Lean Excellence Conference - September 23-25, 2008 | Des Moines, Iowa - Networking, Benchmarking and Strategies for Your Continuous Improvement Office

Plant Tour with Vermeer Corporation

On their lean journey since 1997

The Lean Excellence Conference kicks off with a plant tour of Vermeer Corporation – an accomplished lean company with more than 10 years of lean experience and a well-established lean culture.

Vermeer Corporation of Pella, Iowa, U.S.A., employs more than 2,100 men and women in seven production facilities and offices totaling 1.5 million square feet, in addition to the Global Pavilion training center and museum. Founded in 1948, the company is celebrating its 60th Anniversary, manufacturing a full line of industrial and agricultural products under the vision of “Taking Care of Customers Worldwide with Better Solutions.” Vermeer offers sales, parts and services through a worldwide dealer organization.

The Vermeer lean journey began in 1997 and has since delivered significant safety, quality, cost, and delivery improvements. From 1998 to 2007 the company has executed hundreds of kaizen events worldwide with the following results:

• Productivity improved 26%
• Total inventory decreased 12%
• Total of potential savings of over $29.7 million
• 70% of the total employees have participated on a kaizen team
• 98% of their corporate management staff has participated on a kaizen team

After nearly 10 years of shop floor productivity and business process events, Vermeer is now extending lean tools into their supply chain and inviting suppliers, dealers, and customers into their Kaizen activity as well as conducting events in their facilities. With the Kaizen model in place, Vermeer continues to strive to become more productive through the identification and elimination of waste from the entire value chain.

After weathering a significant downturn in the early 2000s, Vermeer to develop new strategies to help the company both grow and diversify its product offering. The new strategies helped Vermeer identify the sweet spot between operational effectiveness and strategic positioning (being better and being different). This approach has transformed the way Vermeer innovates today.

For this tenacious desire to improve and innovate, Vermeer Corporation was recently recognized as the winner of the sixth annual “Perfect Engine” award honoring the company’s commitment to a continuous improvement philosophy and its success as a “Lean” enterprise.

Click Here to download a case study about Vermeer.