One Shop’s Tale to More Standardized Tool Organization

Virtually every leading manufacturer today applies some degree of lean manufacturing’s 5S concept — Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardize and Sustain — to foster and maintain an organized workplace. Ogden, Utah’s JD Machine is a prime example, although that wasn’t always the case.

JD Machine offers a range of services that includes precision machining, sheet metal fabrication, design collaboration, assembly, and inventory and supply chain management. Don Wardle established the company in 1979 and his son, Matt, took over as president in 1992. Until then, 5S was not ingrained in the company’s culture. However, it wasn’t long before it was.

“Early on, my dad implemented the ‘place for everything and everything in its place’ approach,” notes Jared Wardle, Matt’s son and the company’s production manager. “The idea was to minimize wasted time, movement and cost inherent to an unorganized workplace.”

Today, individual production teams are allotted one hour per week to focus on 5S and receive scores for their efforts. Team leaders maintain a 5S schedule by rotating team members who perform duties such as mopping floors, changing filters, maintaining coolant tanks and so on.

For tooling organization in individual work cells, shopfloor employees would sometimes use foam, homemade dividers and other methods to store devices in Lista cabinets in whatever manner made sense to them. “This worked fine until it was time to move other people to that workstation and they either couldn’t find or had a hard time finding the tools they needed,” Wardle says.

Last year, the shop identified a possible solution to help standardize tool storage by way of Shadow Foam from Kaiser Manufacturing. Kaiser Manufacturing was launched by industry veteran Chris Kaiser. His son, Nic, is the company’s operations manager.

In short, the concept involves laying out tools, gages, handheld devices and so on in the manner and position a shop would want them to be organized and using a 3D scanner to document those positions in a CAD file. From those CAD files, Kaiser Manufacturing machines pocket locations in rigid foam inserts to store and protect those objects in cabinet drawers, portable cases, part pallets and so on. (See sidebar below for more about the process.)

JD Machine is an early adopter of this concept at least on a large scale, but this was preceded by a thorough shop sorting effort and numerous Ebay auctions.

What’s the ROI of Tooling Organization?

Wardle notes that while the machined foam concept makes sense, he also recognized the challenge in determining the potential return on investment (ROI) that could be realized through this type of standardized and more efficient tooling organization method.

“We perform due diligence for every investment the company makes,” Wardle explains. “But in this case, you never know when someone loses a tool, when the tool is missing and can’t be found, how much time is wasted looking for it and so on. Plus, one person’s hourly rate wasted on such efforts might be different for another. There’s really no way to document all of those variables.”

This spurred the idea to shut down operations one day for six hours — three hours on the day shift and three on the swing shift — to sort the shop to identify what was needed and what wasn’t. As a result, these efforts uncovered tools and items such as workholding devices that hadn’t been touched in years. Some items were scrapped, but others still had value (just not for JD Machine). For those items, Wardle created numerous Ebay listings from which total sales would cover the estimated cost of creating 64 Shadow Foam inserts required for the shop’s eight work cells.

Scanning Started Last April

Nic Kaiser says the Shadow Foam concept is well suited for tool control, kitting, pallets and custom cases while effectively controlling a company’s assets and minimizing foreign object debris (FOD). He notes the rigid polyethylene foam used is resilient and non-abrasive, and resistant to moisture/water, bacteria, chemicals, oils and solvents.

It’s possible for a manufacturer to send tooling to Kaiser Manufacturing so it can perform the 3D scanning or request a company technician to visit and scan at the manufacturer’s facility. That said, JD Machine decided to rent a 3D scanner from the company and perform the scanning itself.

Prior to this, each individual production team was tasked with creating the optimal layout for tooling in the cabinets in their work cells. These would become standard layouts so anyone moved to a particular cell could readily find the tools that were needed.

