Company Profile
If you’ve ever attended live entertainment – a professional play, musical or concert – chances are you’ve seen Creative Conners products in use. The Cranston, RI company manufactures scenic automation products such as stage elevators that make villains disappear dramatically hoists that can make scenery fly or float, and winches that open video walls during concerts.
Included in each piece of modular machinery is the electronics that make the items move with precision and timing, and the software that controls the electronics.
Gareth Conner founded the company in 2004 based on the idea of making effects technology available to venues of all sizes. Today, he leads a team of 20 talented employees in making and shipping modular components all over the world.
Situation
Timelines are make-or-break in live entertainment. For this reason, Creative Conners tries to do as much in-house manufacturing as possible so they can control production and delivery. In 2023, the company was moving into a new facility where all operations could be under one roof.
“As we were moving into a new space, we said – let’s take a look at how we’re doing things, and this is probably a good opportunity to change ourselves,” said Conner.
Conner had heard about Polaris MEP, RI’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership Center, through industry events and a close partner, the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program. He asked for help streamlining operations to reduce production times and raise profits. In doing so, Conners hoped to better utilize both the staff and the new space.
IMPACTS
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10 hours saved in assembly time per unit | |
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$50,000 direct cost savings | |
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$70,000 labor hours saved in pilot production area |
In just that first production area, we are saving about $70,000 a year in labor hours. It’s almost like gaining one full position worth of time.
Gareth Conner
Founder/CEO, Creative Conners
Solution
Polaris MEP’s team of experienced advisors quickly saw how to help Creative Conners wow their audience of customers.
The first “act” included training on Lean Manufacturing principles and rules. That was followed by more specific “learn-do” training on the fundamental Lean production tool called 5S including a pilot project.
The pilot was in electronic production, which is the bulk of their work and where production times had been creeping up (along with rates of re-work). The team had a batch process, laying out 10 units at a time. One workspace was used for several different products; materials were set up and broken down several times a week.
Polaris MEP’s Nathan Bonds observed the batch process and suggested switching processes to a one-piece flow.
He encouraged the team to create a dedicated area for one product with assembly tables/benches in a large U shape. People would circulate through the work cell, bringing the item with them from station to station, and each station would have a set amount of time in which to finish that step.
“The team thought I was crazy!” said Bonds.
“Everyone was very resistant, myself included,” said Conner. “The first time I heard Nathan’s idea I thought ‘That is not gonna work here, we’re very different.’ But I took some time to mull things over. And by the next session, I came to grips with two things. Number one, if I am paying for this help and asking for it, why would I not at least take it? Number two, was the idea that yes, it’s a very different thing to do, but we also know the old way is not working. We can’t ask to get better and change nothing.”
The next 5S coaching session saw everyone dragging tables around, trying out changes quickly and seeing what worked better – but it wasn’t the final act. The positive outcomes of the pilot project led to continuous improvements and 5S initiatives in other areas of the business. “We see a problem, we lean on our training and we attack the problem through 5S,” said Conner.
Results
After Lean training and support from Polaris MEP, Creative Conners portioned the new facility by product for one-piece flow. The result was significant drops in defect rates and huge savings in work hours. They knocked production time nearly in half per unit, shaving 10 hours off of each assembly.
“In just that first production area, we are saving about $70,000 a year in labor hours. It’s almost like gaining one full position worth of time,” said Conners.
Bonds notes that another important benefit was cross-training. Previously, only one person fully knew the process for a specific product; “now three or four people can do the job at a time and with a high level of confidence.”
Conner describes Lean 5S as a framework to boost efficiency in a repeatable way. It’s strengthened the company overall.
“By optimizing our workflow on those repeat products, we opened up capacity to chase after big custom projects, and we can do it without fear of not delivering on the orders that are still the bread and butter of what we do. So, it’s a big deal across the board, from sales to the company’s capabilities and our direction of what we’re able to pursue. All through this 5S training. Yeah, it’s a big deal.”
Creative Conners and Polaris MEP are now working on their encore, onboarding new machining talent to meet the company’s increased demand.