Swinburne University of Technology and Fantech

The introduction of lean manufacturing at Fantech has resulted in a rapid culture shift that united the company with very little effort, according to Brad Ackehurst, Fantech's Production Manager.

"The outcomes are very exciting. People enjoy doing their jobs, frustrations of the past have disappeared and the way we perform our day to day tasks is very much easier," he says.

Fantech, which manufactures ventilation and acoustic products, introduced lean principles when it consolidated three sites into one in Dandenong. It retained Swinburne University's Centre for New Manufacturing to deliver Certificate III and IV in Competitive Manufacturing to staff, team leaders and factory management.

Among the major achievements are productivity increases of up to 25 per cent, and a reduction of some on-the-job training from 12 weeks to 10 days through the creation of lean cells.

These cells have also dramatically reduced operators' travel distances, in some cases from 430 metres to 24 metres per fan assembly.

A warehouse manager has been appointed, and a new warehouse computer database which sorts picking lists has reduced picking errors by 38 per cent.

"The combination of all improvements has resulted in on-time delivery in full, increasing from around 85 per cent to the low 90s," Mr Ackehurst says.

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