La-Z-Boy going to lean manufacturing

Robbie Robertson
The Newton Record

NEWTON October 25, 2006 12:32 pm

— In one of their biggest investments in Newton in years, La-Z-Boy is on its way to cellular manufacturing.
No, the company won’t start manufacturing cell phones but will start a new process called cellular, or lean manufacturing where a small group of workers make a chair versus the old production-line method of making chairs.
To help in the process, La-Z-Boy received a half million dollar grant from the Mississippi Development Authority. La-Z-Boy will put another million and a half dollars with the grant bringing the total renovation efforts to more than two million dollars. La-Z-Boy spokesman Mark Stegeman said it’s likely the renovation efforts could add another 25 employees where they already employ 826 and 1,151 total in Newton.
Stegeman said the money will go to a new wall, floor resurfacing, air and power work, lighting, telcom and data lines as well as a telcom/data facility.
“We will be investing more than two million dollars in the Newton facility,” Stegeman said. “But that will also include some new training and new ergonomic work stations that will help move the product around the work area.”
Stegeman said the cellular, or lean manufacturing is a move away from the old production-line way of doing things at the Newton plant. Lean manufacturing was pioneered by Toyota and is being implemented in several industries.
“This allows us to be competitive in the market place for years to come, to offer a choice to the buyer,” Stegeman said. “Forty to fifty percent of the orders we get are custom orders. If a lady sees something in the store of ours that she wants but wants a different fabric on it, we have the capability of manufacturing that in a short amount of time. Instead of taking three to five days to make a piece of furniture, we can assemble it in four to six hours. It eliminates the movement through the factory of various subassembled parts. It just takes the wait time out of the process.”
In the cellular manufacturing, there were mini substations with a small group of cross-trained workers set up in one cell or areas that includes sewing, stuffing, frames, upholstery, final assembly, inspection, product validation and boxing. Depending on the unit, they can produce up to 50 chairs a day.
“You have people working as a team in completing one chair,” Stegeman said. “You can also nip things in the bud and take care of an errors very quickly, it greatly increases quality. I think people take more pride in their work when they can see the finished product.“The traditional line will go away over time. The whole plant will gradually go to the cellular process. We will eventually free up some floor space and add more cells and create more jobs as demand goes up in the industry. I think it positions us well for the future.”
Currently, there are nine active cells at the Newton plant with plans for 24 active cells with an expected completion date of 2007.
Stegeman said the move is a pre-emptive one so La-Z-Boy can hold onto its position in the industry.
“We want to stay ahead of the overseas competition,” Stegeman said. “We want to be on the cutting edge of the way we do things. We have got to make sure we can produce as efficiently as possible so the same thing doesn’t happen to us that happened to case goods and all the manufacturing gets moved overseas.”
Stegeman was quick to praise the efforts of the East Central Mississippi Planning and Development District along with the city of Newton for their work on the project.
“We really want to thank the people at the East Central Planning and Development District,” Stegeman said. “They really know what they are doing and did a great job working with us to get this grant money.”

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