“We did this through all eight of our value streams,” Wardle says. Every work cell’s needs were different, including VMCs, HMCs, turn-mills and even our fabrication department. Examples of requisite items included T handles, crescent wrenches, screw drivers, hammers, calipers, tape measures and so on. Each team then came to agreements as to how best to nest the items in each foam insert.

“Kaiser Manufacturing provided helpful instructions, including video describing how to apply indicators on tools, spray with a dissolving matte finish spray and perform the scanning,” Wardle continues. “We then worked with Alex Hatch, Kaiser Manufacturing production manager, to review and verify the scans before the foam inserts were created.”

JD Machine received the rented scanner in April 2023, and the first foam inserts started appearing one month later. Kaiser Manufacturing saves the scan designs, so if the shop ever needed a new one, it could be created and sent in short order.

“This standardized tool organization concept has been well-received by those in our various production cells,” Wardle says. “In addition, it fosters a nice comfort level when we bring on new employees because it’s easy to locate the tools and devices they need.

“We’ve also found that we’re re-ordering many fewer hand tools because we know we have everything or if something is missing. This gets back to my dad’s push to have a place for everything and everything in its place which we’re able to achieve with this tool organization method.”

Appearances Matter (Inside and Outside)

I wasn’t able to visit JD Machine for the production of this article or to see its use of the Shadow Foam inserts in person. However, I have been to its facility and can attest to its obvious adherence to 5S principles. The shop is indeed very clean and organized, and the cabinet tooling inserts are yet another example of the shop’s continuous efforts in this regard.

But JD Machine is also very inviting from the outside. Having the Wasatch Mountains as a striking backdrop for the company’s facility doesn’t hurt. That said, the building’s façade, well, looks more like an architectural firm than a “machine shop.” And that’s by design.

In 2006, the company ventured into sheet metal fabrication as requested by a few customers needing those types of components in addition to machined parts. Unlike machined parts, though, sheet metal components get bigger as they’re manufactured. “We didn’t have enough room in our existing building,” Matt Wardle explains, “so we chose to build a new, larger facility.”

“In the middle of the financial meltdown of 2008, I started looking for land,” he continues. “It turns out that was a pretty good time to buy. I purchased the land from someone I know who owns the construction company we hired, and he recommended Troy Anderson’s Clarity Design Group in Salt Lake City to be the architect. At that time, it was great getting positive feedback from the community pleased to see our company was banking on the future considering how economically dark it was in 2008 when we began building our new facility.”

During the design process, the building’s exterior look was a big consideration. “Our previous building was fairly boring and not at all stylish,” Wardle says. “We wanted the new one to look more appealing and modern, including an open lobby with ample windows to bring in abundant natural light. The feeling was all of this complements the nature of the high-tech industries we serve while providing as a more attractive look for potential new hires. Plus, in terms of our company's progression, investing in this building was a turning point from taking us from a small job shop into an advanced manufacturing company.”

In fact, JD Machine has already doubled the size of its new building with an addition and is currently considering another one to provide room for additional growth.

Wardle says he might have reconsidered some choices made for the new facility and location. One would have been to purchase more land. “We’ve already filled space that I never thought we would,” Wardle says. “I never envisioned getting to the point where we’d need to expand further, but we’re there.” One expansion doubling the shop’s size has already happened and another is being considered.

He also says it might have made more sense to go with a polished concrete floor instead of using an epoxy coating, which isn’t holding up as well as was hoped. Plus, additional air conditioning capacity would have helped given the amount of heat generated by the machining and fabricating equipment.

Wardle cautions other manufacturers considering this type of investment — be it in a new facility or a facility expansion — to be mindful of how huge a commitment it is. “You’re going to drop a lot of capital into a new facility, so you better be ready for it,” he says. “It’s a bigger deal than you ever think it will be and likely will be more expensive than you can ever plan. However, if you feel you’re in a good position to weather all that, it can provide a number of really good opportunities. This was one of the riskiest moves I’ve ever made, but one that has paid dividends.”