Medical-device packaging
A packaging center increased productivity by 300%.
Facing $1.6 million in past-due orders and customer commitments at risk, this medical-device manufacturer used continuous improvement to redesign its packaging work cell, material flow, team structure, and work-prioritization system—making productive work easier to see and execute.
The challenge
The team was working hard. The work was not designed to flow.
The organization manufactured, packaged, and distributed orthodontic medical devices worldwide. Its packaging center had become a constraint, contributing to missed delivery expectations and a growing backlog of past-due orders.
“The problem was not effort. The environment made consistent performance unnecessarily difficult.”
Split inventory
Materials were stored in two separate locations, creating extra travel and an unclear shopping path.
Crossing paths
People and material movement overlapped throughout the work area, creating congestion.
Unclear priorities
The team did not have a clear method for deciding which order should be completed first.
Independent work
Operators were not organized into coordinated teams that could flex with order demand.
Poor placement
Closeout activity and supplies were positioned away from the next point of use.
Congested handoffs
Bottlenecks formed around label printing, order pickup, and closeout.
See the work
From tangled movement to visible flow.
The layout comparison made the hidden burden of the current state impossible to ignore—and gave the team a practical picture of a better way to work.
Current State
Fragmented movement
Inventory was stored in separate areas, operators worked independently, and movement converged around label printing, order pickup, and closeout. The result was a difficult-to-follow web of travel and handoffs.
Improved State
Defined flow
Inventory was co-located into a central shopping area, work was organized into three flexible lines, and a clearer path was created for materials entering, moving through, and leaving the cell.
Green Dot's approach
Redesign the flow—not merely the floor plan.
5S, work-cell redesign, and load leveling were used together to improve both the physical environment and the way work was assigned, prioritized, and supported.
Co-locate inventory
Create a central shopping area and a clearer path for finding and retrieving materials.
Establish directional flow
Position work and support activities around the next process step and handoff.
Create flexible teams
Use one-, two-, or three-person assignments based on order size, complexity, and urgency.
Clarify priorities
Introduce team leads and demand-management roles to guide what work happens next.
Level the work
Distribute workload more deliberately and reduce avoidable congestion at key points.
The improved operating model
A simpler system made productive work easier.
The redesign aligned space, movement, staffing, and decision-making instead of treating each as a separate problem.
Work fought the system.
- —Inventory stored in separate locations
- —Operators working independently
- —Extensive travel and crossing paths
- —Congestion at label printing, pickup, and closeout
- —No clear work-prioritization method
The system supported the work.
- ✓Inventory co-located in a central shopping area
- ✓Three organized work lines with flexible staffing
- ✓Defined movement into and out of the cell
- ✓Closeout activity positioned near the next handoff
- ✓Assigned roles guiding priorities and reducing congestion
The result
Better flow created the capacity to address the backlog.
The packaging center achieved a 300% increase in productivity. The additional capacity supported the organization's effort to burn down $1.6 million in past-due orders and improve its ability to meet customer delivery expectations.
Is your process losing capacity to movement, congestion, or unclear priorities?
Green Dot works alongside the people closest to the work to see what is really happening, redesign flow, test practical countermeasures, and sustain better performance.