lean six sigma philosophy drives operational excellence
Kenco adopted Lean Six Sigma as its primary continuous improvement philosophy. Our emphasis is on gaining process and product knowledge with critical Lean thinking while reducing variability and non-value added activities. “Lean Thinkers” within Kenco focus on enhancing customer value through the reduction of cost, cycle time, waste and defect rates. Our Lean philosophy results in the generation of growth and breakthrough improvements for our customers.
Kenco’s continuous improvement philosophy is perfectly aligned with the Operational Excellence initiatives that have been instilled in our culture. Our vision of Operational Excellence is to leverage our most valued asset, our people, by bringing them together with the right processes and systems to ensure the highest level of execution possible for our customers. Our ability to achieve Operational Excellence is driven through five key initiatives: Safety & Security, Quality, Communication, Bench Strength and Financial Management.
safety & security
At Kenco, people matter. Our number one priority is to guarantee a safe and secure work environment for our employees and customers. The Kenco Safety Management System provides structure for the management of a progressive and consistent safety program across multiple sites and customers. Our management staff takes a proactive approach to ensure safety is an integral part of our overall culture. This allows Kenco to keep our customer’s costs lower. Our corporate sponsored program includes the following functional areas: safety & health, claims management (workers’ compensation, automobile, general liability, etc.), fleet safety (DOT), and loss prevention & security.
quality management
Continuous improvement is the driving force behind the Kenco Quality Management System. This is a method whereby Standard Operating Procedures and Control Procedures are improved by a structured approach, allowing for effective deployment and consistency. The goals are reduction of process variability and increased quality.
Our program ensures that our standard requirements and our customer’s unique requirements are documented according to the ISO-9001:2008 structure and are incorporated into the sites’ standard operating procedures. These procedures include areas such as business planning, best operating practices, training, safety, and security procedures. ISO procedures such as Corrective and Preventative Action Requests (CPAR), Document Change Notices (DCN), Internal Audits, and Control of Record Procedures are employed to manage KQMS. Our Site Quality Plans are installed through our Quality Engineering and Auditing Department.
financial management
The key is to never sacrifice safety/security or quality for financial achievement. It is our responsibility to provide a financial system that will ensure the correct amount of information is gathered across the key areas listed below to maintain the cost requirements required by our customers:
- Cost Management - total cost per unit
- Activity Based Costing - ability to drill down to the next layer of cost
- Work Standards / Efficiency Improvement Process (EIP) - ability to use individual and group standards to drive accountability and employee involvement
- Profile Management - use the key cost drivers of all processes to gauge variation that can impact the work content of a process
complete communication
Internal communication with all associates is integral to our success and we manage it by providing relevant information. The objective is to facilitate the flow of information between our site and corporate resources. We support the site integration into the Kenco culture by ensuring that communication advocates are named, suggestion boxes are installed, intranet access is secured, etc. The communication process continues after transition via our Communication Advocacy Program, which was designed to communicate corporate objectives to our sites. A site advocate will be assigned to represent the facility and work closely with the corporate training department to communicate a clear and consistent message.
bench strength
Kenco exceeds our customers’ expectations by investing in our people and building bench strength. We understand that the caliber of associates hired and their satisfaction with our company directly impacts quality, productivity and positive outcomes. We hire and retain associates through best practice recruiting, offering competitive compensation and benefits, relevant communication, training and professional development opportunities. Additional staffing support is available from our national account partner relationship with Prologistix, a nationwide logistics staffing firm. This allows Kenco to ramp up staff quickly for peak seasons.