ALLENTOWN, Pa. — As he helped assemble bicycles at the Manufacturers Resource Center on Wednesday for children from low-income families, the wheels of Daniel Levan’s memory pedaled back to his own childhood.
“Mine was a Huffy mountain bike,” said Levan, 40, a continuous improvement specialist at East Penn Manufacturing.
“I got it for Christmas. It was so neat. This brings it all back. I’ll never forget it.
“Going through this type of training here means a lot more because it has a purpose — helping another organization that will donate these bikes to kids who need them.”
Levan was among 13 area manufacturing workers taking part in Santa’s STANDARD WORKshop, a two-day event at which workers learned and applied Lean principles while assembling youth bikes that will be donated to Community Bike Works of Allentown in time for the holiday season.
Lean manufacturing principles are a way of thinking that helps organizations create value for customers while maximizing efficiency.
“The bikes built during this workshop will go directly to children and families that participate in programs offered by Bike Works,” said Gene Kaschak, MRC vice president of continuous improvement and leadership development strategy.
Giving the assembled bikes
Community Bike Works is celebrating its 29th year of its Earn a Bike program. Low-income families from the Lehigh Valley can become eligible to get a bike by signing up online or in person for the 24-hour mentoring program.
According to James Williams, director of programs at Community Bike Shop, the MRC contacted him to ask if his organization would be interested in getting the bikes after they were assembled.
"The children who participate in the mentoring program will be receiving bikes from January through May," Williams said.
MSG buys bike frames, handlebars, tires, pedals, chains, seats and other bike-related items from Kent International Inc. of Fairfield, New Jersey.
Each Kent Street Metal bike measures 20 inches high. Girls bikes are white, while boys bikes are blue and dark blue and red. The bikes list at $118-$138.
Employees from Airlite Plastics, Crayola, East Penn Manufacturing, MI Windows and Doors and Ocean Spray participated in the bike build.
'It's really meaningful'
After participating in instruction seminars on Tuesday, the workers on Wednesday put the bikes together in an assembly room.
After one part of the bike was assembled on a workstation, the station on wheels was rolled to another worker to affix the next piece of the bike to the frame.
Workers assembled 40 bikes in 40 minutes.
“When a child receives a bike, it’s like the best day of their life. They are so excited. To provide 40 bikes to kids in our community is tremendous.”Gene Kaschak, MRC vice president
“It’s really meaningful that we can have this type of impact on the community,” Kaschak said.
“When a child receives a bike, it’s like the best day of their life. They are so excited. To provide 40 bikes to kids in our community is tremendous.”
In addition to giving back to the community with the bike assembly, the Santa STANDARD WORKshop provided an opportunity to master the core tenets of Lean manufacturing.
The event exemplified the spirit of Lean: collaborative, results-driven, and purpose-filled.
Participants learned actionable strategies to streamline their operations while knowing they’ve made a tangible difference in the community.
“Through their training, the workers learned how to organize each workstation and how to eliminate waste during the work process,” said Janelle Rabenold, MRC director of leadership development and training strategy.
“They learned about cycle time [which is the average time to make one unit of a product until it's ready to ship]. If they have to reach too far too many times for a particular tool, they find a way to shorten that.”
