Keeping up with High Demand at Joyce Molding: As the Entertainment Industry Soars, So Does This Company

When you slip a video into your VCR, or position a favorite music disk into your CD player, you expect it to perform effortlessly. If it doesn't, the Joyce Molding Company of Rockaway, New Jersey is working to make sure the blame doesn't rest with them. Joyce is one of the largest manufacturers of CD boxes, video boxes and DVD boxes in the world. Between the film or disk and your eyes and ears stands their product -- protecting your at-home enjoyment from harm.

The demand for entertainment is booming -- and so is business at Joyce Molding. Some 60 presses that fill two football fields turn streams of plastic pellets into high demand boxes 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. Some 300 million boxes roll off the presses each year so that companies such as Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, Sony, Sanyo, Panasonic and Disney can keep us in videos and music. But in recent years Joyce found itself in a not uncommon position. With orders skyrocketing and competition stiff from the Pacific Rim, it needed to substantially cut costs and increase customer satisfaction. The innocent years of accepting waste and downtime as normal had passed.

Joyce is one of several companies Tunnell Consulting has served that has received business incentive funds from the state of New Jersey. Familiar with the achievements of other firms receiving state funding, Joyce asked us to train their employees in the statistical process control (SPC) tools and teaming skills that could keep the company on a sound financial footing.

To the satisfaction of Joyce Molding Vice President Brian Keenan, who initiated the continuous improvement effort, success was swift. Over one million dollars in annual improvements was recorded after an initial six-month effort. Here are some of the ways these savings were achieved:

CD Box Improvements
The Problem: There was an unusual amount of downtime and waste on two presses that molded the bottom part of a CD box, called a tray. After creating downtime charts and collecting data, the team isolated the main troublespot: sleeves of molded trays would be released unsymmetrically onto the conveyer belt, sometimes jamming machines, damaging trays, and damaging robots. The Solution: The creation of an aluminum nest that ensured trays would crisply drop onto the belt. A full 80% of downtime problems was corrected when nests were installed. Additional analyzation of downtime led to the installation of A/C inverters on the lines being examined, giving operators more control over line speed, further ensuring trays would stack properly. This solved yet another 10% of downtime problems. Proactive maintenance on suction cups that held molded pieces in place before they dropped cut still more downtime, and increased productivity still further. Savings: $750,000 annually on just two production presses.

Video Box Improvements
The Problem: Production shortfalls on video boxes were preventing Joyce Molding from rapidly meeting customer demands. The company's newly formed video team quickly went to work dissecting root causes, and discovered that cycle time and maintenance scheduling were ripe for improvements. Process design needed updating, old robots were no longer providing optimum reliability, and line breakdowns were occurring because of hit-or-miss maintenance. The Solution: Optimize cycle time by correcting process inadequacies and robot antiquation on two lines, largely in accumulating, wrapping and sealing functions. A step-by-step maintenance list was also established detailing regular troubleshooting routines -- from checking hydraulic oil leaks to inspecting motors and couplings -- so that common shutdowns were forestalled. Savings: $246,000 annually on just two presses.

Tool Room Reorganization
The Problem: According to Vice President Keenan, the company tool room was the scene of constant frustration. People tripped over stuff, walked backed and forth endlessly looking for parts, and continually misplaced things. This disorganization meant unnecessary downtime whenever a machine needed fixing. If a mold broke, a mechanic would run back and forth searching for gaskets and washers, while line operators stood idle. The Solution: Members brainstormed pre-made doctor kits containing the parts needed to fix the most likely problems on the presses. Additionally, the team staggered work time for mechanics to cut down on overtime and downtime, instituted cross training for better coverage, and reorganized the entire tool room to cut frustration and increase overall efficiency. Savings: Up to $75,000 in manhours and downtime, and numerous headaches.

Customer Return Advances
The Problem: A lack of procedures for managing customer returns produced "returns that were lying all over the place," says Keenan. There was no formal process for cataloguing returns or placing them back in inventory so they could be reused. The Solution: Design a form and administrative procedures to track returns and get them back into action. Returns are also now placed in a distinct area for easy location, and team members have regular meetings to review what they have and how it can be reused. The team also produced a company catalog where product designs and color choices are clearly visible, eliminating the main reasons for returns in the first place. Savings: An estimated $100,000 in fewer returns and reuse, and still more headaches spared.

Keenan says he believed all along that teaming and SPC would boost efficiencies, but Tunnell Consulting and Senior Consultant Jay Armstrong gave him the support he needed to put his ideas into action. Says Keenan, "Jay was very, very knowledgeable, he was a very good leader, and he challenged us. He legitimized a lot of what I knew could happen here, and it worked. The whole idea of people getting together, of not working as islands unto themselves, has really impressed us."

So has the idea of keeping up with customer demand.

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