Attn: Dr. H. Jack, P.Eng.

Date: 4/4/97

Memo on what I found interesting

on our tour of Steelcase.

The first machine that was shown to us was a 600 ton press. The press had four different stations which punched holes and put a variety of bends in the sheet metal. The press had a automatic loading system that picked up the sheets of metal from a stack and placed them on the indexing mechanism. Once the parts were finished they were unloaded and stacked using manual labor. The press seemed to be a very efficient machine. According to the plaque on the machine it was running at about 800 pieces per hour, or 4.5 seconds per part. Reference was made by the tour leader that a large amount of time was required to change to a different product due to the size of dies. They did have large bolster plates that were entirely removable thus allowing the dies to remain located to each other.

Steelcase did have several other presses that were able to cut and stamp the sheet metal directly from coils of sheet metal. The press that we looked at that was able to do this process was a 200 ton press. The quality documentation at the 200 ton press was also shown to us. The control plan was in clear view to show the operator what measurements were required and how often. The quality sheet with the recorded measurements and the operators initials were also filled out and easy to find.

I was surprised to see how many simple shearing and bending machines that Steelcase used in forming parts. It made sense to have these machine once I found out how many different parts that they make for the wide variety of office furniture. They have service parts and some products that are very low in volume. One way to reduce these many setups would be to reduce the large variety in options on the furniture or make some models not available. The reduction in sales due to the lost business may not be offset by the reduction in setup costs. Steelcase must be able to make a profit on these small runs or they would not be doing them. So if the customer is willing to pay for the added options why not give them what they want?

The paint department was very interesting to see. The powder coating system seems to be the way that they want to go in the future for painting product. The cost for the environmental cleaning procedures compared to the wet painting process were much less. Their movable booth system that allows them to change quickly to a different product looked simple and well thought out. They said that the over 99 percent of the powder gets used so there is very little waste.

Steelcase's ideas on teams and team pay seemed like a good way to get people to be more involved with the products that they produce. The thought that Steelcase is also putting into the ergonomics of producing a product make a lot of sense. If a person on the plant floor is unable to work due to a work related injury, that cost the company a large amount of money in not only compensation but in having to train a new person.

I was impressed with some of the technology that Steelcase was using but was surprised that so much of it they had only implemented a short time ago. I thought that they would have been using some of the "high tech" equipment as soon as it hit the market.

Due to the variety of products that Steelcase produces along with the volume of some of these products it makes sense that they have not spent large amounts of money on technology that may or may not have a large impact efficiency.