The Fastcap Facility, Part I
Pankow along with 50 other visitors showed up at 7am at the FastCap Facility in Bellingham, Washington.
FastCap has 14 stations where a leader talked about their station. Every person took part in cleaning the bathroom. “It was so clean that it wasn’t much work at all,” said JR Gunter. “The employees leave it better for the next person, no one is above the team” observed Lee Hopkinson.
Other stations included engineering, woodshop of wood prototypes, product manufacturing, plastic injection molding, product assembly, order and distribution, customer care center, how to use Kaizen foam, print and labeling station, and more. “I was impressed with the highly efficient fork-lift that was guided down the aisle by magnets in the floor,” said Kim Lum.
“The way the stations operated showed the tenacious persistence with which every employee seeks to identify and eliminate waste,” observed Scott Anderson.
“I was impressed with the attitude of the employees and the freedom they felt to operate on their own almost without “rules,” said Dick Walterhouse.
Dave Eichten remarked, “It is amazing how consistent the tenants of finding a better way in a humble curious manner was carried out by each person that I met (including Paul). No matter how long they had been there and regardless of their role, they were committed to continuous improvement.”