Johnson Controls - The Georgetown PlantThe Georgetown Plant of Johnson Controls manufactured automobile seats for the Toyota automobile manufacture. Johnson Controls was organized in four groups: Controls, Automotive, Plastic, Batteries. As the world's largest supplier of automotive seating systems, Johnson prided itself on the flexibility of operations.Adopting Japanese philosophies of kaizen, Operations have been constantly improving yielding over $1 million in savings. With the addition of robots and process changes, Johnson has also been able to help efficiencies. They have identified bottlenecks such as the die changes that now t ...view middle of the document...
The question is: What will the purpose of this new plant be?Support excess operationsOffer new manufacturing optionsSince Johnson Controls adopted a JIT manufacturing process, it eliminated the possibility for unneeded Inventory. This allocation of space now allows Johnson Controls to maximize their operations and move towards a more integrated plant.AlternativesJohnson Controls has 2 alternatives for the new plant:1. Utilize the new plant to concentrate on just foam seating. This would allow the new plant to double its capacity if they seek to serve other customers.2. Use the plants excess capacity to make mechanisms in-house. This would eliminate 10 weeks in lead time and one variance of vertical integrationRecommendationJohnson Controls should commit the new plant to 100% foam operations. This will allow for additional capacity for TMM or other customers if needed.RationaleReviewing the operations of Johnson Controls, they do not have any foam operations in Kentucky. Their Metal Frames & Mechanisms and Seat Assembly operations are both located in Georgetown, Kentucky and therefore it would only make sense to utilize the new plant for this purpose.Johnson Controls should continue to run its operations through the old plant. Operations such as Head Rests and Trim Covers should be moved also to the new plant. This will allow additional space in the Georgetown plant for increased production. These additional capabilities will mean greater sales for Johnson since sales will not be outsourced to meet demand.
