Manufacturing excellence at Kawasaki Motors

Source: Manufacturing Exec

Date :14/12/2007 08:37:44

Getting lean and mean is the secret to manufacturing success, according to those at KMM, who combine the best of Japanese and American manufacturing.

Written by Ian Armitage and Produced by Pat Harlow

Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing Corp. USA (KMM) has been in Maryville since 1989, and today the plant employs 780 full time employees, supplemented by another 350 at busy season. It produces around 600,000 engines a year, ranging from six to 38 horsepower, for the kind of vehicles used in horticulture and light agriculture: grass cutters and garden tractors made by recognized brands like John Deere, and the all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) manufactured by KMM’s consumer products division about 120 miles away at Lincoln, Nebraska.

The plant runs twelve assembly lines and 42 different machine lines, with over 500 machines. Additionally, there are eight die-casting machines making the cylinder heads, crankcases, generator covers and other strategic components, as well as a certain amount of injection molding machines for fans and fan housings, amongst other things.

Like Toyota, Kawasaki has developed its own lean manufacturing program by the name of KPS – or Kawasaki Production System. As part of this, all of the machine lines are organized into U-shaped cells for accessibility and optimal parts feed, for which this type of engine product is well suited. It is, according to Plant Manager Steve Bratt, a classic lean engineering site. “What we do best is design and build engines, and we do all we can to achieve that goal,” he says.

Kaizen improvements are a constant theme at KMM, where they are referred to as “brush ups.” At the beginning of each year management sets down certain themes and assigns teams to plan details and implement them.

For 2007 seven themes…

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