Shingo prize just a start for this VP of manufacturing

"The choice is simple: you embrace lean manufacturing, or in five years you probably won't be manufacturing in the U.S.," says Steve Savage, VP of manufacturing at Affordable Interior Systems (AIS) and the driving force behind its embrace of lean manufacturing principles.

Today, the $35-million manufacturer of office panel systems is growing at approximately 30 percent a year—thanks to near-perfect delivery, dramatic improvements in quality, eight-day lead times, and a 76-percent reduction in work-in-process. This year, that performance earned AIS the Shingo Prize for Manufacturing Excellence in the small business category.

Not long ago, the AIS story was decidedly different. "We had a lot of quality problems, mounds of work-in-process, and lead times of six weeks or more," says Savage. "I knew if we didn't do something, we wouldn't survive—or at least I wouldn't survive."

Inspired by James Womack's groundbreaking Lean Thinking, AIS gave lean manufacturing a serious look. The management team circulated books, magazine articles, and analyst reports on lean manufacturing, visited showcase plants, and debated the lean leap.

"In 1997, we bit the bullet and started moving to a make-to-order environment," Savage remembers. "My vision was to create a factory that was so simple and so well organized that my 10-year-old daughter could run it."

To maintain benefits, Savage says AIS instills "a culture of passionate, continuous improvement." Key to this is AIS University, where full-time employees get at least 20 hours of training on lean manufacturing. "Initially we started with five people who were passionate about this," Savage says. "Then there were 20. Now we've gotten to the point where people are seeing the successes and want to be a part of it."

Regular Team Leader Council meetings and a Wall of Fame are two tools Savage uses to keep enthusiasm high. Personally, he gets stoked by consuming virtually everything written on the subject.

But the biggest boost of all came in the form of a telephone call shortly after the 9/11 attacks. A caller from the Pentagon wondered if AIS could deliver 2,500 replacement workstations in just four weeks. Confidently, the Pentagon was told it would have the workstations on time. "In the old days, we'd still have been pulling parts at the four-week mark," he says. "That job really demonstrated how far we've come. Everyone felt great about being able to contribute during that period."