No Sleeping on a Lean Job

When:  Mar 10, 2022 from 10:15 PM to 10:15 PM (UTC)
Associated with  Grand Rapids Section
No Sleeping on a Lean Job


Sleep Number is a smart bed manufacturer that has leveraged the use of value stream mapping to help identify waste and improve process efficiency. The elimination of waste has led to a 75% increase in production over 12 months. The value stream mapping process has helped to align our manufacturing leaders around a common goal and help to minimize competing interests from different functional groups. The quality information on the VSM has helped the Irmo manufacturing plant reduce their top defect of skip from 36 per day to 17 per day. The use of some of the basic LSS tools has helped move our manufacturing process and our manufacturing team to a more mature lean culture.


Presenter:
Joseph Stanford


My name is Joseph Stanford. I am currently the Sr. Project Manager for Sleep Number’s Manufacturing and Assembly in North America. My background is in chemical engineering, and I have worked in continuous improvement for 15 years. I recently graduated with a master’s degree in Lean Manufacturing from Kettering University. I have been with Sleep Number for 8 years. I enjoy the fact that I am part of a company that makes a product that positively impacts people's life. We not only focus on our external customers but a big portion of my job is focused on improving the lives of our employees by making processes more efficient so that our employees can experience a great work-life balance.