Valco Piping Products, a division of W&O Supply, has been serving the Navy and commercial marine markets for over 18 years.  They regularly participate in the creation of new industry standards for the design and manufacture of copper nickel, stainless steel, titanium, and aluminum shipboard fittings.  Their engineering staff also develops proprietary products for Navy and commercial marine customers. Valco’s operation is not simply that of  a distributer for valves and piping products, moreover they also have advanced capabilities to fabricate and machine many of the components they supply. Valco is located in Portsmouth VA., a location that serves them well as this region is known as the heart of shipbuilding and marine repair. 

In 2006 Valco approached VATPDC to inquire about the Lean Supply Chain Management program.  Valco had encountered other manufactures in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia and had heard about the benefits being realized through their participation in the Lean journey.  Valco, as do many of the other suppliers in this program, has a key interest in growing their relationship with key customers.  Valco also understood the importance in keeping pace with their competition by now allowing themselves to become complacent with their current mode of operation.  Valco also realized that supply chains are increasingly global in nature, forcing companies to lead, follow, or get out of the game.  Developing a lean enterprise is the proven method for setting the standard in achieving world-class performance.  Lean brings agility and a passion for eliminating waste to those companies that choose to embrace the technology.  Increasingly, supply chains are recognizing the benefits of extending efforts beyond the receiving and shipping docks, to create value throughout the enterprise community and Valco knew what they must do to remain a leader within their field.

From the start VATPDC set the strategy with Valco and the decision was made to proceed down the course that would result in Valco becoming a Certified Lean Enterprise. The Certified Lean Enterprise program was created by VATPDC and the level of achievement is accredited by the College of Engineering at ODU.  VATPDC’s first step was to conduct an assessment to determine the knowledge and level of application of Lean practices currently realized within the Valco organization. This assessment helped to identify improvement opportunities and create a focus for the implementation Lean practices so as to close the gap between Valco’s current and desired performance levels.  Next a Lean implementation team and a Lean Champion were identified, from within the Valco organization, to participate in the change efforts.  This group was exposed to training, conducted by VATPDC, consisting of Lean Principles and Value Stream Mapping (VSM).  At this point a gap analysis was completed generating a list of action items to guide the transformation team through the change efforts.  The implementation team then focused on implementation of their newly acquired knowledge of Lean tools to execute the identified improvements across all aspects of Valco’s business.  The activities of the implementation team expanded as the efforts progressed from one functional area to another.    Numerous discrete action items were identified and improvements executed by the Lean implementation team.  As changes were incorporated into the Valco environment, the magnitude of their impact was quickly realized.  The scope of these changes centered around;  creation of  and for training a new strategic focus for the sales force, modification of costing sheets and data tracking capability, creation of a “pick-off” pricing guide, visual management of Lean based business metrics, employment of work sequencing techniques, 5S activity, inventory management within the warehouse operations including a new picking strategy, formalization of the inventory management process, incorporation of supply chain management techniques, and a modified sales opportunity tracking system.

With VATPDC’s oversight and direction, Valco worked their way through the company addressing every major functional area.  Their focus was to look for and address every inefficiency or process non-value added activity encountered.   Rather than just adjusting around the edges, whole processes were mapped out, re-imagined as they might be, and solutions put in place to bridge the performance gaps.    After nine months of dedicated work, in July 2007 ODU - Frank Batten College of Engineering & Technology / VATPDC, in a formal ceremony, presented Valco with a plaque in recognition of their achievement in becoming a Certified Lean Enterprise.  One of the implementation team was also presented with a Certified Lean Practitioner certificate in recognition of his demonstrating requisite knowledge of Lean principles and their application.