Success – Litehouse Foods
Operational Excellence
Litehouse Foods
Sandpoint, Idaho
Lean is About More Than Cuisine at Litehouse Foods
In the mid-1950’s, Chef Ed Hawkins and his wife Lorena bought The Litehouse Restaurant in Hope, Idaho where they served their now famous blue cheese dressing. Patrons began to arrive with empty jars to take dressing home. In 1962, Hawkins purchased a load of 16-ounce jars, and a new business was born that, today, makes a host of products. As the Litehouse product line expanded, management began to examine Lean Manufacturing as a way to address growing pains. TechHelp, a member of the MEP National Network™, visited Litehouse and found a company ready to move forward with a Lean Transformation.
Project
TechHelp’s project work included workshops that grounded Litehouse staff in Lean principles and prepared them for the Lean transformation. Work included Value Stream Mapping, “Kaizens” to eliminate waste, 5S Visual Workplace activities to make the made the plant more intuitive and Quick Changeover and Setup Reduction activities that helped Litehouse quickly shift production to meet customer demand.
Results
- Saved $400,000 in operating cost.
- $1M cost avoided by not expanding into a larger facility.
- 300,000 in inventory reduction.
- Earned TechHelp Spirit of Continuous Innovation Award.
“I am proud of how we embraced a Lean program that empowers each individual to make a difference toward the goal of process improvement. Every employee can make a difference in how we go to market with the goods and services we provide.”
– Edward W. Hawkins, Jr., Former CEO of Litehouse
