Continuous Improvement

The Morning Meeting

Every morning Penta has a five minute stand up meeting where the previous day’s performance is reviewed in five ways.

1. Safety. Was everything we did safe? Any accidents or near misses?
2. Quality. This includes our suppliers and internal quality.
3. Delivery. Did everything get delivered that was due out?
4. Inventory. Did we have everything that we needed to complete our tasks?
5. Productivity. Did anything delay our work, e.g. machine break downs?

This is recorded on a poster in our office and reviewed every quarter and analysed for patterns.

In 2014 a common inventory problem was not having standard tools in stock, so we implemented consignment stock with our local tool supplier. This reduced the number of tooling delays dramatically.

The Eternal Loop

Our internal processes allow a continuous feedback loop. When we quote, we record our best estimate of the job. When we manufacture the parts for the first time we record the actual way we did it and any information needed for the next manufacture. This is then updated on the system ready for next time.

Kaizen Events

Kaizen is a Japanese word and literally translates as ‘improvement’. The term represents a group of methods that improve the work process.

Penta holds up to four Kaizen events a year. The events are spread across workshop and office staff to ensure that all aspects of our service are of the highest quality.

One of our most successful Kaizen events enabled us to create more space in the workshop, prior to our big move in 2021.

The team created enough space to fit a twin spindle lathe with bar feeder and a 4-axis CNC machining centre. This increased capacity and strengthened our position, ultimately making our move to larger premises possible.