What's New:
The latest on what we are up to...
Stream Innovation Modular Material Kaizen Material Handling Ergonomic lean process improvement
New Height Adjustable Workstation Kits!
Although all of our carts are completely customizable, we are starting to create more and more standardized kit options! This shows our small, medium, and large "Electric-Actuated Ergo Workstation". For pricing, weight distribution and more, see our product sheet page below!
Electric-Actuated Ergo Workstation (Small)
Electric-Actuated Ergo Workstation (Medium)
Electric-Actuated Ergo Workstation (Medium)
Electric-Actuated Ergo Workstation (Large)
Electric-Actuated Ergo Workstation (Large)
Ohio Safety Congress Expo 2025
At The Ohio Safety Congress Expo (OSC25) in Columbus!
We got to demonstrate our Height Adjustable Workstation, show our Moonshine Shop Kit/Kaizen in a Box, and our flow rack with different wheel/conveyor options!
Pictured: We have the height adjustable workstation shown at both its highest point and at its lowest to show the ergonomic possibilities!
How to Assemble the Hardware Rack and Two Workstations after being sent our Kaizen in a Box:
The material used to create the shipping box, can be taken apart and used to create structures! No waste.
New Fusion Website Pages!
Simplified AGV Navigation with Follow Me, Route Record and Playback!
An easy to use AGV with the ability to carry 600lbs and tow 1300lbs at the same time. No network connectivity required. Simple to use with Follow Me feature. Or, record a route by following a person, and add stops where needed. Select the route and press the play button.
Cart system made by the Stream Team and JLC Robotics, demonstration by Jamie Callihan.Jamie Callihan.
Our Moonshine Shop Kit at our Stream Workshop
Our Moonshine Shop Kit is a combination of our Kaizen in a Box and Starter Kit of Material
so you have everything you need at your fingertips to start building.
We built 10 of these 4' x 8' safety tracking
boards in 4 hours!
Stream is working with a Tier 1 automotive supplier in their new plant in KY to introduce them to our quick-build Kaizen materials. Our material comes in precut lengths with a bolt through design that has the strength of a welded joint, with the ability to take it apart when a process changes. No time wasted cutting material or worrying about the weight of what a friction fit can hold. Tube color can be customized like we did here to match their ivory color, which will be used for all of the forthcoming equipment.
Could your plant use custom workstations?
A message sent to us from one of our clients:
"Thank you for taking the time yesterday to provide the BWC Ergonomist team with an insightful overview of your innovative product and how we can use that knowledge to assist our clients in balancing their work cell needs and their physical capabilities. The innovations you highlighted, such as the height adjustable mobile workstation and the infinite possibilities of your precut material, were truly mind-opening. By understanding the capabilities and features of your products, our ergonomists are now better equipped to deliver meaningful recommendations and solutions.
We sincerely appreciate your time and willingness to demonstrate the features of your product line, services provided, and the numerous solutions you have created. If you have any additional information or links that you would like me to share with our team, I would be happy to do so. Thank you once again for your support."
AME International Conference 2024
At The Association of Manufacturing Excellence (AME) International Conference 2024 in Atlanta!
Swipe to see more pictures from our booth!
Pictured: Three level flow rack. Height adjustable work table. 360-degree White Board with foot lever turn and lock. Workstation AMR.
From Design to Reality
Virtual Kaizen refers to conducting Kaizen improvement online, leveraging digital tools and platforms for collaboration and communication. This approach upholds the principles of continuous improvement while overcoming geographical and logistical constraints. As a pre-planning tool for Kaizen events, Virtual Kaizen enables teams to quickly build prototypes of workstations, flow racks, and carts on Day 1, facilitating immediate feedback and iterative improvements. This method accelerates the Kaizen process, delivering greater value to the team, resulting in improved outcomes and a higher ROI.
New Fusion Website Pages!
