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Pentair Kaizen Event: A Success Story
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Pentair manufactures products and systems used for the movement and treatment of water. Their products include residential and commercial pump systems, filtration devices, and water filtration components.
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Pentair and EPC wanted to develop a system to stabilize Pentair's inventory levels so Pentair would not need to store excess inventory or lose production time when inventory levels came up short. A Kaizen event was scheduled with EPC, and the group was challenged with implementing a Kanban system of inventory management in order to reduce inventory and level product demand.
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Engineered Plastics and Pentair worked together to calculate how much inventory was needed at Pentair to meet their production needs. We were able to implement a Kanban system to continually auto-replenish Pentair's stock of parts using a container system. Pentair empties the containers during production, and then ships the emptied containers back to Engineered Plastics each day. We return the same number of containers within twenty-four hours, eliminating the need for manual purchase orders, and keeping Pentair's production lines supplied. This system has led to reduced inventory levels for both companies and has eliminated the need for Pentair to place emergency orders. Pentair was so satisfied with our teamwork approach, perspective, and commonsense solution, we have been invited to participate in several other Kaizen events, some in nonsupplier related areas - such as customer service.
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