Donnelly Custom Manufacturing - Training Within Industry reduces Waste & Lost Time
Our Client
In its twenty-second year of business, Alexandra, Minn. based Donnelly Custom Manufacturing is perhaps best known for its tagline, “How Short Run is Done.” Specializing in short run/high mix plastics injection molding, Donnelly has built strong relationships with leading industrial OEM customers by offering competitive manufacturing, engineering and customer service solutions.
In upholding a commitment to leveraging equipment, technology, process and people to set the standards in short-run injection molding, Donnelly has grown from an eight-person outfit to a $27 million company with over 225 employees.
Our client’s problem
To make good on a mission to “Deliver Good Products on Time,” Donnelly, through the assistance of Enterprise Minnesota has continually revised their business model to reduce waste and increase productivity. Concurrently, they are committed to recruiting and retaining skilled personnel. They understand that employees are their greatest competitive advantage.
Over the past several years, Enterprise Minnesota has helped Donnelly train its employees in Lean Manufacturing and implemented Lean Concepts. During a Training Within Industry (TWI) breakout session at a WCI Workforce Conference in April of 2005, Donnelly realized that TWI could serve as a platform for additional improvements.
A time-tested Lean-based program, TWI is designed to provide a framework for employees to succeed in applying Lean Principles into their daily work life. The program is three-fold, consisting of Job Methods, Job Instruction and Job Relations. Following the conference, Donnelly asked Enterprise Minnesota to implement TWI training at Donnelly.
Enterprise Minnesota’s Solution? Training Within Industry
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 Through MTI we were able to realize that Training Within Industry is really about being organized in how you go about things so that you can make the best use of people’s skills and abilities. It’s about making our people more effective at what they do. It supports and confirms our mission and serves as a source for connecting people’s efforts to success and thus, it builds pride.
-- Sam Wagner
Director of Advanced Mfg
Donnelly Custom Mfg |
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- Job Methods instructs supervisors on how to best use people, machines and materials to improve how jobs are done.
- Job Instruction focuses on quickly training employees to complete jobs correctly, safely and conscientiously.
- Finally, Job Relations helps supervisors build positive employee relations, increase cooperation and satisfaction, and effectively resolve conflicts.
Over several months, Enterprise Minnesota trained employees in all three elements of Training Within Industry. According to Sam Wagner, Donnelly’s Director of Advanced Manufacturing, the TWI program has helped organize employees more effectively, thereby reducing waste and lost time. It has allowed employees to cooperate and collaborate in order to find better ways to approach jobs.
Donnelly's Results
Since introducing TWI into the workplace, business has remained vibrant at Donnelly. They have seen a $5,000,000 increase in sales, $500,000 of new investment in equipment and the creation of 15 new jobs.