SKF

SKF's plant in Altoona was established in 1952 and manufactures four basic families of bearings. There are many changes taking place in the bearing business today. A rise in foreign competition, a decrease in the overall demand for bearings, an increase in customization, and a continued increases in R&D for new products are impacting on the strategies and successes of all competitors in the bearing industry, SKF being one of the major world-wide players.

To help facilitate the movement of the Altoona plant from vertical integration to lean manufacturing, the QMM team made the following recommendations: 1) attempt to reduce raw material lead time with suppliers, 2) add a marketing team at Altoona to increase the interaction between marketing and manufacturing, 3) introduce shop floor cross-training to increase worker flexibility, 4) fully train staff on the ERP system which was recently implemented, 5) tie in ERP system with customers and use for supply chain management, 6) improve accuracy of forecasts, and 7) invest in new machinery as part of program to increase the flexibility of the plant.

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