Meet Nye- Bernadette Ferreira

Bernadette Ferreira has been with Nye for 14 years and now serves as our Director of Operations. Bernie started at Nye as a shipping clerk before overseeing packaging and manufacturing, making her well versed in every stage of the manufacturing process. As Director of Operations, Bernie implements, manages, and evaluates operation processes and procedures to ensure that our processes stay within agreed timelines. Bernie also oversees all LEAN efforts to drive a culture of continual improvement at Nye.

What is LEAN?

Lean is a systematic method of streamlining processes by minimizing waste and optimizing process flow so that we can continue to deliver value to customers. Lean is not just a set of tools, it is a way to build a workplace culture where process improvement can thrive.

How is Nye implementing the LEAN philosophy during everyday operations?

There are 3 critical success factors for implementing the lean philosophy at Nye: commitment, education, and follow-through. Commitment involves ongoing communication and continued support from upper management. When upper management listens to suggestions and questions from their employees, it encourages the entire company to commit to a culture of improvement.

Training and educating your entire workforce, including management, is critical to the success of a lean company. Nye was first introduced to lean by training manufacturing staff on the 5S methodology. 5S stands for sort, set in order, shine, standardize and sustain, and is used to bring organization to the manufacturing cells at Nye. The 5S method helps operators take ownership of their workplace by providing them with the tools to create an efficient and effective work environment.

Nye's LEAN roadmap

We also hold trainings on other lean concepts including value stream mapping and Kaizen. Value stream mapping helps us visually map out each step of our current processes and compare them to how each step would look in our ideal process so that we can identify areas for improvement and define actionable steps towards achieving our goal. Our Kaizen training has helped our employees learn more about identifying areas of waste and the steps they can take to make incremental and continuous improvements that reduce this waste.

Commitment and training are only the first steps towards achieving a LEAN organization. Once employees have been properly trained, they must create and follow through with a plan for improving their workplace. When implementing a process improvement initiative, it is important to keep momentum going by understanding that lean is a way of thinking, not just a procedure to follow. I like to remind my employees about the importance of measuring their progress so that they can assess and take accountability for the hard work they have done.

How does an organization such as Nye benefit from LEAN?

Lean has changed the way our company looks at waste reduction and efficiency practices. By instilling a culture of continuous improvement at Nye, we have better quality performance, fewer defects, and improved processes that have increased our on-time delivery rate to 99%.

Our new packaging center is just one example of a process improvement at Nye. Our team of lean champions, employees that have received lean training and create action plans, developed a plan to create a continuous packaging flow using the lean methodology. Their approach provides a distinct advantage in the way materials move throughout the process and reduces the distance traveled by materials, inventory and labor, which increases overall productivity.

How will Nye be expanding its LEAN initiatives in the future?

Right now, much of our lean efforts has been focused on improving our manufacturing processes. In the future we plan to spread the lean philosophy throughout the entire organization. We would also like to learn more about lean by visiting other companies that have successfully implemented lean and seen improvements. The goal of lean is continuous improvement, which means the lean journey we have embarked on will never truly be over.  

What is your favorite part about working for Nye?

My favorite part about working for Nye is that this job challenges me and in return I learn something new every day. I love collaborating with other departments to establish the culture that makes Nye successful and being part of something that makes a difference.