MC Assembly Gains Insights with LEAN Efficiency Methods
Staff members of MC Assembly, a leading mid-tier electronics manufacturing services provider, recently underwent “Incito Man” Lean Enterprise Simulation Workshops presented by the Incito Consulting Group, a leading Lean and Six Sigma management consulting firm.
“The Incito Man sessions exceeded all my expectations of team work, collaboration and engagement,” said Luis Ramirez, MC Assembly’s Chief Operations Officer. “The purpose of investing in this kind of training is to empower our people by giving them tools to make significant change to provide better service and quality.”
Incito is Latin for “Insight, Inspire and Rapid Change.” Incito’s consultants teach LEAN methodologies through a hands-on simulation. LEAN manufacturing has become a very popular way of eliminating waste in production processes defined by making obvious what adds value by reducing everything else. The workshop focused on improving group problem solving skills, team work and efficiency.
“Incito Man is a great way to get everyone on the same page,” said Tom Reed from the Incito Consulting Group. “New hires are on boarded through their new employee orientation. Plant managers are responsible for shepherding the projects at the plant level.”
Incito training provides lean manufacturing tools to enable employees to understand concepts before using simulation to apply the lessons to real life situations.
“Through this simulation, every employee gets a sense of what other departments do,” Ramirez said. “They learn about each department and how the company works as a whole. When they go back to their normal work they have a much better understanding of the whole process and that leads to better ideas on how to improve it.”
Ramirez says he has noticed a difference in his team after the training. He says the training helps MC Assembly employees focus on efficiency and ways to improve how they accomplish their everyday tasks.
“First we found out that a lot of our people have skills they have not been asked to utilize before,” Ramirez said. “People are not afraid to speak up and be part of the solution. They freely contribute ideas for improvement if they think of a better way to do something. We’ve seen a lot of people step up and suggest some great ideas.”
The first plant to undergo the Incito Man training was MC Assembly’s facility in Zacatecas, Mexico. The company’s staff reported similar results.
“Incito’s experience has been very good, since we got to see firsthand that we are able to work and collaborate as a team,” said Jose Santos, director of operations at MC Assembly’s Zacatecas facility. “A common objective is important in any industry and is key to a successful operation.”
The success of the workshop has encouraged MC Assembly to plan future Incito Man sessions in the company’s Florida and Massachusetts plants. Incito training is scheduled to begin in the Boston facility in December.
“I look forward to the next wave of training and the positive impact we will see in our workforce,” Ramirez said.
About MC Assembly MC Assembly (www.mcati.com), based in Melbourne, Fla., with additional operations in Billerica, Mass., and Zacatecas, Mexico, is a national leader in the contract manufacturing arena with annual revenues of approximately $200 million. It provides turnkey solutions to original equipment manufacturers and focuses on assembly of medium volume, medium mix printed circuit boards assemblies (PCBAs) and box builds. MC Assembly’s capabilities include surface mount and pin-through-hole interconnection technologies, PCB and box build, DFM, DFT, DFA engineering, in-circuit, functional and environmental testing, and full box-build direct order fulfillment.