,” Tooker explains, “is to accelerate a company’s product and service flow while achieving and sustaining clean, safe and organized workplaces. The 5-S’s equate to sorting through items; setting remaining items in order; shining or cleaning everything; standardizing the first three S’s by implementing visual displays and control; then sustaining the gains through self-discipline, training, communications and total employee involvement.”
With HVTDC’s “5-S” program and guidance, Hatfield’s employees organized their work areas, set up 5-S standards and are disciplining to sustain their areas. Presently Hatfield’s staff is mapping out what the Future State of operations should look like to realize where they want to get lean, and how to reach their goals of streamlining operations for greater profitability and competitiveness.
As part of the Value Stream Mapping’s Future State development process, Tooker is helping the Hatfield staff conduct Kaizen events. Kaizen is a Japanese term that means continuous improvement, and is taken from the words "Kai", which means continuous, and "Zen", which means improvement. Some translate 'Kai' to mean change and 'Zen' to mean good, or for the better. The events consist of the staff conducting intensive, focused approaches to Process Improvement. The results of Kaizen events can often be realized with the implementation of new methodologies within as short a period of time as one week.
“These Kaizen events,” states Henry Hatfield, “plus the 5-S program and Value Stream Mapping are all working together to move Hatfield Metals toward the next level of our business while continually striving to provide better quality and keep our costs competitive.”
To learn more about HVTDC’s Lean 101 training, please contact Phyllis Levine at 845-896-6934x3001, via email at plevine@hvtdc.org, or visit www.hvtdc.org.