The Briggs & Stratton plant in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, is putting the final touches on a multimillion-dollar upgrade to its crankshaft machining area. These crankshafts are a critical component in the numerous small engines that the company supplies to manufacturers of walk-behind lawn and garden equipment. The plant produces about 3.3 million of these engines a year, and the crankshaft in each one is machined in this facility.

That's one of the main reasons why the crankshaft machining area became the plant's focus of attention about 3 years ago. It was a production bottleneck; quality issues were a problem; and costs were an issue.By implementing automation and other production efficiencies, the operation is now able to meet its goals for productivity, cost and quality. The newly automated lines require less floor space than the original lines, take fewer operators and setup staff to run and are more flexible. Part number change-overs are faster, and new parts can be added without major modifications to the equipment. More importantly, it is clear that the implementation is achieving its objectives. Those are: meet all the specs on the part print; produce a finished crankshaft every 10 seconds; and operate at 85 percent efficiency or better on a consistent basis

The main turning operations in the revamped lines are performed in two automated cells. Each cell consists of four twin-turret CNC lathes, with an automated gaging station and a robot for each pair of lathes. Other turning and grinding operations are also now performed in automated, robotically tended cells. What makes the main turning cell significant is the choice of standard CNC equipment. These lathes are high-precision models that might be found in a dealer's showroom or on the floor of an advanced job shop.

The decision to incorporate CNC lathes in these cells was made carefully. The performance of these lathes was essential to the success of the whole automation project. Recent innovations in the design and control structure of these machines made this application possible. By installing these lathes, turning steps could be consolidated, a rough grinding step could be eliminated and higher accuracies could be achieved on critical part features.

Choosing CNC lathes and robots over alternative equipment, however, was not the most important decision the company had to make for this plant. Whether to upgrade the crankshaft machining area at all, or join to the tide and outsource production was the crucial choice. For some large manufacturing companies, this decision would not have been a matter of debate. That was almost the case in Poplar Bluff.

The story began in late spring of 2002. It started with a telephone call.

Shutdown Time

Chris Peters, who manages the crankshaft machining area at the Poplar Bluff plant, answered the telephone. The vice president and general manager of the division was calling, and he asked Mr. Peters about his shutdown plans for the crankshaft machining operation. At first, he treated this call as a routine request--every July, the plant has a 2-week shutdown. It's a period when most employees schedule at least part of their vacation time and when major maintenance or renovation can occur with the least disruption. Procedures for this annual shutdown are well established and follow the same pattern year after year. Mr. Peters assumed that all he needed to do was check for any circumstances that might change these plans and then reassure his boss that the shutdown would proceed as usual.

He soon learned that he had misunderstood the message. Mr. Peters was being asked to plan for a total shutdown of the crankshaft machining area. The company was seriously considering outsourcing this product. It was time to look at an orderly cessation of production, redeployment of area employees and disposal of the equipment.

That was not a decision that Mr. Peters expected, even though he knew that the crankshaft area had some deficiencies that needed to be addressed. These concerns had been put off because of other priorities in the plant and competing budgetary considerations. Outsourcing is always an option for companies that are concerned about global competitiveness, and Mr. Peters certainly understood that. He had hoped that the crankshaft line would have its chance to be revitalized, but it looked as if this chance would never come.

Mr. Peters is not one to quietly abandon a conviction. He believed that crankshaft production could stay at the Poplar Bluff plant and be globally competitive if the commitment to the engineering effort and investment in automated equipment were put forth. Fortunately, Briggs & Stratton is committed to globally competitive manufacturing in all its plants. What mattered was reaching that goal--all the better if crankshaft machining could reach that goal in Poplar Bluff.

With that encouragement, Mr. Peters began meeting with the engineers, supervisors and plantfloor staff in the crankshaft area. Manufacturing Engineers Stahl Sturgeon and Jesse Sumrall; and Shift Supervisors Jim Boshell, Jim Plumb and Ken Stout played key roles in this process. It took about a year to create a long-range plan for upgrading and automating crankshaft production. Everyone who participated in these planning sessions understood that being globally competitive involved four broad objectives: