Rogue Truck Body in Oregon and California, a family-owned business with 45 employees in Kerby, Oregon and Lake Elsinore, California. Rogue Truck Body serves most of the West Coast. They still have trucks on the road from the 90’s. They build an average of 8-10 units per month: transfers, dump boxes, tag boxes and super dumps.
Success Story
Featured
Rogue Truck Body
Industry
Truck Bodies
Location
Kerby, Oregon
Date Founded
1984
Number of Employees
45+
Background
$500,000
COST SAVINGS
$3 MILLION
INCREASED SALES & 6 MILLION RETAINED SALES
8
NEW JOBS AND 10 RETAINED JOBS
The Situation
Rogue Truck Body customer demand has doubled, and capacity is constrained. Their lead time is not where they want it to be. They would like help improving efficiency in all work centers. Additionally, they would like to create a new warehouse and expand the building for additional assembly space.
The Solution
OMEP partnered with Rogue Truck Body on several key initiatives designed to eliminate waste and improve flow. All teams completed our Lean Principles class that includes a Lego factory simulation. We conducted classes in Oregon and California. A steering team was then selected, and we started the value stream mapping process. We mapped the current state and identified many areas for improvement. We zoomed in on bottlenecks in inventory, assembly, and the sales order process.
The Oregon team worked on the end of the line final assembly to improve our exit cycles. We worked on a Kaizen Event in final assembly to improve the flow and staging of parts. The California team created a kitting system to stage parts for the assemblers.
The first planning phase for the new warehouse was also initiated. The focus on 5S sort and straighten was our first target for improvement along with kanban.
The sales and operations team worked on improvements in scheduling, reinstituting an order read meeting, and many software system improvements with Engineering.
Rogue hired a new CEO a few months into our service. Steve Retherford had a lean manufacturing background. His leadership and support through this engagement was the catalyst for the great impacts and success at Rogue Truck Body. Steve’s vision, mission and planning skills created an environment for improvement and earned the trust and respect of his team. The teams responded in a positive impactful way as reflected in the results.
The Results
- Cost Savings: $500,000
- Increased/Retained Jobs: 8 new jobs and 10 retained jobs
- Increased/Retained Sales: Increase of $3,000,000 and retained sales of $6,000,000
- New Investment: $3,000,000 plant and equipment
- New Products: $300,000 new products / processes
- Other: Systems and software investment of $200,000
We had a great experience with the team and would have them back to work on future processes.