Lean Manufacturing Comes to Eberl Iron Works, Inc.

Eberl Iron Works Inc., a metal fabricator and supplier of industrial framing products with four divisions headquartered in Buffalo, recently launched a Lean manufacturing initiative.  Eberl partnered with University at Buffalo’s Center for Industrial Effectiveness (TCIE), a program of UB Engineering, for training and implementation services.   Funding for Lean training was secured by a competitive application to the NYS Department of Labor’s 37L Training Grant Program.

Eberl Controller Nora Eberl stated that their reason for embarking on Lean was two-fold:  the company needed to better manage their recent growth and to address space constraints.  According to Eberl, “we were busting out of our current space.   We had heard great things about Lean, and we wanted to empower our workforce.”  Armed with this desire, Eberl approached TCIE based on referrals from previous clients.  Several past clients of TCIE (Child Care Resource Network and Lancaster Steel) had achieved significant Lean success and gave strong testimonials.    

Eberl worked closely with TCIE trainers and Lean engineers Don Bowes and Al Hammonds.  The training program, which is still in progress, began with an Introduction to Lean Concepts, and will continue with 5S training, Value Stream Mapping, Pull/Kanban, a week-long hands-on Kaizen event, and will finish with a Lean Deployment and Key Metrics course.  Eberl is investing more than nine months in the program, which will involve 100% of the workforce.   

Eberl notes that, already, Lean has demonstrated that the company does have internal problem-solving capability “if we take the time to identify problems through better communication, better planning, etc.  All participants, particularly veteran employees, have been very excited and hopeful that Lean will make for an enriched and more productive workplace.  It has created quite a buzz!”