Press Release - Apr 24, 2008
Marathon's Lean Team
Key Players in The Lean Team, L-R: Mike Beuke,
Gene Laminack, Dusty Wilder, Calvin Kuykendall, &
Greg Leong
Value Stream. Kaizen. Journey. Cultural Change. Lean. These are just a few of the terms you will hear around Marathon these days. What is it, you ask? It is the language of Lean Enterprise, and it is all focused on one goal: to be the best.
With origins in the automotive industry and a phenomenal history of success, Lean Enterprise is slated to become the paradigm for manufacturing companies around the globe in the next 5 to 10 years. In 1950, Ford Motor Company was producing 8,000 cars per day. Toyota was only producing 40 per day. This enormous gap motivated change in the Toyota organization and today they are the largest automotive company in the world, all through creating and implementing the principles of Lean Manufacturing.
The basic philosophy of Lean is to first identify, then eliminate, waste. It is focused around waste-reduction in every process from order to cash. In fact, Lean principles become beneficial from employee to end-user and all points in between. Employees become more versatile and work in team-oriented cells while distributors and customers enjoy shorter lead times with improved product quality. All of this is achieved through a top-down process where positive results will be seen gradually at first, then exponentially as the implementation takes foothold.
In order to increase both quality and production without incurring more costs to the customer, Marathon is preparing to accommodate the growing global waste-handling market. Recently, we've enlisted the guidance of the Alabama Technology Network (ATN) to assist with the implementation of Lean at Marathon. We've also created an in-house "Lean Team", with members from all areas of the company, to initiate the process. Although there is never a "final destination" for a company who goes Lean and adopts the principles of "kaizen" and continual improvement, the next 12 months will be an exciting time for Marathon, its employees, and ultimately, its customers.
