Lessons on How to Achieve
Long Term Sustainability of TWI
Scott Curtis

Albany International (AI) is a global company of advanced textiles and materials processing company. Our core business is the world´s leading producer of custom-designed fabrics and belts essential to the production of paper and paperboard.

Our family of growth businesses extends our advanced textiles and materials capabilities into a variety of other industries, most notably aerospace, composites, nonwovens, building products, high-performance insulation and yarn.

Founded in 1895, the Company is headquartered in Rochester, New Hampshire, and employs approximately 5,000 people worldwide. Our 26 manufacturing operations are strategically located in 13 countries to serve our global customers. The Homer, NY facility is a key internal supplier of raw material, material development and Lean systems for Albany International.

The Homer plant has been on a Lean journey since 2006. They have seen significant improvements in operational and bottom line performance. The TWI programs have been an integral part of that success and played a significant role in helping the plant emerge from the economic downturn stronger than they went in. The Homer plant began Job Instruction implementation in 2007. Early in the implementation sustainability was a major concern and specific actions were taken to avoid the common backslide or loss of momentum many companies face with improvement initiatives. The introduction of Job Methods and Job Safety revealed similar challenges. Learn from AI’s experiences making this “practical plan” for improvement practical in their organization and why it’s well worth the effort.

Upon completion of this session, participants will learn…

• How to implement sustainable and effective “J” programs

• Necessary supplements to skills training

• How JI, JM and JS can integrate and support each other

• Approaches to effect the needed cultural change

• Pitfalls to avoid!

About the Presenter(s)

Scott Curtis is the Plant Manager at Albany International’s Homer, NY Monofilament plant. He has been with AI since 2005 and been a Champion in their Lean and TWI J process implementation. Since starting their Lean journey in 2006, Albany International’s Homer plant has seen tremendous improvements as a result of the TWI J programs. The most recent activities have focused on using JI, JR and JS to drive culture change and improve Safety performance. His prior Lean Manufacturing experience includes functioning as the Operations Manager for Huhtamaki Consumer Packaging during their initial Lean journey.

Scott has over 20 years of manufacturing leadership experience and has held various positions with Pactiv Corporation, Huhtamaki Consumer Packaging and Albany International including Process and Project Engineer, Maintenance and Production Manager, Operations Manager and Plant Manager.

Scott is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology and received a Bachelor’s degree and the University Of Phoenix where he earned an MBA.