VOL 1 ISSUE 1 JUNE 2017

KAIZEN KANTANA
WESTPOINT HOME, NEWSLETTER

CREATING A CULTURE OF INNOVATION

IN THIS ISSUE
WELCOME NOTES
BY: STEVE ALFORD

CONTINUOUS SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

BY: VINITA YON

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT TEAMS

BY: VALERIE PETTIS

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
BY: KALEB MCDANIEL

FIRST STEPS: LEAN TRANSFORMATION

IN BAHRAIN MANUFACTURING
BY: IMRAN CHEEMA
 KAIZEN KANTANA PAGE 2
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER ISSUE 29 VOL 3

WELCOME
BY Steve Alford
Welcome to the first edition of the Kaizen Katana. The Kaizen Katana will be a
quarterly periodical that will go out to the company to highlight our company
progress on Lean. If you are reading this, I hope you will take a moment to read
the rest of the articles that highlight the fantastic Lean activity taking place across
the company.
I wanted to put a spotlight on the Hoshin process which many of you know is a
journey to transform the company by engaging the energy at every level to
accomplish a few well defined strategies that will help us to meet our business
performance objectives. Hoshin means compass or pointing the direction. Our
Steve Alford Hoshin objective goal for 2017 is

Sr. Vice President, Global "Profitable Growth with the Minimization of Performance Losses
Manufacturing & Lean
while Delighting the Customer. "
Implementation, Operations

A FEW OF THE HIGHLIGHTS

Clemson – Dot com fill rate from not measured to 97%
fill rate – Paul Crassis/Kaleb Mcdaniel /Brooks
Williams
Clemson/Chipley – Greater than three weeks late 92%
better – Rex Sanders/Kyle Bush
Clemson – On time delivery from fuzzy measure that
was not reviewed to over 90% and continuously
improving – Joel Bullard, Planning, Customer service,
and IT teams including: Brooks Williams, Kathy Allen,
Kaleb McDaniel, Allison, Konareski, Kimberly Dukes,
Bobbie Smith, Merritt Coutu, Donna Speegle, Ed
Barnett, Randy Cox, Tina Drewes, and Mike Vinson,
Clemson – Air freight premium from $1 million in 2016 and
on pace for less than $500K – Beth Talley/Tariq Rana/Imran
Cheema
Chipley – Hospitality order 48 hour turnaround from 76% to
May 94.5% - Adam Free/Kris Graham/Byron
Capehart/Rachel Jenkins
Chipley – OSMI reduction aged roll stock and bulk reduced
30% since January, Supply OSMI 29% reduction in 2016 and
$40,000 year to date 2017 -Vinita Yon
Chipley – Safety OSHA recordable performance greater than
200 days without an incident – Valerie Pettis /Vinita Yon /All
Chipley

The NY Team has embarked on several key foundational Hoshin activities and progress
is well underway. We look forward to exciting progress from all of our teams! Thanks to
all of the contributors to the inaugural edition and especially our chief editor Sara Crain.

Cheers,
Steve Alford
Pictured Left to Right: Jocelyn Spataro, Christian
Burke, Tracy Vazquez, Kristen Biddison
 KAIZEN KANTANA PAGE 3

CONTINUOUS SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

BY VINITA YON

A STANDARDIZED TRAINING PROCESS THAT ENSURES OUR

ASSOCIATES ARE DOING THE RIGHT THINGS, THE RIGHT
WAY, EVERY SINGLE TIME.

In February, 2016 the Chipley Plant began implementing

Continuous Skills Development (CSD) where our initial focus was
on jobs that were: difficult to fill, had large turnover rates, and
under performed.

Our initial process included;

Vinita Yon  1.Creating detailed work instructions to ensure consistency with
each position.
HR/Supply Manager,
2.A Written skills test derived from the work instructions.
WestPoint Home
3.A Demonstrated checklist for the training instructors.

As the CSD began to take roots and grow, I witnessed

supervisors becoming more aware and gaining a better
understanding of the jobs and functions under their management
along with operators, even those with tenure, making
"Has helped to improvements in their performance. From this point, instructors

reduce business were able to pinpoint areas where additional training was
needed. While writing this article, I reached out to a few
cost, enhanced supervisors for feedback on how CSD has benefited/improved
associate their department.

commitment to Below are just a few of the comments I received:

the team, and ‘It placed all of my operators on a level playing field. By creating

has helped
a detailed work instruction for the job, and verifying that the
operator understood the right way to do their job, my overall
maximize efficiency have improved’

performance." ‘I now have a cross functional team that reduces the pain of
absenteeism’
‘It has rapidly provided an effective framework to prevent and
minimize workplace accidents.’
‘Has helped to reduce business cost, enhanced associate
commitment to the team, and has helped maximize performance.’