Kaizen Innovation Success Story at Leonardo DRS's RADA Technologies:
Kaizen Innovation Success Story at Leonardo DRS's RADA Technologies:
Stream Innovation works with Ultimate Lean, Inc. and Leonardo DRS's RADA Technologies to empower team members to innovate and "trystorm" using rapid prototyping principles to build right-sized ergo lift workstations, flow racks, carts and other assembly aids that improve productivity, engagement, and safety. With our unique, easy to teach and easy to learn bolt-together-system, team members: 1.) Design, build and improve their work flow. 2.) Are empowered and encouraged to use kaizen principles to make improvements using the simple, easy to assemble and modify Stream Materials. 3.) Develop a culture to try new ideas to solve challenges, often on a daily basis. 4.) Create better flow, eliminate waste and improve their own lives through better ergonomics.
Custom Machining Workstation
Contains everything the machinist needs for daily operation. Made from Stream Kaizen materials. Completely modular and highly flexible for future additions and changes. Easily moved if needed on 3" lockable casters. This was made during the prototyping phase. The final version (currently being built) will also have LED light above work area.
Could your plant use custom workstations?
Shown here are the following, from top to bottom, left to right:
- Can of WD40
-Bottle of Dykem Layout Fluid
- 10 Torx drivers
- 10 Hex drivers
- ER32 Collet chuck wrench
- Wrenches
- Insert tools
- Breaker bars
- Trepan tooling
- Left Drawer 4A: Drills
- Left Drawer 4B: Canoe Tooling
- Left Drawer 5: Replacement inserts
- Right Drawer 1: Computer keyboard
- Right Drawer 2: Jaws
- Right Drawer 3: Collets / Tool Holders
- Right Drawer 4: ID Collets
- Right Drawer 5: Lathe tooling in pull-out drawers, organized by size, 14 holes/drawer
Remote Controlled, Rotate &Height Adjustable Mobile Assembly Cart. Holding 500 lbs of steel tubes...
This is our mobile assembly table with onboard power, with actuators that can lift and lower the table and actuators that can rotate the top from flat to 90 degrees. Separate remote controls for each function with custom presets.This specific cart is designed to be a wiring table for large electrical cabinets.
Their assembly process starts with the cart laying flat, then rotating the top to a 45 degree angle and final assembly at 90 degrees. The height adjustment feature insures that this cart can be ergonomic for any individual working.
This cart can hold up to 500 lbs (as shown with the steel tubes loaded), and due to the heavy duty carters, this cart can be easily moved around the plant floor.
Before & After:
Carts replace static shelves (below) that were too high, didn't have good cube utilization and couldn't be moved. New carts can hold up to 300 lbs per shelf, are 52" high, which provides line-of-sight visual management for the machining warehouse. Mobility allows for carts to be moved occasionally as facility is transformed.
Don't let perfection get in the way of progress.
This Fleet of Carts holds up to 500 lbs!
They are designed to hold one customer order and provide a method for flowing orders quickly through the machine shop. This design, vetted by machine operators, is the 4th (improved) iteration after trying three previous versions.
Our material comes in precut lengths with a bolt through design that has the strength of a welded joint, with the ability to take it apart when a process changes. No time wasted cutting material or worrying about the weight of what a friction fit can hold.
Holds up to 2,000 lbs!
Heavy duty cart used for UPS and FedEx daily deliveries. Holds up to 2,000 lbs, pushes quite easily!
Custom Automotive Cart
An automotive customer needed a custom cart to carry 12 seat frames and covers in their manufacturing facility. We designed this cart in collaboration with the Engineering and Manufacturing teams. Blue, heavy duty corrugated dividers are designed to fit around our square tube. Center casters allow for 360 degree zero turn to allow cart to maneuver into tight space constraints. New Stream-designed (yellow) hitch allows this cart to integrate with customers existing carts, and provides an easy way to connect & disconnect cart train sets for tugger movement.
Our material comes in precut lengths with a bolt through design that has the strength of a welded joint, with the ability to take it apart when a process changes. No time wasted cutting material or worrying about the weight of what a friction fit can hold.
