Independent Industries is a value-added resource  providing assembly, packaging  and product fulfillment  for importers, exporters, manufacturers and logistics providers.  In today's global marketplace, we manage high-volume re-work and aftermarket challenges that continue to increase for many of our customers. Our ISO 9001:2000 Certified Quality Management System documents our committment to quality control, service excellence, standardization and on-time delivery. 

Independent Industries, Inc., in Louisville, KY is a traditional sheltered workshop, founded in 1971. In most communities, people with disabilities are educated until the age of 21, and then they are sent home to fend for themselves. This creates a need for programs to keep a person with a disability active. Independent Industries serves a community with a broad range of disabilities — cognitive, visual, developmental — and those with drug or alcohol problems, or mental illnesses.

In making a hiring decision, the company does a quick assessment of the candidate's productivity, a background check, and look at anything that might keep them from showing up for work. There is a provision for people to enter as temporary workers as well. Often companies set a goal of employing about two percent people with disabilities. About two thirds of Independent Industries' workers are disabled in some way. The organization sees itself as a mission- driven organization to help people reach their fullest potential. At the same time, they realize they have to make money for commercial customers in order to grow the program and hire more people with disabilities.

President Shelly Buntain said, "We don't have a mission or a purpose if we don't have people applying for jobs. And if we don't get sales and enhance our commercial customers we can't serve them. " From 33 people, Independent Industries had grown to about 120 people when they lost a $3 million contract from a major manufacturer whose subassembly work moved to Mexico. They retrenched and are now a subsidiary of Goodwill Industries of Kentucky.

In Brief
Helping people reach their fullest potential is the mission of Independent Industries, Inc., in Louisville, KY. Employees at this sheltered workshop learn more than work skills; they also find coaching for long-term employment success, as well as acceptance. The programs here draw accolades from customers and the community.

Rebuilding
To rebuild, Buntain and the CEO of Goodwill created a five-year business plan centered on competing on quality and achieving ISO 9000 certification. Buntain hired a new team with a background in manufacturing ISO certification capability. The new manufacturing team faced a learning curve when it came to the social service side of the business, however. Linda Garza is the manufacturing manager at Independent Industries, one of the first new hires Buntain made to upgrade competitive abilities. Garza has more than 25 years of manufacturing experience, including ISO, quality management, and lean systems. Garza and Buntain both faced culture shock when their manufacturing and social services orientations collided.

As Buntain put it, "After we beat each other up for awhile we decided we made a good team." Garza describes her first day on the job as like being dropped into the middle of a war. Buntain intentionally brought Garza in on a Friday to be introduced to employees because the following Monday they were going to a training class together. She picked up a broom and started sweeping. As in all change processes, employees can be disconcerted at first.

A program participant approached her and asked what she was doing. Buntain had already warned her that this person did not like change. Garza said, "Well, I'm sweeping." Asked why she was doing it, she replied, "Because the floor's dirty." Then she was told not to sweep "because that dirt's always been there." This might seem like a funny story, but it's different only in degree from situations where employees used to seeing things in a certain way don't welcome change. Garza understood the importance of being able to compete with "normal" environments, and set about to achieve ISO 9001-2000 registration. The management team chose to go for ISO certification in human services as well as manufacturing.

For a year and a half, the team looked at everything from the intake process and counseling of an employee to how they assemble a customer's product. In March 2005, Independent Industries earned ISO certification in both human services and products, the first community rehabilitation program in the state of Kentucky to be certified in both. The ISO auditor told them that by including the human services element, they could be a model for other organizations — even in "normal" industry.

Patrice Lang, business development specialist, said, "Part of what helps us to do that is getting everyone at all levels involved into the quality management system. All members of the organization — the staff and program participants — helped develop it. They've helped document the processes. We have advisory committees that deal with rehabilitation issues, production concerns, customer relations, and process improvements. The advisory committee members are program participants who have been elected by their peers to share input and represent them." Program participants have vocational goal plans, focusing on safety and behaviors and efficiencies, productivity ratings, and so on. Those are reviewed monthly.

Throughout each work day, production staff members track production to evaluate the production value of each program participant. This information is shared with an employee to demonstrate strengths or weaknesses. In addition, during the counseling session, program participants are encouraged to assist in the development of continuous improvement objectives.

Program Basics
Garza and her team have developed fixturing and jigs to assist people in putting parts together. Even counting is taken into consideration. If the job is to assemble large kits, for example, and someone because of their disability can't count to ten, they will build a jig that the ten pieces will fit into. Visual aids also come into play. Most of the program participants and staff learn through visual means. So you'll see visual aids in operator instructions, out on the floor, in training, and in everything else.