The CSD Training Program has allowed us to develop and

strengthen the skill level of our associates. By investing the time
to properly train our associates, it lets them know that they are
valued and appreciated which leads to a greater sense of
satisfaction towards their job.
KAIZEN KANTANA
Valerie Pettis
Quality Control Manager,
WestPoint Home
The Team
Front Row Left to Right –
Annie Stewart, Regina
Creel, Brenda Murphy,
Latoya Bell, Brianna
Belcher, Laketra Couch
Middle Row Left to Right
– Faye Massaline, Steven
Kay, Terrie Taylor, Valerie
Pettis, Denise Slay
Back Row Left to Right –
Eric Miles, Luis Martinez,
Chris Kowitz, Michael
James, Ben Sorey
PAGE 4
QUALITY IMPROVEMENT TEAMS
BY VALERIE PETTIS
In 2014, Chipley’s Comforter Department Off Quality performance was
good and stable. We had maintained less than 2% Off Quality for years,
and thought that was OK. But, in 2015 we started looking at the off
quality units in terms of dollars lost instead of percentage. In 2014 and
the beginning of 2015, we produced an average of 500 second quality
comforters per month. That calculated to a loss per month of about
$25,000 or annual loss of $300,000. In June of 2015, we established a
Quality Improvement Team or QIT to investigate the causes of off
quality. We knew the “reasons” they were seconds but had not explored
the “cause”.
In the beginning, Terrie Taylor, the leader of the comforter area was
very skeptical about being able to reduce the number of off quality units.
We were having an average of 20 off quality comforters per day. We
run 18 quilting machines, so if each machine only messed up once per
day, then we were doing well (we thought). Terrie implemented Pareto
charts, tracking the performance of each machine and each operator to
help determine the root causes. We then put together a team to begin
exploring how to fix the issues.
The team consisted of operators, quality associates, mechanics and
leadership from the comforter area. The job operators knew the causes
of off quality comforters, but no one had ever asked them to help solve
the issues. The operators were also a bit skeptical, but once they knew
that we were committed to listening to the problems and correcting the
issues that would help their performance, they jumped in with both feet.
There were machines that needed mechanical assistance and
preventative maintenance scheduled, operators that needed work
instructions and training, and general area improvements made such as
lighting and cleaning.
 KAIZEN KANTANA PAGE 5

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT TEAMS

continued

By the end of 2015, our comforter off quality was 0.89% for a 56% improvement from 2014. All
retraining was complete and most of the mechanical issues corrected. We then refocused the
group to look at the next largest contributor to off quality comforters. By the end of 2016, the off
quality rate for comforters was 0.60% which is a 70% improvement from 2014. We set our 2017
goal for 0.50% and for the first quarter, the comforter department off quality percentage was
0.40%. We now have an average of 20 off quality comforters per week instead of per day, with
annual loss estimated at $50,000. This is an annual savings of $250,000 from 2015.
In 2016, we also added a Quality Improvement Team for the Pick and Pack area in Distribution.
The associates from the area were excited to have input into correcting the issues. We have
seen similar results reducing the number of incorrect cartons from an average of 50 per week to
24 per week with a significant increase in cartons packed. Average off quality in Pick and Pack
for the first half of 2016 was 1.05%, but dropped below 0.50% by November. For the first
quarter of 2017, the off quality for Pick and Pack is 0.31%. This team truly wants to delight the
customer.
 KAIZEN KANTANA
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
Kaleb McDaniel
Forecast Analyst, Clemson SC
University of South Carolina
Alumni
PAGE 6
ISSUE 29 VOL 3
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
BY Kaleb McDaniel
My name is Kaleb McDaniel and I am currently a Forecast
Analyst here at WestPoint Home. I would not say that my path to
this position would be one of traditional nature. I graduated from
the University of South Carolina in 2012. Around that time, I was
traveling around the Southeast running golf tournaments and
focusing on a career in sports. I then decided to head back to
school to receive my MBA in finance. After graduation, I was
recruited to become a Finance Professor at a college in my
hometown. After two and a half years, I decided that I would
leave academia and return to the industry. In December of 2016,
I joined WestPoint Home and have currently been with the
company for 5 months. Within those 5 months I have been
exposed to a great deal -- the Hoshin process being one of the
most intriguing things I have encountered.
Lean Manufacturing is something that I learned in my studies as
a graduate student, but these past few months have been my
first practical experience with it. I have a methodology that from
the top down everything must be aligned in terms of strategy and
goals. The Hoshin process that has been brought to WestPoint
Home does exactly that. It gets the company as a whole to work
together to help “trim the fat” and eliminate waste. Once
everyone realizes how their efforts impact the company, whether
it is monetary or aesthetics, it is easy to become motivated to
make a change. The process itself can seem daunting at first,
but with the support of senior level management, as well as
among colleagues, each task can be accomplished with a little
hard work and dedication. I believe that the Hoshin process is
impacting WestPoint Home for the good and I am excited to see
the future of this company!
 KAIZEN KANTANA PAGE 7
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER ISSUE 29 VOL 3

