Electric.ie March/April 2020

38 ELECTRIC.IE • The Magazine & Website for the Irish Electrical Industry • ATC - Thinking Lean with 5S Accreditation ATC ‒ The company has recently completed an 8 month training program on the 5S Lean Plus Project. The objective of this programme was to improve efficiencies, green competitiveness as well as health & safety in the workplace. The ATC Warehouse, Quality and Technical Departments received 5S training that included updates on Environmental as well as Health & Safety Issues. It gave an introduction to Lean Tools such as 'Just in Time' Principals. This empowered them to take ownership of the project and to make decisions and changes. ACHIEVEMENTS In implementing the 5S Programme, ATC has achieved • 30% increased warehouse capacity by installing new high bay racking and improving stock storage. • Improved goods, services and materials “flow” just in time to customer demand. • Better work environment by replacing all high bay lighting with Energy Efficient LED Lighting. • Reduced downtime in manually wrapping pallets in the Warehouse, with the investment in an automated pallet wrapping machine. This has resulted in a 15% reduction in our goods out cycle time. • Improved communications between all teams with the introduction of Visual Management Techniques including Signage and Kanban Boards which allow information to flow seamlessly through the Organisation.