Harper Industries Continuous Improvement

Constantly striving to improve manufacturing efficiencies

HARPER, Kan. – With growing demand across all product divisions, Harper Industries, Inc. has taken steps to improve production efficiency to better meet the needs of customers. One of the first steps in this process has been working with manufacturing engineers on redesigning the DewEze Bale Bed assembly line.

“Harper Industries is in a transition period between small town business and major manufacturer. These improvements steer away from tribal knowledge and redirect towards standard work practices that are repeatable, consistent and reliable”, states Shannon Ummel, Harper Industries manufacturing engineer.

Manufacturing engineers support operations and work with design engineers to safely build quality products on time and in the most efficient way possible. One facet of this is improving employee work areas so that tools and equipment can be stored and located efficiently. The implementation of the 5S’s—sort, set, shine, standardize, sustain—is an integral part of the assembly line redesign and step towards this goal.

“Developing and implementing standard manufacturing processes for production and assembly of Harper Industries equipment lets employees know what is expected of them and provides them with the tools, safety and information to make them successful in their job and improve their work experience,” states Ummel.

Restructuring the DewEze Bale Bed assembly line is one of the largest and most impactful improvement projects to date—with more to follow. Research has already started on the Harper Hawk assembly line as the next target for improvement. Harper Industries is constantly striving to create efficiencies; there are always changes that can be made to allow for continuous improvement.

Macaley Hall
620-896-7381
mhall@harperindustries.com