Though day-to-day program activities are frustrating at times, Garza said rewards include learning that people with disabilities are just as capable of doing whatever a normal person does as long as the process is set up right. If the worker is blind, for example, Garza said: "You have to make sure that the process is set up so everything is within arm's reach. A blind employee here is one of the best box builders we have in our facility. You set up that process and actually get him to feel where everything is before he starts. You have to make sure that his boxes are right by his side. And you have to make sure that he knows where other people in the process are, that he knows where to feed the boxes to. "You look at each person's disability," she continued. "Sometimes your decision is based upon their behavior.

If someone is working on a team, you even make sure you partner them with the right people. Because what will happen is if you put two people together, their behaviors may irritate each other and affect their productivity. But you find that in the normal workplace too. You know, I joke with Shelly that the most difficult thing for me would be having to go back in what is deemed to be the normal workplace environment, because we look so closely at people here as to how we hire them, how we train them, how we set them up in the process, and how we work with them and counsel them. You get so accustomed to looking at the people side, and trying to make the processes work with the people, whereas in normal environments, you put the process in first and then you put the people on it."

Looking Lean
Eddie West is Independent Industries' production manager, and joined the company just a few months ago. He has 15 years' experience in the automotive industry with a Japanese Tier One supplier to Toyota. West was hired to bring Independent Industries to the next step of lean. He's changed the plant layout two times, looking for what works best. More visual aids reflect production, 5S daily cleaning maps, proper personal protection gear, sample parts, etc.

Everything (tools and parts, for example) has a home. Better flow in the facility is a goal. West conducts training activities and introduced people to the "seven deadly wastes." He wants to get them involved in trying to help identify waste and get it corrected. Some operations are so well organized that anyone, with or without a disability, could do the job within five minutes without needing to be shown how, he said. Independent Industries' attention to quality sometimes exceeds that of its suppliers. One makes an interior part that goes to a leading Japanese auto company. West says they constantly get in some brackets with bad spring clips. They compensate to make them acceptable to the customer.

Winning New Customers
Customers or potential customers coming through on tours notice how processes are set up around people, the visual aids, and the way they measure people and processes. Patrice Lang said, "I walk back into the plant and each day it's condensed. The 30,000 square feet we have is more like having the capacity of 100,000, the way they've condensed the processes. Whenever I think about filling the facility, the production area shrinks and there is more space available."

Lang talked about an international company that Independent Industries wanted to do an assembly for. They sent a team to the facility to do a three-day audit. Once they saw the operation, they gave Independent Industries the assembly immediately. When companies see that you're able to do their processing, you begin to see the business benefits to lean, Lang said. Another international company with 47 facilities remains resistant to change. The reputation among their affiliates is that the Louisville facility is a "bad plant."

There are a lot of internal struggles, old-fashioned ideas, and an aging workforce. The new general manager, the fourth one in four years, recently toured the Independent Industries facility and was mesmerized, said Lang, that West and Garza were able to implement so many lean manufacturing or 5S principles with a non-traditional workforce. As he walked from workstation to workstation, he asked, "Can you train us?" While touring the Independent Industries facility recently, the president of a corrugated products company voiced his concern regarding the company's ability to manage the volume of work required to build two assemblies.

To be sure of the timely performance of the work, he moved an $80,000 machine to the Independent Industries facility. The machine broke down continually, shutting down the whole production process. Independent Industries adopted a non-automated process and doubled the volume. The customer told Lang, "You do the job better than my people do it."

Focus on People
Another key person in the organization is Rachel Young, human services specialist. She's the one who asks the employee, "Why didn't you call in sick?" Or if there's some odd behavior on the floor, she gets the call to deal with the problem. In a "normal" business environment, there are always people with problems. Young's job is to try to salvage that person, find out what's going on with them, and keep them employed. With higher-functioning groups, Independent Industries tries to mold people into ideal employees.

Young might be addressing barriers that they have when they leave the facility or why they're not coming to work. When there are problems, she'll sit down with the individual and talk to them about what's going on with them, what they're having problems with, and anything specific she and the other staff have been noticing. She will make them aware that those things need to change, and ask what the company can do to help them make that change. This process helps people further themselves in life, not just at Independent Industries. Independent Industries produces more than manufactured products — it produces people.

Program participants are preparing themselves to add value for other companies in the area and go on to better jobs. If someone on the line is doing well and they choose to leave, Independent Industries helps them develop a resume, introduces them to other employers, and more or less kicks the door open for them. Some pursue further education. Young also helps clients to fill out financial aid forms. "We teach them how to work," Young said. They teach the basics, like calling when they're going to be late or not able to come to work — things that others may take for granted. Employees grow in more than employment skills.