FIRST STEPS:
LEAN TRANSFORMATION IN BAHRAIN MANUFACTURING
BY Imran Cheema
In the global market, increased demands for a customer-centric experience requires
manufacturing to reduce response times all while delivering top quality goods to our
customers. To adapt to this ever changing environment our leaders have instituted
“Lean Manufacturing” principles.
In February 2015 the Bahrain Manufacturing team underwent extensive
transformations to become a “lean manufacturing” team. Steve Alford led this
initiative with “LEAN 101” and “SAFLEGO” along with several other lean tools; 5S,
Visual Control Management, Gemba Walk, OBEYA Room process, Standard Work,
Imran Ahmad Cheema SMED, layered Audit, Value stream Mapping, PFEP.
As with any new process, a firm foundation is necessary to build a strong structure.
Managing Director, Bahrain
One of the foundational tools within the LEAN toolbox is 5S, which is fundamental for
Manufacturing & Operations
standard work and operational stability, necessary requirements for making and
sustaining continuous improvement.
The primary objective of 5 S as a starting tool was to create a clean and orderly environment because it helps to expose
the wastes in a visual manner. 5 S methodology has helped the team to establish the framework and discipline required
to successfully pursue other continuous improvement initiatives. The team established Visual controls on production
floors and started OBEYA ROOM process during the first week after the training followed by Gemba walks. Visual
controls provided the leaders an effective and efficient way to communicate with the associates, and a great opportunity
to cascade lean knowledge down to the supervisory level.
By empowering our team, leaders saw great opportunities to improve our day to day processes. After making a few
small changes and cultivating a sense of accomplishment with each win, the team began to seek knowledge and took
initiative to start studying Lean concepts on their own.

OBEYA Room
Our OBEYA Room is a meaningful focal point where we can come together
as a team in a central location to discuss information and solve problems in
an open format. We now have an OBEYA room in each production facility
and our corporate office Bahrain. The OBEYA Room allows employees and
customers the opportunity to visually see our dedication to the improvement
process.

"Whenever we have visitors in our facility, they are always

curious and ask lots of questions about the OBEYA room.  It is a
great visual and conversation starter." 
 KAIZEN KANTANA PAGE 8
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER ISSUE 29 VOL 3

FIRST STEPS:
LEAN TRANSFORMATION IN BAHRAIN MANUFACTURING
continued

Kaizen Win
Our team has had several important Kaizen wins.
One win came from when finishing leaders
reorganized the team from Pretreatment, Dyeing,
Printing and Finishing departmental manager to
Institutional, Print and dyeing, and Value stream
manager. This change resulted in going from 65% to
95% improved delivery rate after one month of
implementation.

The second notable win came after evaluating our bleaching process. The bleaching
process
has the ability to be one of the biggest bottleneck s within the company due to capacity.
As a
result of delays the team was pushed to use premium shipping routes which added
an
estimated 1 Million dollars in additional shipping cost. By revamping our machine maintenan
ce
plan, and by adding some new pad rolls, the team has increased bleaching production
by 8 %.
Another valuable win came from the Fabrication team. This team converted their discontinuous
material flow to a continuous one piece flow which has proven to be a game-changer for us in
2017. By adopting a single point schedule and reducing our one week lead time for Institutional,
we could eliminate the use of premium routing. The most important win was worth $1.7 Million
where we upgraded the use of flat sheet machine to Zee Hem using in-house resources.

Ishtiaq Ahmed
KAIZEN KANTANA PAGE 9
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER ISSUE 29 VOL 3

Thanks to all of the contributors for the fist

edition of the Kaizen Kantana! We have
seen tremendous improvement but we must
continue to strive to do "more faster". If you
have an idea or article for future volumes
please submit them to Ms. Sara Crain.

Cheers,
Steve Alford