FACILITY TOUR OF

SHERWIN WILLIAMS
500 Summit Ave.
Greensboro, NC 27405
Jena Shade
Kristen O’Neal
Autumn Barber
Brandon Potesta

Tour Contact: Reginald D. Jones

(336)299-9351 ext 259
Reginald.D.Jones@sherwin.com

We abided by the UNCG Integrity Policy on this assignment

 “…Manufacturers have trusted Sherwin-
Williams for innovative coatings and Customers
•Private Contractors
exceptional service. And you can count on us
•Manufacturers
for the expertise and the support you need to •Private individuals
get better results, from start to finish.”
Output(Paint)
•Solvent based Competitors
•Latex(water based) •Home Depot
❖ Founded in 1866 in •Acetone •Lowes
•Industrial •Masco Corporation
➢ Cleveland, OH

❖ >15.8 billion in sales revenue, Sherwin

>11.8 billion net sales Williams
Operations Management
•Solvent based paint
Sherwin Williams uses over 1,000 –Homes and buildings
different raw materials, most –Strong odor
importantly... •Latex based paint
–Household walls
•Acetone
–Locomotive and furniture finishes
–Paint thinners
•Flouicam paint
•Titanium Dioxide, Aerosol –Empire State building
concentrate •Industrial paint

•Extenders, Drying material –Industrial coatings

–Marine coatings
•Packaging and labels
•Tankers, drums, pallets
Operations Strategy
“We do what we do to make money”
Based on our tour, we assess the organization Strengths Weaknesses
follows a response operations strategy
❖ Cheapest-when you need it •Vertically integrated •Gravity Layout
❖ JIT/Lean Operations •ISO 9000 Certified •Lift Mechanism
•Management •Level Aggregate
❖ Vertically Integrated Company Autonomy Planning Strategy
•Highly Automated

Based on our tour, we rank the organization’s

competitive priorities as Opportunities
1st – Safety Threats
2nd – Quality •Zero-to-Landfill •Public Safety
3rd – Service •Greenbelt Concerns
4th – Productivity certifications •Many competitors
 Location
Transportation Method

Key Success Factors

•The factory was large, with room
for expansion
•Originally chosen for its prime
location near the railroad tracks
•Located near highways which
connect it to the east coast
distribution channel
Process Strategy
❖ Process, Repetitive, Mass Customization, & Product focus
❖ RFID
❖ On time delivery
❖ High price, best quality
❖ Central procurement

& Layout
❖ Warehouse (storage) & Job Shop (process oriented)
 -Dry Ingredients
-Batch of recipe (Bill of Materials)
Freight
4th Floor -Customer Requests Elevator
-Baking (“Heart” of
-Cardboard Baler the plant)
If down
between 16
-Fiber/Aluminum coatings to 24 hours,
3rd Floor
-Thin down solvents
the plant
could shut
down.
-Production schedule
2nd Floor -Labeling & weighing
-Packaging & billing Automated
Delivery
System
-Shipment/Storage (“Brain” of
1st Floor -Raw materials plant)
-Liquids/Resins
-Smart Scale System
Capacity Management
❖ Creativity
❖ Identify waste points and eliminate them
❖ Recycle and repurpose
❖ Bottleneck - Making more paint than they can store

& Forecasting
❖ 100 active raw materials
❖ Fluctuating forecast
❖ Variability/Customer history
❖ Meeting 6-7 months worth of demand (mostly customer
demand), will have them well set for the summer months.
❖ Make to ship, make to stock
Quality
❖ Quality Management Practice helps with:
➢ To make the highest quality paint at the lowest cost
■ A gallon of paint starts about $60
➢ Variety of checks throughout the process of making their paint
■ Checks prevent bad products getting to the customer
■ If customers are returning the paint- Sherwin Williams loses money
➢ ISO 9000 Certified-they comply with a standard set of requirements by
hiring an third party company that makes sure they are up to service
standards in doing what they say they are doing
Inventory, SOP & MRP
❖ To keep track of inventory:
➢ Uses a QAD software system
■ Keeps track and knows exactly what they have in inventory
■ Everything is barcoded, scanned, and put in it specified location
■ When an item is moved, it is scanned out, before it is put back it scanned back in
➢ Dynamic warehousing system
■ DWS is metadata- provides descriptive, structural, administrative data which helps
operations
■ This system helps to meet their most pressing needs in their business
■ Helps keep up with continuous and productive activity or change
■ Ensuring a data warehouse environment which
● Helps to support growth
● Increasing demand for real-time information
cont.
❖ SW does weekly cycle counts which validates the inventory in the system
❖ Taking inventory once a year
❖ Paint sales thrive 7 months out of the year, with summer being the highest
sales
❖ SW uses the bottleneck management- helps to reduce inventory and helps to
reduce manufacturing cost
❖ Meet customers demand without building excess inventory
JIT, TPS, Lean
❖ Use a combination of JIT and TPS
❖ Continuous Improvement is a main focus
❖ Use seasonal workers
❖ Have a Smart Scale system and do pre-
batching
❖ Saved 1.2 million last year
Sustainability

❖ ISO 9000 certified

❖ Zero to landfill
❖ Form close relationships with their recyclers
❖ On site hazardous waste recycling
Project Management

❖ They have anywhere from 50-100 projects going at once

❖ Use a variety of scheduling techniques depending on the project

Recommendations
1. Invest in acquisition of new LIFT
2. Update Watson System
3. Continue to improve on zero-to-waste