World Kitchen, All the right ingredients

Manufacturing in Action, Source : The Manufacturer US

Three-quarters of American families own a Pyrex product —one of World Kitchen’s best-selling lines. Tim Gertz told Bernie Sheehan how lean manufacturing has helped the company achieve cost savings of about $90 million over the last five years

The kitchen is the hub of family memories—whether it’s special celebrations, entertaining friends, or everyday dinners—and World Kitchen’s brands have enhanced the memories of generations of American families. Its bakeware, dinnerware, kitchen and household tools, rangetop cookware, and cutlery products are sold under well-known and trusted brands including Corningware, Pyrex, Corelle, Revere, EKCO, Baker’s Secret, Magnalite, Chicago Cutlery, and OLFA.

Today World Kitchen manufactures, markets, and distributes kitchen housewares products worldwide, which are used for preparing, cooking, serving, and storing food. Products are available from mass merchants, department stores, specialty retailers, and retail food stores. An additional retail channel is World Kitchen’s own Corning/Corelle/Revere factory stores, located in outlet centers across North America and internationally.

World Kitchen’s products have led the housewares industry for over 100 years, since the introduction of EKCO baking pans in 1888. EKCO Housewares Company, Corning Consumer Products Company (CCPC), and General Housewares Corporation (GHC) are all forebears of the World Kitchen family of companies.

In the last five years the company has saved approximately $90 million in costs, in large part due to its introduction of lean manufacturing processes. “We’ve done back-to-basics manufacturing, de-bottlenecked processes, and introduced cost-reduction projects. We’re hugely proud of our achievement, and it has involved everyone from production workers to management. We’re very big on employee involvement here,” said Tim Gertz, vice president of operation services.

World Kitchen has two major manufacturing operations in the United States—at Charleroi, PA, and Corning, NY—employing around 800 people. It also has a decorating center in Malaysia. The Corelle glass dinnerware range has been produced at Corning since 1970, and over 2.7 billion pieces have been produced during that time. Corelle is made through a hub lamination process that thermally bonds three layers of glass: core glass in the middle, with top and bottom layers of very clear skin or glaze glass. The process creates a lightweight and durable product. In addition, the unique enamels used during the decorating process actually become part of the glass, so the patterns last as long as the plate. The manufacturing process for laminate glass involves a vertical cold-crown melter that makes the product chip-resistant and provides its legendary strength and durability. Approximately three Corelle pieces a second are produced at the 24/7 Corning facility, amounting to 1.7 million pieces a week and approximately 80 to 90 million a year.

The Pyrex range is made of soda lime glass, and the manufacturing process uses a horizontal melter. Pyrex has been made at Charleroi for nearly 100 years. It’s a kitchen staple and synonymous with heat-resistant bakeware. An estimated 75 percent of US households own at least one Pyrex product.

“Our two manufacturing facilities have glass furnaces that require a lot of labor-intensive setups and changeovers,” explained Gertz. “One of the focuses of our lean manufacturing efforts has been our setup operations. A job change can involve from 24 to 30 different tools. Over a period of six months we’ve gone from 14 hours’ setup time to two hours today.”

The improvement arose from one of World Kitchen’s well-established work groups. Operators got together, brainstormed operational changeovers, and came up with a standardized setup. Another dramatic improvement followed a review of the company’s batch manufacture. Previously, product ingredients were mixed by hand, with up to 10 hourly people involved in the melting room. “We’ve now automated the system,” continued Gertz. “Three people can make the batches for the entire shift. It was the production workers who drove the improvement.”

Automating the batch manufacturing process was part of the company’s capital expenditure program last year. Payback is expected in less than two years. Meanwhile, cost-reduction projects across the two manufacturing facilities and distribution centers have saved significant expense. “We have a deck of about 20 to 35 active projects under way and another 20 projects in the hopper that we can activate at any time,” said Gertz. “We target savings of one to two percent of overall manufacturing costs annually through these cost-reduction efforts.” The projects involve work teams of production workers and management who share monthly conference calls to exchange project information. Successful projects in one factory are transferred to the other wherever possible. Twice a year there are operations meetings where, again, information is shared across the groups.

World Kitchen’s raw materials are all sourced from within the US, and the company has built up good relations with its suppliers. However, particularly with fuel prices continuing to rise in the US, energy costs are high—the bill for the Corning facility alone is $10 million a year. Recently the Corning furnace was changed from oxygen to ‘gas-oxy’ firing because this lets in more air, so the furnace burns faster. Not only does this technology help the plant use less energy, but it also improves air quality by reducing emissions into the environment. “We’re continually leaning on the facility to reduce costs, and we continue to invest in new technology,” said Gertz. “Our furnaces are a huge expenditure. For example, we have to replace the melters at Corning every three years at a cost well into seven figures. At Charleroi, the melters are replaced every 7.5 to eight years. But the new furnaces are cleaner burning and produce clearer, purer glass with fewer defects.”

Maintaining high quality standards is vital to a company of World Kitchen’s reputation, and between its two factories there’s a wealth of manufacturing expertise. Gertz says the average length of service for employees is 20 years. “We’re always looking for good-quality people to help continue our longevity in the business.”

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