The Anderson Windows

On Friday, April 1 I had the opportunity to visit the Anderson Windows plant with the Supply Chain and Operations Club. The plant is located along the Saint Croix River in Bayport, Minnesota and sits on 68 acres of land. We received a tour from a very seasoned member of the Anderson Windows team, who currently works in demand planning. He has been with the company for over twenty years and really displayed a passion for everything that he showed us. He started the tour by bringing us to a showroom that displayed many of the finished window products that they manufacture. It was good to see the finished product before we entered the shop floor, as it was difficult to tell which parts being made were for what product. We were at the plant on a relatively quiet production day, however typically there are lots of employees hustling around on electric carts and bicycles. During a busy week in the summer, production teams will often produce as many as 100,000 windows.

During the tour at Anderson Windows, I was able to apply much of what we have discussed in OMS 3001. At each work station, management had placed Kanban bins to assist workers in keeping an even flow of work. When workers notice that Kanban bins are running low on parts, they automatically know that more parts must be delivered to that station. This system helps to keep the flow of the entire process flowing smoothly in that one station should never hold up production because they don't have enough parts to work with. Additionally, Anderson Windows has built strong relationships with their suppliers. For example, the company that they get all of their glass from is located just across the river from them and makes daily deliveries based on production needs each day. This prevents excess inventory from collecting within Anderson's facility. The company also attempts to incorporate lean thinking into its operations as much as possible. Because they produce custom windows for their customers, they are constantly cutting boards to different a length, which has the potential to produce a lot of wasted wood. However, Anderson strives to use every inch of every board by gluing the waste pieces together and using them to build storage/delivery crates. The pieces that are too small to be glued back together are ground up for sawdust and either sold to outside venders or is mixed with a vinyl solution and used to make certain products. The Anderson Company also takes a lot of pride in the workers that they retain on the shop floor. Many of the employees that we met had been with the company for 10 to 20 years and plan to retire with the company. One reason for their high retention rate is allowing for job rotation. For example, throughout one week, a worker may find themselves working on a variety of different machines at different steps in the production process. This prevents boredom and ultimately increases overall job satisfaction. Lastly, Anderson stresses