J R Casey Bralla Accomplishments 2013 – 2014 Gichner Value Stream Manager

1. J R Casey Bralla Accomplishments 2013 – 2014 Gichner Value Stream Manager 2008 - 2013 Mannington Senior Lean Champion 2007 - 2008 Southco Continuous Improvement Manager 2004 – 2007 Southco Manufacturing Engineering Manager 2000 – 2004 Hedstrom Director of Lean Mfg Engineering Revised Feb, 2014

2. J R Casey Bralla Accomplishments • Lean Operational Improvements • Lean Culture • Traditional Engineering Improvements • Miscellaneous

3. Accomplishments Lean Operational Improvements Apply Lean & 6-Sigma tools to improve operating performance • Quick setups • Poke Yoke-driven quality improvements • Backlog reductions driven by bottleneck management • Fixture modifications to improve operations • Waste Identification to reduce headcount • Value Stream Mapping to reduce overall process time

4. Accomplishments Operational Improvements Machine Shop Late Order Reduction • Reduced backlog of late orders by 75% in 3 months • Released orders daily based on due dates (stopped releasing orders early) • Worked selective overtime at bottleneck operations

5. Accomplishments Operational Improvements Stairtread Backlog Reduction • Reduced stair tread backlog in rubber molding plant by 50% in 3 weeks. • Use Day-by-the-Hour board to increase throughput of bottleneck molding operation. • Revised shipping procedures to reduce waiting time in warehouse.

6. Accomplishments Operational Improvements Material Usage Reduction • Developed standard work for handling re-used ink • Team members intimately involved in documenting old process and developing new process. • Eliminated $70K/month material losses

7. Accomplishments Operational Improvements Quality Improvement • Publicly tracked non-conformance rate • Pareto’d causes • Cut defect rate by 60% in 3 months

8. Accomplishments Operational Improvements Rotogravure Print Setup Reduction Procedure Change • Reduced vinyl print line 7-cylinder rotogravure changeover time by 26%. • Assigned formal changeover duties to each member of the crew (pit crew). • Added large visual count-up timer to record changeover time. • Posted visual metric with changeover time history

9. Accomplishments Operational Improvements Vinyl Tile Line Setup Reduction • Reduced vinyl composition tile (VCT) line changeover time by 26%. • Plotted existing changeover duties on project time line. • Moved tasks from person to person to eliminate idle time • Sponsored contest between shifts with small prizes for winning shift. Procedure Change

10. Accomplishments Operational Improvements Rebate Process Backlog Reduction • Reduced backlog of unpaid rebates by $750K. • Simplified approval process and reduced approval time from “days” to “hours”.

11. Accomplishments Operational Improvements Vinyl Trim Line Manpower Reduction • Reduced labor in vinyl inspection and trim dept by 16%. • Identified idle labor as part of “Eye for Waste” training program. • Focused on elimination of idle time. • Supervision identified associates with idle time and combined duties to more fully load each associate.

12. Accomplishments Operational Improvements Fork Lift Fleet Reduction • Conducted work-sampling to determine true number of Fork Lifts needed. • Eliminated idle and dead-head time for lifts. • Reduced Fork Lift fleet size by 37% • Reduced Fork Lift maintenance and lease costs by 42%

13. Accomplishments Operational Improvements Past Due Reduction Team • Formal CI Process to attack most serious plant problem. • Focused on “scheduled” delivery, rather than customer request date. • On-Time delivery improved from 80% to 90+% on time.

14. Build-up of planks forces operator to stop line to catch up Accomplishments Operational Improvements Wood Line Sorting Labor Reduction • Improved labor productivity of wood flooring sorting line by 15% in 1 week. • Modified sorting bins to reduce line downtime. • Marked sorting conveyor to easily identify different length boards. Larger, sectioned tray allows operator to catch up without stopping the line.

15. Accomplishments Operational Improvements – Poke Yoke Automatic Vision Inspection System • Corrected a long-standing quality complaint of incorrect recesses found mixed in with an order on captive fasteners. • The recess of each fastener is inspected as final step in automatic assembly machine. Incorrect recesses are segregated. • Also caught other cosmetic defects (such as plating errors)

16. Critical Dimension Accomplishments Operational Improvements – Poke Yoke Completed part put here • Critical dimension identified. It needed 100% compliance. • Added fitted slot where operator puts finished part • Part will not fit through slot if not to correct dimensions. • Tote of finished parts hidden under tabletop. Tote of finished parts

17. Accomplishments Operational Improvements – Poke Yoke Critical orientation of small cam • Critical orientation of small plastic cam (part 08). • Machine fixture modified to add sensor to detect cam location. • Machine will not cycle if cam is in incorrect location. Sensor detects orientation of cam

18. Accomplishments Operational Improvements IPAS (Initial Product Approval System) • Designed to ensure all steps for a New Product launch are followed in a timely manner. • Each team member’s tasks are clearly identified. • Automatic reminders and tracking of uncompleted tasks. • Designed and tested at Concordville, then rolled-out to Southco world-wide.

