Kenco is hosting an employee workshop this week focusing on Lean tools and processes that improve efficiencies and cost savings for its customers.
In 2015, the Lean-based Kenco Operating System helped create more than $15 million of savings and added value for customers.
The KOS combines tools, processes, and principles to form a strategy for achieving operational excellence that can be standardized, measured, sustained and improved, said officials.
Key managers and staff attending the three-day KOS Workshop will also hear from Dr. Jeffrey Liker a University of Michigan professor who is an expert on Lean management principles. He is the author of the best-selling business management book “The Toyota Way.”
“Kenco has been centered on operational excellence since it was founded in the 1950s and is well ahead of many companies in this area,” said Dr. Liker. “The KOS Model Applications and Guidelines is one of the most well-documented Lean operating systems I have ever seen.”
Topics covered in the workshop include: key performance indicator management; Hoshin planning; tiered accountability; visual management; Kaizen; elemental time; productivity goals; identifying patterns; standard work; simulation; and Training Within Industry.
"For all of us at Kenco, operational excellence means we leverage our most valued asset—our people—by bringing them together with the right processes and systems to generate the most value for our customers,” said Chief Operating Officer David Caines.
Last month, Kenco celebrated its 66th anniversary by marking two key milestones. It exceeded $530 million in revenue and 5,000 employees for the first time in its history. In the past year, record sales have resulted from significant new business with customers in the automotive parts, building supplies, flooring, food, and industrial markets.