Ending the Year Strong:
“Every customer we work with has unique challenges and innovation opportunities. And every cart we help design has unique configurations and characteristics to solve specific material handling issues. The wheel.me platform allows us to design carts in a variety of configurations to meet the specific needs of the client, and that sets our innovations apart from the rest of the AMR offerings... Our Kaizen materials are already used in a wide variety of towable material handling solutions. So we have already demonstrated the ability to move heavy loads throughout a variety of facilities around the clock. The wheel.me platform integrates directly into carts that we already have in the field and we can turn towable carts into (smart or automated) carts without changing the existing design.”
- Brad Campling, Co-Owner of Stream Innovation
For an introduction into our partnership, see article posted by wheel_me:
Kaizen in Canada
We are working with Andron Stainless, a division of Flow Controls Holdings. These gravity flow racks with two-bin kanbans will replace static storage boxes, bins and racks shown in the photo below. Better flow, FIFO inventory control, pull system and better ergonomics for putaway and picking!
Stream Innovation
Stream's Workshop Builds
Stream team built these large shelf carts for a Toyota seat supplier at our Moonshine Workshop in Cincinnati, OH.
Wood Products Case Study
The cabinet manufacturing business has a long tradition of building cabinets in a specific way. While times have changed and technology has gotten better, the processes for manufacturing wooden cabinets for this particular Stream client haven't changed—until now.
Warehouse Process Improvements made with Steel O'Brien!
Before: Static pick locations from boxes. Poor space utilization, no FIFO flow, poor ergonomics, low Put-Away and low Picking efficiency.
AFTER: Separate load and pick aisles minimize pick zone congestion improving safety and efficiency, while separate SKU lanes improve pick accuracy. Flow rack levels are adjustable to ensure ergonomic put-a-way and picking activities.
Stream Innovation
Step by Step Article of our Week long Kaizen Events with Johnson Controls.
We breakdown the process of how we set up our week long Kaizen Event's for success. What work we do before, during, and at the end of each event. We have worked with Johnson Control's facilities all over the world, each one has been awesome to work with.
Stream Innovation
Kaizen with Kohler
This Kit Cart holds one kit of parts to complete the assembly for that part of the process. We love building Kit Carts because they allow us to use our imagination. Parts are loaded and unloaded in certain sequence based on the assembly process. Kit Carts make it easy for pickers to load the cart, ensuring that they have loaded all of the parts. Assembly operators also know when they’ve completed the assembly when the cart is empty. Less rework, better ergonomics, happier operators, more productive workforce!
Stream Innovation
How easy it is to move 1,750 lbs of steel:
Our material comes in precut lengths with a bolt through design that has the strength of a welded joint, with the ability to take it apart when a process changes. No time wasted cutting material or worrying about the weight of what a friction fit can hold. Can hold several thousands of pounds!
Kaizen with Kohler
The Stream Team did a 2-day Kaizen to improve the flow of metallic panels through the plant. They were all enclosure panels. 1/8" steel 114" long painted panels of various sizes. The panels enclosed a weatherproof generator. We created a cart custom to their set of panels. Added a few storage lanes from the old cart. The biggest thing was paint protection. The old Creform carts had metal joints which was their main concern. This was just one of the custom carts made during our time with Kohler!
Stream Innovation
Before & After
Before: Metal frames with sharp edges stored haphazardly. They fall over, are not sorted by size and present a cutting safety risk. The frames have to be picked up and taken to a separate assembly table where small rubber inserts are installed.
After: Two sizes of frames are loaded from the back side of this gravity flow rack. They flow towards the operator so the pick point is the same every time. Operator picks the size they need, place the frame on the top horizontal support tubes, pull the black inserts from the angled bins and install them right at the point of use. Then the assembled unit is placed on an indexing assembly line (not shown).
Before & After
The boxes on the floor were taking up valuable production space, and having them so low to the floor resulted in bad ergonomics. The operators wanted a better storage solution to allow them to pick the boxes at waist height. The plant manager converted the floor space from storage to production operations, so they gained more capacity for the business. No more forklifts in production!
Problem, Solution, Results.
Problem: Bundles of mixed products were piled on carts and pushed from process to process. Bundles had to be opened, sorted and re-bundled at each process.
Solution: Processes are lined up in sequence and individual units are passed on gravity flow racks. Stream reorganized the processes on the shop floor to a more efficient cellular flow.
