{"id":1076,"date":"2025-08-08T10:39:57","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T14:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/ise\/?p=1076"},"modified":"2025-08-08T10:39:57","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T14:39:57","slug":"y-12-groups-recognized-continuous-improvement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/ise\/y-12-groups-recognized-continuous-improvement\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Y-12 Groups Recognized for Continuous Improvement"},"content":{"rendered":"

A key principle at Y-12<\/a> is continuous improvement\u2014one of 11 principles that reflect the site\u2019s commitment to being a learning organization. Twice a year, the Performance Improvement group asks Y-12 organizations to submit projects to be included in its \u201cContinuous Improvement Celebration.\u201d There, each team shares its successes, and employees vote for the Best Y-12 Initiative and Best Value Stream Element Teams Initiative.<\/p>\n

Performance Improvement Director Jason M. sees the benefit of these Continuous Improvement Celebrations.<\/p>\n

\u201cCelebrating continuous improvement accomplishments reinforces a culture of growth and innovation,\u201d Jason said. \u201cIt recognizes employees\u2019 efforts, boosts morale, and motivates teams to keep striving for better results. Acknowledging progress, even small wins, helps sustain momentum and shows that leadership values improvement and initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Jason added that these projects are perfect examples of the power of simple process improvements, such as 5S, standard work, and implementation of performance measures. \u201cI commend all the nominated teams for their efforts and the CI culture they are nurturing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s recent celebration included 14 projects\u201410 Y-12 initiatives and 4 VSET initiatives.<\/p>\n

The Best Y-12 Initiative: The Tooling Project Team<\/h2>\n

The Tooling Project Team, comprised of Jeremy P., Adam F., Brian F., and Bill T., worked proactively to identify and mitigate problems with the tooling production system, which supports the Master Production Schedule. The Master Production Schedule is based on demand from Y-12\u2019s external customers and is used to align shop floor schedules across all production facilities on-site, allowing major production deliverables to be met on time.<\/p>\n

The group noticed that there were challenges concerning data integrity, priority management and integration, and communication between stakeholders. These challenges had been preventing Y-12 from reliably aligning the shop floor schedule with the master schedule. As a result, the site faced a risk of production delays due to tooling not being delivered on time.<\/p>\n

The team acknowledged these challenges and standardized schedule priority integration for tooling orders. To further monitor and improve their capacity for tooling movement, they created a visual dashboard to communicate scope and schedule data to all stakeholders and created a system of metrics and key performance indicators for the tooling production system.<\/p>\n

The results of their work brought 15% fewer hours spent in tooling manufacturing labor despite an 82% increase in volume of tooling produced compared to the prior fiscal year. Other benefits included:<\/p>\n