A message from our CEO
Dear Fellow Stakeholders:Our vision at Manitowoc is to build the physical communities of tomorrow – whether it is a stadium where 100,000 fans can cheer on their favorite team, a bridge that connects towns separated by a river, or a new nuclear power plant to power a semiconductor factory that is producing state-of-the-art technology to run your smart phone. To do so, our mission is to develop reliable, innovative lifting solutions that are backed by expert service and support. All of this starts with The Manitowoc Way, which is the culture and business operating system at Manitowoc.
The Manitowoc Way is how we approach our business and governs how we engage our stakeholders – customers, suppliers, partners, shareholders, employees, and the communities where we operate. Our business system is built on the philosophy of kaizen, or continuous improvement. The goal is to get a little bit better each day, and this doesn't just apply to productivity and shop floor factory practices. Kaizen applies to everything we do and is the cornerstone for employee engagement. There’s no better example of this than our Lessons Learned Competition where we determine the best improvement initiatives in the areas of: Environmental, Aftermarket, Traditional Kaizen, and Individual Leadership. ENVIRONMENTALAt our Charlieu facility, the paint value stream team worked for several weeks with The Manitowoc Way leaders to increase the capacity of the paint line. This project drove significant improvement eliminating waste by enabling the team to produce the same volume of cranes with 44% less operating time resulting in an energy reduction of 678 MWh per year (435 tons of CO2e)! Close teamwork while utilizing the principles of The Manitowoc Way enabled our manufacturing processes to be more sustainable. This is just one example of how the kaizen mindset of our team members helped Manitowoc reduce our Greenhouse Gas emissions by 20% in 2023 compared to 2019. There were over 100 Lessons Learned entries in 2023 related to environmental improvements.
AFTERMARKETIn 2023, we expanded the global Lessons Learned competition to our aftermarket teams. With over 220 entries submitted, the response was impressive. The inaugural winner was our Ankeny, Iowa, branch for developing a mobile station to complete dielectric testing on booms in the field. Previously, we had to lift a 250-pound test unit onto the back of a truck or bring the machine into the shop to test the electrical safely. It was a slow, costly, and labor-intensive process, which was very frustrating for customers. The new mobile station allows the service team to take a test unit to the vehicle and perform the electrical tests while the crane is at a job site. This new device saves time and money which allows the team to both work safer and increase customer satisfaction. This is the power of The Manitowoc Way. TRADITIONAL KAIZENOur teams executed 230 kaizens in 2023. While this was approximately the same number as 2022, the result was double the reduction in non-value added (NVA) hours versus the prior
year; this was an incremental reduction of 60,000 hours. This is an incredible result when you consider that we launched The Manitowoc Way in 2016. The kaizen philosophy is a never-ending journey of continuous improvement.
This year’s The Manitowoc Way Lessons Learned winner for the best kaizen was the crawler crane value stream team at Shady Grove, Pennsylvania (U.S.) facility. The crawler jib welding team re-engineered how we weld large boom butts. For the sake of perspective, this fabrication is roughly the size of a truck. Traditionally, we welded these units as one large fabrication, building scaffolding around it as the parts get larger. Through several kaizens, the team made the process more progressive in nature, welding smaller fabrications in sub-assembly fashion and then fabricating all of the sub-assemblies into a final part. The team built new tooling to hold the components, which significantly improved the ergonomics of the work and improved the repeatability of the process. As a result, the team reduced the number of hours to weld a large boom butt by 750 hours.
INDIVIDUAL LEADERSHIP One of my favorite moments of each year is awarding the annual Manitowoc Way CEO Award to the team member that demonstrated the best implementation of Lean principles. Although it’s an annual award, it often goes to a leader that has been improving their value stream and developing their team over several years.
The 2023 CEO Award winner was Ludovic Puravet, Value Stream Manager in our Charlieu, France, facility. Ludo is a great example of leadership and tenacity. Over the past two years, he led the transformation of our electrical cabinet assembly line. This production area was completely revamped; Ludo led the implementation of 5S, point-of-use storage, one-piece flow, and supplier integration. I’m extremely proud of how he engaged his team and influenced other members of the team to ensure total buy-in to this transformation of his value stream. Merci beaucoup, Ludo!
The Manitowoc Way is a continuous improvement mindset, culture, and toolkit for making long-lasting changes in the workplace. In addition to traditional shop floor kaizens, we have executed kaizens to improve safety, quality, greenhouse gas emissions, waste-to-landfill, Human Resources, Information Systems, and Finance.
The Manitowoc Way is our constancy of purpose. Our vision is grand, and we must strive to get a little bit better each day to achieve it.
Aaron H. Ravenscroft President & Chief Executive Officer The Manitowoc Company, Inc.