Result: The improvements started yielding results immediately in various parts of the plant, and in the end, the results totaled.
Stream Innovation
Kaizen Innovation Trailer (KIT)
We've traveled far and wide with our Kaizen Innovation Trailer (KIT) and we'd love to show you what we can do.
Our KIT is packed full of tools and materials that help to fuel the innovative spirit of Kaizen teams. If necessary, we can even set up a workshop in a parking lot if experimentation inside the facility is not an option. Our material comes in precut lengths (pictured) with a bolt through design that has the strength of a welded joint, with the ability to take it apart when a process changes. No time wasted cutting material so you can grab what you need and start building! Also pictured: our hardware rack we send out in our Kaizen in a Box!
Stream Innovation
Before & After
Parts were flowing from one station to the next, but they were getting tangled at the pick point. So we created divided channels for the parts to flow in.
Cart built at 70 Degree Angle!
Drawing of angle cart before building it.
Stream Innovation
Better Ergo & Saving Floor Space!
Team 4 needed a simple way to carry pallets of various sizes to different packaging areas in the Juarez facility. With the team’s ingenuity we created this pallet carrier cart. Further improvements were made by adding UHMW for reduced friction and skate wheels on the lower section to make it easier to slide pallets in and out. Pallets were moved with forklifts and pallet jacks previously, and took up floor space.
UHMW allowing surface protection.
Johnson Controls team member Jessica Wolf and her teammate built this Tube cart for getting U-shaped tubes to lineside. This cart allows the units to be placed from the load side and picked from the assembly operator side. UHMW allows the parts to slide using gravity.
Stream Innovation
Reduce Walking & Better Ergo!
The Shingijutsu team at JCI Norman is quickly creating these assembly tables. Harnesses are placed in the in the top slots and hardware in bins provide the operator with everything they need at the point-of-use. Reduce walking, finding, retrieval of materials. This table replaces an 8’ long by 4’ wide welded table that couldn’t be easily moved.
Creform Replacement
After talking with team members to understand their needs, we replaced this horizontal Creform cart below, which was designed to carry the tablet only, with a cart that safely holds the tablet while also providing an angled section to present drawings to the operator. Also has a place for the SOP documentation. Built the cart in 45 minutes. Better casters, easier to move, better ergonomics, happier team members!
Happy Operators!
The JCI San Antonio team designed this pick cart to get parts off of floor pallets and to reduce picking and assembly errors. Note the great use of space and attention, much better ergonomics for the operators!
Productivity Savings
Johnson Controls leader worked with the Insulation Cutting Operator to cut small, intricate parts on this quickly created Draft & Cut table. By replacing the large, non-mobile horizontal table, we achieved better ergonomics, productivity savings and made the work easier for the operator!
Stream Innovation
Avoiding Errors
We created this physical stand with a clear plastic insert as a visual management tool to check for wiring errors, one of the most common errors when wiring electrical boxes.
Process Improvement
One of the JCI teams designed this prototype rack to hold sensitive parts to avoid touching the fins of the cooling coil structure. The staggering of the parts allows parts to be stored vertically vs. horizontally.
Stream Innovation
Kaizen in a Box set up in 55 Minutes!
Started off the Johnson Controls Shingijutsu Event strong! Ready to build structures all week with everything we need at our fingertips.
Kaizen in a Box - How it Ships to You & What's Inside! Includes (2) Work Tables and a Hardware Rack with all the tools and drivers you would need to start building structures!
Material Pallet – Customizable material packages. Depending on the amount of material you need!
Better Ergo!
The JCI team built this right-sized push cart to help operators to move bins with parts to the point of assembly. Better ergo! The team built it in 30 minutes.
The table with gravity flow rack was right-sized for small assembly operations.
Stream Innovation
Before vs. After
Before: Hook storage on garbage can. Hooks are moved by hand to and from different locations.
After: Hooks are stored on a gravity flow rack and can be easily moved across the facility
9 Custom Tables in 1 day!
This Johnson Controls Team learned how to make tables and made 9 custom-sized tables in less that 1 day. Our Stream Materials allow tables and other structures to be made for a fraction of the cost of fabricated items.
