CDI Holdings · Case Study Library
Lean & MDW® Integration · Waxdale Plant, Racine, Wisconsin — First US Case
JohnsonDiversey Waxdale
Driving Operational Turnaround Through Lean and MDW — $5M in Three Years
$3 Billion Global Manufacturer · 35 Factories · 13,000 Employees · Waxdale: Highest-Volume Facility · Racine, Wisconsin, USA
30%+
OEE improvement
within 2 years
within 2 years
98.5%
Right First Time
quality level
quality level
88%
Schedule compliance
(from 80%)
(from 80%)
$5M
Savings target
in 3 years
in 3 years
Background
America's Highest-Volume Plant Under Its Most Demanding Mandate
JohnsonDiversey, formed through the merger of Johnson Wax Professional and DiverseyLever, is a $3 billion global manufacturer of cleaning and hygiene products with 35 factories and 13,000 employees worldwide. The Waxdale plant in Racine, Wisconsin, is the company's highest-volume manufacturing facility. In 2005, following restructuring, each site received aggressive savings targets. Waxdale's was the most ambitious in the network: reduce costs by $5 million within three years — more than three times the previous savings expectations.
The Challenge
Below 50% OEE, Fragmented Lean, and a Major Cultural Shift Required
At the time the mandate was set, operational efficiencies were below 50% — a significant gap against any world-class benchmark. Lean and Six Sigma efforts were fragmented rather than integrated. The facility operated on a $25 million annual budget, making the $5 million savings target a 20% cost reduction in three years. No quick fix existed; what was needed was a genuine and sustained cultural transformation anchored in structured team performance.
The Approach
Lean Events and MDW — Two Systems That Made Each Other Work
1
Pull-Based Scheduling and Production AlignmentA visual pull-based scheduling system implemented to align production with customer orders — shifting from push-based batch manufacturing to a customer-responsive operating model. A-item daily backorders reduced to one or fewer.
2
MDW Implementation — Daily Communication and Metric VisibilityMission-Directed Work Teams introduced as the cultural and operational framework: daily team-based communication routines, metric tracking at team level, and performance visibility that made accountability concrete and shared. MDW provided the ongoing daily discipline that sustains improvement between Lean events, embedding the behaviours that Kaizen creates but rarely consolidates.
3
Focused Kaizen Events on High-Impact ConstraintsKaizen events focused on identified constraints and high-impact improvement opportunities — not calendar-driven, but problem-driven. The integration with MDW meant improvement events generated team-level learning that stayed on the shop floor. Lean events provided the breakthrough; MDW provided the embedding.
4
Rewards, Recognition, and Behavioural ReinforcementRecognition systems introduced to motivate teams and reinforce desired behaviours — housekeeping scores tracked and improved continuously, OSHA recordables reduced to one or fewer. Behaviours that are recognised are repeated, and repeated behaviours become culture.
5
Gentle Pressure Applied RelentlesslyMark Geisler's reflection was unambiguous: the biggest achievement was cultural. Teams moved from resistance to engagement; flexible work practices emerged; shared commitment to results replaced compliance as the operating motivation. Organisational change happens through gentle pressure applied relentlessly — consistent, structured, daily pressure in the direction of improvement.
Starting Challenges
OEE below 50% — significant gap against world-class benchmarks at the highest-volume site.
Lean and Six Sigma efforts fragmented — no integrated improvement system in place.
$5M savings target in 3 years — more than 3× previous expectations, on a $25M budget.
Major cultural shift required alongside the operational transformation.
Results — 18-Month Turnaround
Operational and Cultural Transformation Under Mandate
30%+
OEE Improvement
More than 30% improvement in OEE within two years — from below 50% to a competitive operating level at the network's highest-volume facility.
98.5%
Right First Time
RFT levels consistently above 98.5% — quality driven by team ownership and MDW daily discipline rather than inspection-based quality management.
88%
Schedule Compliance
Schedule compliance improved from 80% to 88% through pull-based scheduling aligned to customer orders — service levels rising alongside cost reduction.
≤1
Daily Backorders
A-item daily backorders reduced to one or fewer — the customer service metric that most directly expressed the operational transformation to the business.
Safer
OSHA Recordables
OSHA recordable incidents reduced to one or fewer — safety improvement as the behavioural expression of a workforce that was engaged, present, and attentive.
Engaged
Cultural Shift
Teams shifted from resistance to engagement — flexible work practices and shared commitment to results replacing compliance as the operating motivation of the Waxdale workforce.
“
Organisational change happens through gentle pressure applied relentlessly.
Mark Geisler · JohnsonDiversey Waxdale · Lean & MDW Transformation
Key Insight
Waxdale is the first US case in the CDI library and carries a message that travels across every geography: $5 million in savings from a $25 million budget, under mandate, in three years — achieved not through a cost programme but through a cultural one. Lean provided the tools. MDW provided the daily discipline. Gentle pressure, applied relentlessly, provided the results.
