FastCap`s Lean Transformation: Driving Operational Excellence

Case Code: OPER164
Case Length: 18 Pages
Period: 1997-2024
Pub Date: 2025
Teaching Note: Available

Price: Rs.400
Organization : FastCap LLC
Industry : Industrial Goods & Machinery
Countries : United States
Themes: Quality Management & Improvement, Process Improvement, Lean Manufacturing

Abstract Case Intro 1 Case Intro 2 Excerpts

Excerpts

The First ‘Lean’ Step

Although FastCap was growing, it faced problems managing incoming raw materials. A consultant was roped in to see what was going wrong and provide a solution. The consultant said that although the company was doing well, Akers was not aware of how manufacturing had to be done and there was lot of scope for improvement at FastCap. This came as a surprise to Akers, who believed he was implementing the best of manufacturing practices, which had even won him praise from the managers of the bank that had extended credit facilities to him..

Lean is The Way to Go

Producing only on receiving the orders and reducing the machine setup time to 5 minutes changed how Akers looked at how things were done. He realized there was room for improvement in what he had thought was the best way. Moreover, the ideas which he had thought were impossible to achieve were materializing..

Involving People in Lean

After returning from Japan, Akers implemented improvements and started using Kaizen events. In this team approach to making improvements, a group of employees examined every step of a process and removed non-value-adding activities. This led to several improvements at FastCap..

Lean @ Fastcap

Akers understood that he needed to move on from Lean events at FastCap toward a culture of Lean and continuous improvement. He realized that for Lean to be successful in any organization, building a Lean culture was necessary and he wanted FastCap to improve by continuously focusing on quality and eliminating waste..

Implementing Lean

Akers decided to first train people before implementing Lean completely. In the first five months, people were trained on morning meetings, Lean, eight kinds of waste, walking around, showing improvements, etc. At the end of five months, all the processes were in place, and people followed them smoothly..

Benefits of Lean

When FastCap began implementing Lean in a full-fledged manner, the US market was hit by a recession. The industries most affected were construction and real estate, FastCap’s main clientele. Businesses felt the pinch and went into survival mode. Many businesses closed down. Akers then decided to go ‘Extreme Lean’..

Spreading Lean Further

In 2014, FastCap moved into a bigger facility. The facility was a Lean building occupying 50,000 square feet. It was built for US$ 2.2 million, half what it would have cost to build a conventional manufacturing setup. It had no walls or cabins, and all the employees worked on the same floor. It had 110 windows to allow natural light to come in. This facility also had stand-up desks for the employees..

Exhibits

Exhibit I: Toyota Production System
Exhibit II: The Lean Philosophy
Exhibit III: Principles of FastCap
Exhibit IV: FastCap – Goals
Exhibit V: Boxing Speed Braces
Exhibit VI: Akers – 11 Steps to Supercharge Lean Culture

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