Stream Innovation
Johnson Controls working hands on with our Kaizen Material for their 2nd Shingi Event
This is such a great video showing the teams could focus on lean process improvement and building structures with ease. It is always exciting to see what designs others can come up with!
AME Dallas 2022
At our booth, we are showing off our Kaizen in a Box // Moonshine Shop Kit. That includes (2) Work Tables and a Hardware Rack with all the tools and drivers you would need to start building structures to make improvements in less than 2 hours.
Stream Innovation
Gravity Flow Pick Rack with on Shelf Pull Outs (1 to 5 shelves)...
Used to maximize cube storage in picking operations under warehouse racking. Provides great ergonomic benefits for picking operator and allows for material to be stored without sacrificing space requirements with other racking systems!
Walk through video link below
When it comes to building fleets...
You know you will get the exact same cart measurements every time due to our pre-cut material! Our precut steel tubes are in 6" increments from 6"-120", with holes on each side every 1", allows for quick builds and even more quick modifications to be made when needed... with no wasted material! Grab the size you need and start building!
Stream Innovation
This cart can safely hold 15 ft. tube parts!
Stream provided some initial ideas to the Johnson Controls team and they built this Large Kit Cart (“Carrito Grande para Equipos”) in about 2 days. This cart holds 1 unit’s worth of all tube parts, in the sequence they will be used. Highly visual for kitting and assembly operators!
Stream Innovation
Many done within 1 hour or less...
We are working with many Johnson Control team members at the Shingijutsu Kaizen event in Monterrey MX this week. The team members learned how to use our material in a few minutes and started making different custom structures, many done within 1 hour or less!
Stream Innovation
From Concept to Complete in 2 Hours:
First build of the week in Monterrey, MX: Custom Work Table (“mesa de trabajado”) with kanban hardware bins, tubing storage under table and filters on the right side of the table. From concept to complete in 2 hours.
Stream Innovation
"No forklift needed now"
Machine Leg Support Cart made by the Johnson Controls team here in Monterrey at the Shingijutsu event. “No forklift required to move container now”.
Stream Innovation
Shipping Cart with Hardware Tools
Day 2 in Monterrey Mexico with Johnson Controls... Shipping Cart with hardware and tools.
Stream Team & DESTACO
Stream Team worked with new friends from DESTACO, an operating segment of Dover Corporation. We met with the Operations team and Kaizen’d this Cart and Gravity Flow Rack (GFR). The cart is used to pick & kit parts prior to assembly and can be pushed manually or tugged. The GFR is right-sized and custom-designed to fit between production equipment and provides parts at the Point-of-Use (POU) for improved operator ergonomic benefits.
From concept to complete build took about 30 minutes.
Just In: Stream worked with the JCI Shingijutsu team to create this mobile cart to capture paint jigs at the point of use and move them to and from the burn-off operation. From concept to complete build took about 30 minutes. Now we’re building 2 more carts in the next 40 minutes.
Shingijutsu Event with Johnson Controls
Just In: Stream Innovators work with Johnson Controls and Shingijutsu teams to create a right-sized robot power module carts to replace oversized extruded aluminum racks. Operator Brittany says she “loves the new rack because it gives her a lot more working room.”
Stream Innovation
Gravity Flow Rack
The Gravity Flow Rack is used to deliver pressure gauge trays at the point of use. Trays are loaded into robot assembly cell and empty tray is placed in box to be returned to supplier.
Day 4 of the Shingijutsu event at FMF
An incredible week getting to work with our friends from Hungary, Spain, England, Denmark, France, Germany, Mexico, Japan and America.
Week Long Kaizen Event
Chair Workshop
Honda Lean Network 2022, Stream Workshop on Kaizen Innovation Process. Using rapid prototyping to go from “concept” to “implementation” within 90 minutes. Two teams of six strangers use our material for the first time. They must build a chair that meets "client requirements". There are two rounds: 40 minutes for the main build, and 15 minutes for modifications and added requirements.
