Vortakt Introduces Lean 5S Program with New Production Manager Hire

New Lean Manufacturing Program Reduces Barrel Cost and Lead Time While Boosting Quality

Vortakt is excited to announce the hiring of Marc Grischeau as its new Production Manager. With 16 years of experience as a machine operator, setup machinist, cell coordinator, machine shop supervisor, and production manager in the automotive, aerospace, oil & gas, health, and science manufacturing sectors, Marc comes to the team with a wealth of knowledge in lean manufacturing best practices.

Why Lean Manufacturing?

In its drive for continuous improvement as the firearm industry’s pre-eminent OEM barrel manufacturer, Vortakt has identified opportunities for increasing value-added processes and procedures to its manufacturing workflow while reducing waste and minimizing non-value-added procedures.

Vortakt quotes out barrels on a cost-plus model. When preparing estimates, our team explores how much it internally costs to make a part, and how much machine time is required to produce it. By reducing internal costs and minimizing machine time, Vortakt is able to deliver barrels at a reduced price point for its OEM customers.

A prime example of this is Vortakt’s “S³” Single Setup Solution technology. By leveraging state-of-the-art machine tools like our Okuma LU3000 EX and “The Profiler”, Vortakt is able to machine barrel blanks up to 40″ long into a finished barrel in one setup.

The next steps in the evolution of Vortakt’s lean manufacturing program include the following:

Employee Training Program

Inexperienced hires lead to inefficiencies in production. By taking an entry-level employee who can only do Level 1 work to proficiency in Level 4 assignments, that employee can now produce double the amount of product due to that additional training.

Empowering personnel to effectively run multiple machines simultaneously serves to reduce labor cost while also taking full advantage of the benefits of cellular manufacturing.

Emphasizing the 5 S’s of Lean Manufacturing

The 5 S’s of Lean allow Vortakt to better refine its processes. It helps our team determine what is necessary to execute tasks while eliminating waste from tools that shouldn’t be there, wasted movements, and keeping the shop organized (sorting tools and gauges).

The 5 S’s include:

Sort: Remove unnecessary items by separating needed tools, parts, and instructions from the various unneeded materials.

Set in Order: Organize remaining materials by neatly arranging and identifying each part and tool for ease of use.

Shine: Clean up the work area by conducting a brief cleanup campaign.

Standardize: Schedule regular cleaning and maintenance efforts by conducting the first three S’s daily.

Sustain: Make 5S a habitual way of life by always following the first four S’s.

Continuous Improvement Meetings

Implementing the 5S techniques should serve to increase overall quality, but the production team will also pursue other lean manufacturing tools like Kaizen events (where a cross-functional team picks an area of focus to refine processes by identifying problems and inefficiencies that exist, then implementing improvements in that specific area).

Weekly or bi-weekly continuous improvement meetings will play a pivotal role in ensuring that Vortakt is reducing waste, increasing workflow efficiencies, and driving lead time reduction through improved material planning. This cadence serves to smooth operations by anticipating when material and tooling are needed (just-in-time manufacturing). These scheduling and planning improvements (with corresponding enhancements to feed rates and cycle time) will further serve to reduce costs and speed up delivery.

Enhanced Quality

All of the above lean manufacturing principles have been successfully applied in automative, aerospace, oil & gas industries, stemming from the Toyota model of manufacturing identified in the 1970’s and 80’s. Americans studied how those processes were implemented in Japan and applied them domestically, but these lean practices are rarely encountered inside the firearm industry.

The 5S lean program will help ensure each barrel is consistently machined to specification because the gauges that are required for that specific part are the only gauges accessible to the machinist. There is no question of what tools need to be selected to check a part.