The Competitive Wage Agreement worked out by the Union and the Company has allowed GE Appliance Park to continue bringing back work that had previously been outsourced. A recent in-sourced project for Building 5 is the production of the after-market ice making kits for all GE refrigerator models.

After-market ice making kits are replacement kits or ready kits that consumers can add to a refrigerator that was built with the option of having one installed at a later date.

"Bringing the work back to the Park has allowed us to create six new jobs," says Shawn Bryant, Production Engineer In Refrigeration. "Previously we outsourced this work to a company in southern Kentucky. Now, we buy the components from various vendors, do the assembly work, then box and ship them to several distribution points."

Production of the ice making kits began Sept. 5 for all GE refrigerator products, including the top-of-the-line Monogram® and Profile™ models.

Getting the plant ready
Production for the ice making kits required a $162,000 investment in Building 5. The old linear area was cleared out to make room for the new line. The new ice making kit line consists of a:

• Case erector,
• case sealer, and
• a print and apply labeling process system.

"With the print and labeling system we can create the model and serial number on demand and then apply it to the carton using automation," says Shawn.

He says that Lean principles were used in building the work stations. A team looked at how ergonomically the team could do the job with less stress and reduced reaches. Those working on the line basically have a flex job, working four days a week on the kits and the other day helping produce water dispensing models.