Contact: Phyllis Levine at 845.896.6934 X3001 or by Email
“Going Lean” To Produce Military Supplies By Frank Duvergne
“For the past ten years, we’ve been manufacturing cabinets and racks for the U.S. Department of Defense. It’s mandatory that every product we make meets several environmental requirements that often exceed the most rigid demands of the military and industrial markets. With increased demand for our products, our challenge was to find ways to streamline our operations and cut our costs.”
These are comments by Serge Seguin, President and Owner of two top-ranked military supply manufacturing firms, 901D and Shock Tech Inc., in Tallman, New York. These two sister companies build cabinets, racks, consoles and enclosures to protect and hold military electronics equipment and computer screens against harsh environments such as shock, vibration, thermal temperature management, cabling and power management.
Shock Tech, Inc. and 901D are full service engineering and manufacturing firms that provide innovative, cost effective solutions and packaging systems for the use of TRUE COTS equipment under all MIL standards for the Navy, Army, Marines and Air Force. 901D takes its name from the standard MIL-S-901D. Shock Tech designs and manufactures shock- and vibration-isolation systems for military and industrial applications and is considered the market leader in the field. Their products are present in virtually every U.S. Army HUMVEE and a large number of U.S. Air Force planes.
As General Manager for both Shock Tech, Inc. (STI) and 901D since the beginning of 2007, one of my roles has been to help them ‘go lean’ by helping to oversee training of employees in Lean 101 and Value Stream Mapping for better productivity and profitability. Lean 101 and Value Stream Mapping are proven methodologies for significantly saving productivity dollars by streamlining operations. Lean helps a company find areas of daily operations that are non-productive or hindering overall productivity. By eliminating these areas, we will save both precious time and money.
To implement the Lean training, we realized that we needed guidance from an outside consulting agency. After receiving a 37L Building Skills Grant from New York State (BUSINYS) in 2006, we sought guidance to train our 75 employees from the not-for-profit business resource center, HVTDC, the Hudson Valley Technology Development Center (HVTDC) in Fishkill, New York. Thomas G. Phillips, Sr., HVTDC Executive Director, states that HVTDC’s forte is in Lean training. “Lean is a well-proven methodology that significantly helps staff members in any type of company or operation to work faster, more efficiently, and more profitably. We train employees to work better without jeopardizing the quality of products or services they provide.”
HVTDC is well known throughout the Hudson Valley for its award-winning work of helping manufacturing, technology-based and small to mid-sized companies and organizations adopt new business practices in order to grow. As one of ten regional technology development centers funded cooperatively through the NYS Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation (formerly NYSTAR) and the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST), they are known for helping companies and organizations work more efficiently, effectively and profitably by streamlining daily operations.
Lean training began for 901D with “5S” training of key production floor managers plus instruction in Value Stream Mapping for engineering staff members. “5S” training is designed to accelerate a company’s product and service flow while achieving and sustaining clean, safe and organized workplaces. The 5S’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. Managers at 901D and ShockTech have reported a number of impressive, tangible results to date from the training. “Our production floor is much cleaner, and productivity has increased by 15%.”
Earlier in 2007, Value Stream Mapping teams of staff members reviewed specific processes in their production lines, and then they mapped out each step taken to complete each process. Those teams mapped current operational processes, or the current value stream, and identified steps required to put actual value into producing the company’s products. They analyzed and recorded how long each step took, then determined where the most time, or non-value added resources, was being applied, and they eliminated counter-productive steps. The teams also mapped out what the future process should look like so they could plan where they want to get lean, and how they’re going to continue to reach their goals.
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.
About Frank Duvergne:
After graduating from the Ecole Nationale Superieure de l'Aeronautique et de l’Espace in Toulouse, France in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering, and a Master of Science in Computer Science in 1990, Frank Duvergne became a Research Assistant with the Center for Space Research at the University of Texas in Austin between 1990 and 1992. He returned to France in 1993 to work as a Project Manager with the French Defense Procurement Agency in Paris for three years. In 1996 he joined the United States Navy's International Program Office in San Diego where he worked as a European Program Coordinator in the division jointly developed by France, the U.S.A., Germany, Italy and Spain to procure military communication equipment (MIDS).
From 2000 to 2006, he was Vice President of Operations for 901D, LLC in Tallman, New York, and in 2007, he was promoted to General Manager working directly with the President of both 901D and Shock Tech, Inc. Frank Duvergne oversees all day-to-day operations from manufacturing, quality assurance, and purchasing to customer management, IT department, and supply chain management. He is proficient in interfacing with regulatory/government entities, communicating on multi-cultural and multi-lingual levels, and he possesses a proven track record in international environments. 901D customers include all of the major military prime contractors, and Frank Duvergne has a much-admired ability to effectively work and communicate with them all.