Case Study

Fenner Drives

Continuous Improvement

Today’s market requires data to flow on- pace with product demand in order to remain competitive. In 2021 Fenner extended development opportunities for Lean Certification to its administrative and IT staff, just as it had done in operations and supply chain. Fenner’s ultimate goal is to be recognized as Best-in- Class and customer focused with 85% of the organization utilizing Lean and Six Sigma to improve the value stream. It is all about meeting customers’ high demands with more sophisticated solutions that reduce cost and decrease lead time, while streamlining end-to-end processes.

Company Profile

Fenner Drives, a brand of Fenner Precision Polymers, is a manufacturer of polymetric, metal and textile-based products used in motion control, power transmission, and related applications.

Fenner has implemented Lean improvement since 2006, with over 30 employees being Lean-Certified and three achieving Lean Champion certification. In 2018 the company formalized Continuous Integration (CI) efforts under the engineering team, making CI objectives a business expectation with forecasted annual savings that are reported monthly. Fenner executes more than 40 CI projects on average annually. Business growth projections consistently drive ongoing CI efforts.

Solutions

Recently leveraging a grant and its long-held partnerships with MANTEC, Fenner set up in-house Lean Certification training for 12 administrative and IT associates. The 6-month course focused on three Fenner projects, defined and developed using newly acquired Lean tools.

Results

Since adopting a formal CI approach Fenner averages $1.5M in annual savings. By the end of 2022 the company estimates savings to exceed $4.5M since 2018.

Related Projects