Buntain described one man with a developmental disability. He is very personable, enjoys his job, and he shows up every work day. He could easily be placed out. When asked why he doesn't want to leave, it is that he has found a place where he is accepted. His productivity rating is up; his self-esteem is up. "Relationships develop at work like they do in any company," Buntain said. "People talk, call each other at home, and go out socially together. With our population, a lot have been so isolated that they don't realize that they can have a social life until they get here."

Buntain said there isn't one of us who couldn't find ourselves with a disability some day. "It is real, and it can happen," she said. "If we can have places, workplaces where there are people who are a little bit friendlier to people with disabilities, to accommodate them, we can get some really good workers. Most of the time they are very loyal, because nobody else has given them an opportunity. They love their jobs and they're very easy to work with." Like people with disabilities, there are those who have been held back from employment by other circumstances.

Lang told the story of one employee: "As I walked through the production area of the plant about six months ago, a woman caught me by the arm as I walked by her and said, 'I really love working here.' She was very tiny and frail, and you could tell she was intimidated by many things around her. When I learned that she was preparing to leave Independent, I asked her, 'Why are you leaving?' She said, 'I love it here. Independent Industries gave me a job when no one else would and working here gave me the ability to build a resume … and I found another job.' With tears in her eyes, she said, 'This job enabled me to leave a very violent home.' She had been verbally and physically abused in a disempowering and perhaps life-threatening relationship. She was celebrating … moving toward a stronger and more positive future by helping to manage a fast food restaurant. A seemingly small step for some of us is actually a huge step for others."

Independent Industries has helped homeless people get back on their feet. Lang talked about one man who hadn't been in a stable situation for a long time, and he moved between local missions. A hard worker, he had experience at a major manufacturing company. He worked his way up to a material handler position over a year's time, got his own place, and he's finally on what you would call solid ground.

Despite their interest in helping people, Independent Industries still must be selective about who they hire. They consider a number of people, looking got the right one to do the work and remain in the workplace for some period of time, especially among those individuals who've gone through the drug and alcohol issues or have a mental illness. Staff members have learned to be observant of behaviors, mindful of anyone who might be falling back into addictions.

As soon as they see any problems, they talk to the individual and the referral agency contact, doing whatever they can to keep those persons employed. Still there is turnover. "It takes work," said Buntain. "I think a lot of people in the normal business environment don't have time to work with their people. They're busy getting it out, getting it done right, and they don't have time to really train and work through some issues that people with disabilities might have." The effort can be worth it, as companies learn when they hire people trained at Independent Industries.

Buntain told of one success: "We had a fellow here who would not talk. He could talk to you over the phone but not face to face. But show him a job, and he will do it. We placed him in a company down the street from here; he has been there about eight years. He takes a bus every day, rain, snow, or shine. He will never miss work. He minds his own business. He doesn't talk to anybody. He comes in, he does his work, and leaves. And he's pleased with his job. He finally got off disability, which is really the ultimate goal. People in the plant have taken him on; some take him home or take him to the bus stop, when it's raining or snowing."

Continuing Improvement
Companies where Independent Industries has placed employees come back and ask for more people. Garza said others would benefit by looking at the advantages of doing so. Garza added, "If you go to a manufacturing company and talk to them in the terms they are used to, we're all measured by the same yardstick. Look at on-time delivery, look at non-conforming products and services, or customer satisfaction — we're measured the same. The only difference is that our employees have some type of disability and we look at the person first and try and fit them into the process.

If other companies would look at people and how they can fit into the company, they would see some of the same growth we've had. We've had huge sales growth, huge efficiency improvements." Independent Industries continues to get accolades. Shelly Buntain accepted the 2005 "Manufacturing Leader of the Year" award from greater Louisville's Chamber of Commerce, for the company's customer focus, operational excellence, and continuous improvement. The company recently won the Chamber of Commerce 2006 "Workforce" award. The staff and program participants at Independent Industries felt that being honored by their manufacturing peers with regard to their accomplishments in areas of plant efficiencies, lean implementation, and workforce human services was especially rewarding.

Adding the human element to lean manufacturing is what makes this company different. Independent Industries bears the hallmarks of the sustainable enterprise: continuous operational improvement, community service, growth and development for employees, business growth through attracting new customers, and leadership.

Karen Wilhelm has been involved in publishing practical information about manufacturing, including what is now called "lean," since 1986. She is editor of SME's Lean Directions e-newsletter, a freelance writer, and publishes a blog, Lean Reflections.

For more information about Independent Industries, visit the company's website at www.independentindustries.com, or contact Shelly Buntain, President, at 502/451 4631, ext. 113, shellyb@iiinc.org, or Patrice Morris Lang, Business Development Specialist, 502/451-4631, ext. 120, patricel@iiinc.org

"Target magazine, Volume 23 Number 2, Association of Manufacturing Excellence (AME)."