DYNA PRODUCTS: Striving for Company-Wide Excellence With Lean

Established in 1998, Dyna Products specializes in building firewood processors, with processors available to rent throughout the nation. Headquartered in Millington, Michigan, and employing 40, Dyna Products serves many industries ranging from home, farm and ranch use, to commercial producers, landscapers and loggers, governments and municipalities.

Following a recent move to a new facility, Dyna Products was experiencing typical business growing pains. As sales continued to increase, they worked through the strain of hiring and training new employees. Additionally, production did not flow smoothly, and they had high levels of rework. Several fabrications and processes were subcontracted to assist with production capacity. In evaluating these challenges, the team recognized they needed to embrace a lean manufacturing system if they wanted to manage their growth profitably.

Dyna Products worked with the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center - Northeast (The Center - Northeast), part of the MEP National Network™, to develop a plan that would improve their flow, quality and profitability. The Center assessed their current state and developed a plan with Dyna Products’ leadership team to eliminate waste in production and increase production capacity to allow for revenue growth, while aligning the team to their strategy. To begin, the entire workforce participated in training on lean manufacturing principles to ensure everyone understood the basics of lean, how it could improve their organization and what needed to be accomplished. The Center then guided the team in creating a value stream map of their operations. This included a deployment plan, which identified all areas of waste and variation to be eliminated, and created a clear, prioritized path to reaching the intended future state. In implementing these strategies, along with a Hoshin strategic plan (strategic policy deployment), Dyna Products continues to work on keeping the team aligned and all improvement projects on target.