by Mark Dvorak, Lean Leader at ENTEK Manufacturing

In January 2020, ENTEK started its ‘2 Second Lean’ approach, with the goal being to empower all employees to engage in continuous improvement.  We did this by providing daily lean training, 5S supplies and providing our employees with the time they needed to make improvements. The message we sent encouraged everyone to stop and “Fix what Bugs You!”

Several improvement idea boards were set up around the company, where employees could outline larger ideas that take more time and resources than the smaller projects. However, we celebrate all improvements and ideas, the small ones as well as the big ones. 

We documented many of the improvements using before and after pictures and videos. All improvements are shared in daily morning meetings and in a weekly email blast.

Since starting, we have documented 1,110 improvements on pictures and/or video!  Some save seconds, others save hours per day.  All safety improvements are also captured and celebrated in the same way. Continuous improvement is just that; we will continue to encourage all employees to contribute to the process.  Overall, we have made great strides in our quality, safety and overall job satisfaction at ENTEK. We have also improved our customer experience with improvements that have made the quoting process much faster and easier for our customers.