The drive to reduce costs and increase productivity can be counter intuitive to being environmentally responsible. Market pressures to be "faster, better, cheaper" have led many companies to the principles of lean, where most focus on standardized work and inventory without considering their process stability. This case study relates the success of a major medical device manufacturer to reduce their costs; first through process stabilization (elimination of variation). This resulted in the lean benefits of reduced inventory, reduced cycle times, lower labor costs and the reduction of a significant waste stream.
Included are the details the of the method, implementation and realized savings by replacing air blasting using Aluminum Zirconium with an automated wheel blast system utilizing stainless steel conditioned cut wire. Savings were achieved in blast media usage, utility costs, labor and waste stream.