Operating Principle - Lean Thinking

Lean practices are the cornerstone of Quanex’s productivity improvement strategy. Taking waste out of an operation not only improves efficiencies on the shop floor, it also allows for higher revenues and improved margins. Nichols Aluminum is pushing lean thinking practices - with an emphasis on deploying “Six Sigma” throughout the organization - to drive equipment utilization rates and reduce inventory.

Operating Principle -
“We Can Do It Better”

Our team at AMSCO exemplifies a “we can do it better” culture. Productivity is more than an operational priority - it’s a way of life. They are forever raising the bar on themselves with ambitious operating goals. They enthusiastically benchmark against “best in class” and embrace change as they reach for excellence.

Operating Locations
Nichols Aluminum Casting, Davenport, Iowa
Nichols Aluminum Davenport, Davenport, Iowa
Nichols Aluminum Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, Illinois
Nichols Aluminum Alabama, Decatur, Alabama
Nichols Aluminum Golden, Fort Lupton, Colorado
AMSCO, Rice Lake, Wisconsin
Homeshield (2), Chatsworth, Illinois
Imperial Products, Richmond, Indiana
Colonial Craft, Mounds View, Minnesota
Colonial Craft, Luck, Wisconsin

Products
Mill finished aluminum sheet, painted aluminum sheet, a broad line of custom-designed wood and metal components for windows and doors, and hardwood architectural mouldings.

Aluminum Sheet Applications and Aluminum and Wood Products
Windows – spacers, cladding, screens, stiffeners, muntins and wood grilles;
Entry doors – astragals, thresholds, patio door screens and sills, cladding and surrounds;
Siding accessories and other – roof edgings, soffits, fascias, trim, trimcoils and wood mouldings.

Technology
Nichols Aluminum mini-mill in Davenport uses both traditional and rotary melt furnaces to process blended grades of scrap. The molten metal is processed using a unique dross press system that allows for the maximum recovery of aluminum throughout the melting process and state-of-the-art thin slab, continuous casters that produce high quality sheet. Nichols Aluminum sheet finishing capabilities include rolling equipment, annealing, slitting and custom coating.
Engineered Products incorporates custom tooling, roll forming and other fabricating processes, along with value-added services such as product design, engineering support and line sequencing capabilities. Wood mouldings are custom designed and expertly machined in the Luck, Wisconsin, facility, from premium hardwoods and softwoods.


Robust Safety and Compliance All Quanex businesses share safety as a top priority. All the Building Products businesses strive to avoid lost time accidents by providing ergonomically safe processes, thorough workforce training and instructions, and behavior-based recognition plans.

Nichols Aluminum Golden exemplifies the progress that can be made by applying rigorous safety programs. Golden significantly improved both its incident and severity rates over the last two years and has reported results less than half of the industry’s norms. Golden’s safety programs involve heightened communications with all associates, awareness training, increased enforcement and an incentive opportunity.

Both Nichols Aluminum casting operations are currently putting systems and procedures in place to meet the new EPA environmental standards and minimize any future cost impact associated with compliance. Further benefits of the upgrades will include a cleaner plant environment and a modest increase in melting capacity. All of the Engineered Products’ locations have excellent, pro-active environmental monitoring and prevention programs in place to assure compliance to existing standards.

Meeting Customer Needs with Quality, Service, Value, and Innovation Quanex businesses focus on nurturing strong relationships with customers. All the operating principles support and reinforce each other to drive costs down and enhance value propositions to customers. Customers have partnered with business units within the Building Products segment to apply lean practices and add value throughout the supply chain.

Nichols’ processes include three coil coating lines with the capability of applying a wide selection of coatings and finishes. The coating line at the Nichols Aluminum Alabama plant was upgraded this year to increase wide painted capacity by 10 million pounds annually.
This project not only increased utilization and paint line speed, it
also improved first pass yields.

The February 2002 acquisition of COLONIAL CRAFT is a great example of the application of Quanex’s new market focused strategy. Colonial was already serving one of Engineered Products’ larger customers in the fenestration market, so the acquisition of this wood window component manufacturer is a perfect fit. COLONIAL specializes in high quality wood components delivered within short lead times, and a great variety of styles and wood species. Engineered Products is now leveraging the cross-selling and market development opportunities that have resulted from its successful integration.

An additional benefit of the close relationships that Engineered Products’ division enjoys with its customers is the opportunity to partner with them to develop products and launch new programs. The manufacturing processes are also flexible enough to accommodate new product and process trials that support the focus on
customer service.

An innovative and unique fabricating process perfected by Engineered Products is RollTrusion, which bonds a plastic skin or profile to roll-formed metal substrate components. The RollTrusion process can achieve improvements in properties such as thermal resistance, corrosion, structural integrity, weatherability and texture. RollTrusion is gaining acceptance within our target customer base, and business development is gaining momentum.

The HOMESHIELD facility fabricates aluminum coil into soffits, exterior housing trim, roofing accessory products and a variety of custom window and door components. The plant utilizes precision roll-forming processes and an advanced coating lab to develop custom colors. HOMESHIELD redefined its marketing philosophy and, in the process, realized its business model did not fit all customers. By objectively evaluating all accounts, they have been able to direct more attention to those customers they can most effectively service.

Lean Tools Implementation of lean tools remains at the forefront to improving productivity throughout the Building Products segment. Lean projects driven by value mapping have helped Nichols and Engineered Products redefine performance metrics and improve the value they bring to their customers, while cutting costs internally. “Six sigma” methodologies drive reductions in process variability, improve utilization rates, and raise the reliability of delivery commitments.

Nichols Aluminum is one of the most efficient and environmentally friendly aluminum sheet producers in North America. Mini-mill operations and the use of recycled aluminum offer operating advantages such as lower energy consumption, reduced emissions and higher yields. This year’s shop floor performance improvements have contributed to achieving numerous operating records.

Nichols Aluminum has adopted “Lean Six Sigma” to raise the capability of processes, reduce delays and increase customer satisfaction. The result is improved quality and lead-time improvements. Processes are examined through value stream mapping and when opportunities are identified, improvement “blitzes” or “Kaizen events” are conducted. Some successes and cost savings have already been realized using this “creativity before capital” approach.

The HOMESHIELD unit within Engineered Products made outstanding improvements in throughput and cost levels by using lean manufacturing concepts. In analyzing a particular process, they focus on the workflow and the non-productive elements that can be eliminated to increase efficiencies. For example, by using concepts and tool designs that improve material flow and position components at the operator’s fingertips, unnecessary motion and handling are significantly reduced or eliminated. These improvements have allowed HOMESHIELD to significantly increase production output while reducing labor costs.

“We Can Do It Better” Culture The Building Products group benchmarks itself against competitor and industry performance to reach for superior results. Innovative techniques are employed for continuous improvement. The group partners with its major customers to cross- train and understand what is happening in each other’s facilities to better configure the value chain.

Building Products has assembled teams and completed value mapping for all locations. Value mapping is a step-by-step process that identifies and improves that which adds value within the business, communicates those value drivers and links them to the desired outcomes. Value mapping ensures process changes are directed to high impact areas and waste is eliminated.

Enthusiasm for continuous improvement is gaining momentum at all levels of the operation. Training efforts have involved local community colleges, universities and consultants in lean manufacturing. Associates are trained to identify problems and are qualified and empowered to take the appropriate corrective actions by applying their newly gained knowledge.