19. Accomplishments Operational Improvements Process Flow Improvement • Relocate 60+ machines to improve flow. • Previous flow was invisible, and made identifying bottlenecks difficult. • Plan 25% complete • Project on hold due to plant closure announcement Head Blanks Assemble Thread Roll Tumble Wash

20. Accomplishments Lean & 6-Sigma Culture Establish Lean & 6-Sigma methodologies as the normal “culture” • 5S • Lean implementation scorecards • Formalized Black Belt & Green Belt training programs • Formal reviews for Lean & 6-Sigma projects • Visual Metrics and Gemba Walks • FIFO Flow Improvements

21. Accomplishments Lean Culture 5S • Critical to Lean • 1st step in improving performance. • Forces standardization.

22. Accomplishments Lean Culture Lean Assessment System • Established objective evaluation standard for Lean implementation. • Evaluated 13 areas of Lean implementation. • Conducted surveys of 7 manufacturing plants. • Published results for each department of each plant. • Rolled up all scores to a composite enterprise score.

23. Accomplishments Lean Culture Gemba Walk & Visual Metrics • Established daily Visual Metrics in each department in each facility. • Established Gemba Walk procedure for Operations Managers at each facility • Drove major improvements in productivity and quality.

24. Accomplishments Lean Culture FIFO Flow Improvement • Instituted FIFO system to improve product flow. • Operators did not need schedule to know what to run next. • Established Max WIP levels, and standard method to shut down process and transfer labor when FIFO lane was full. • Involved operators in FIFO system design.

25. Accomplishments Lean Culture Lean / Sigma Black Belt Training • Created 40-hour training class, which was added to existing 160-hour Black Belt class. • Taught 61 associates to Green Belt or Black Belt levels. • Also taught basic Lean to several suppliers at their facilities.

26. Accomplishments Lean Culture Enterprise Monthly “Top 5” Project Reviews • Monthly status report of Top 5 projects for each facility

27. Accomplishments Lean Culture Green Belt and Black Belt Projects • Formalized tracking of Green Belt and Black Belt projects. • Ensured each graduate continued to do projects on an on-going basis. • Followed-up with each Belt on a regular basis, and kept their immediate supervisor appraised of their status.

28. Accomplishments Lean Culture Web-based Project Reporting System • Created web-based project reporting system. • Provided automatic reminders of upcoming tasks. • Provided real-time status reports. • Very simple to set up with minimal IT support (runs on Linux virtual machine).

29. Accomplishments Lean Culture Visual Scheduling • Production Schedule and Schedule Attainment

30. Accomplishments Lean Culture War Room • Created to promote Lean Manufacturing. • Focal point for all Lean activities in the plant.

31. Accomplishments Lean Culture Continuous Improvement Team Process • Formal CI Process. • Fosters true problem solving methodology. • Clear definition of the problem and “What Does Good Look Like”. • 8-week process, with follow-up audits.

32. Accomplishments Lean Culture TPM • Daily TPM activities are visual and obvious. • Locations on the machines are clearly identified. • Maintenance Logs kept on machine.

33. Accomplishments Lean Culture Lean Website • Created for fun, and to promote Lean Manufacturing. • Includes short descriptions and examples of lean concepts. • Lot’s of photos to demonstrate lean concepts.

34. Accomplishments Traditional Engineering Improvements Apply traditional Manufacturing Engineering and Project Management techniques to improve operating performance or launch new products • Equipment design and build • Capital project management • Facility setup

35. Accomplishments New Businesses Transferred into Concordville, PA Dzus Fasteners - $12 Million additional sales • Cleared 8K ft2 floor space • Installed 13 Injection Molding Machines with: • 30-ton overhead crane • Central coolant system • Mold Maintenance facility • Installed Bench assembly operations • Rebuilt equipment to match current safety standards

36. Accomplishments New Businesses Transferred into Concordville, PA CEMA Friction Hinges - $15 Million additional sales • Cleared 10K ft2 floor space • Rebuilt 16 machines to match current safety standards • New PLC Controls • New Guards

37. Accomplishments New Businesses Launched in Korea Samsung Hi-Def TV Swivel Mount - $1.5 Million additional sales • In production within 16 weeks • Converted warehouse to manufacturing plant. • Built & installed assembly equipment. • Trained management and operators in Korea.

38. Accomplishments Technology Transfer to Shanghai Apple Computer Friction Hinge - $5.7 Million additional sales • Designed and built assembly equipment in-house • Shipped equipment to Southco Shanghai • Mfg Engineer spent 6 weeks in Shanghai installing equipment and training associates. • Currently running well in Shanghai.

39. Accomplishments Equipment Design Process Skunk Works • Dedicated team created to design and build an improved friction hinge assembly process/machine. • Modeled after Kelly Johnson’s Skunk Works at Lockheed. • The team developed an excellent machine, but was not worth the high cost of reassigning costly resources.

40. Accomplishments Productivity Improvements Automatic Friction Hinge Shaft Machine • Eliminates 14 direct labor heads. • Automatic torque testing integral to the machine. • Extremely flexible capability can run 90+% of all shafts.