Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (i /ˈstaɪnweɪ/), is an American and German manufacturer of handmade[4] pianos, founded in 1853 in New York City, by German immigrant Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later Henry E. Steinway).[5] The company's growth led to the opening of a factory and employee village in what is now Astoria, Queens in New York City,[6] followed by a second factory in Hamburg, Germany, in 1880.[7] Its early success has been credited both to the quality of its instruments and its effective marketing, including the company's introduction of Steinway Halls (in German: Steinway-Häuser).[8]
Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg's dedication was: "To build the best piano possible".[9] He established at his company three basic principles: "Build to a standard, not a price", "Make no compromise in quality", and "Strive always to improve the instrument".[10] Research and inventions by the company have earned it so far around 130 patents,[11][12][13] a greater number than any other piano company.[14]
After merging with the Selmer Company in 1995, Steinway's current affiliates include the Boston and Essex lines of pianos. The Selmer Company, today named Conn-Selmer, is a subsidiary of Steinway.
Steinway holds 12 Royal Warrants,[15][16] including one from HM Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
At Steinway & Sons, piano-making is as much about art and craftsmanship as it is about production. As such, employee retention is extremely important and the fact that Steinway boasts scores of craftspeople that have been with the company for 20 years or more is a great source of pride for the company.
“We respect our workforce,” says Horbachevsky, who adds that Steinway sought and received full cooperation from the factory’s labor union before undertaking the lean journey. And it certainly didn’t hurt that Steinway assured union officials that no jobs would be lost as a result of lean activities. The fact is, Steinway even added positions. A few workers have been reassigned, but neither has seniority been lost nor pay reduced.
Achieving and sustaining the success of Steinway’s lean transformation is the result of management’s flexible implementation of lean concepts. For instance, shortly after launching its CI initiative, Steinway management realized that elements of the lean philosophy could control production abnormalities that directly affect quality. However, not all lean tenets applied to piano manufacturing.
“The fact that Steinway pianos require a year to complete may seem in conflict with lean concepts,” Horbachevsky points out. “But we won’t reduce the length of time it takes for wood to cure because it would reduce quality. In the case of piano construction, that is considered value-added time.”
That is not to say, however, that Steinway didn’t want to improve productivity; it simply means that time spent on the art and craft of piano-making was not, in fact, waste.
However, implementing the concept of kitting—pulling together individual parts into a set that is assembled at the same time—was an excellent solution for workflow problems, increasing productivity, lowering inventory, as well as reducing the distance that those parts must travel in the factory.
As the program continues to gain momentum, lean concepts have become daily priorities producing tangible results in all manufacturing and administrative areas, and especially where housekeeping and organization are concerned.
Steinway’s factory tour has been ranked among the nation’s “Best Indoor Sightseeing” by Reader’s Digest magazine in its annual list of America’s 100 Best people, places, ideas, and programs. “No one is more impressed by the organization and cleanliness than visitors taking factory tours,” Horbachevsky observes. “This shows everyone who comes here that pride and attention to detail are evident in everything we do at Steinway & Sons.”
But more than simply improving the factory’s public image, lean concepts that reduce and reorganize Steinway’s production area into cells has freed up floor space, which, while not a specific goal of any CI event, was the natural consequence of improved process and work flow.
It also represents a significant source of savings. More usable floor space means pianos don’t bump into each other, so there is less re-work. The company also has consolidated the number of floors used, reducing energy costs and overhead.
For employees, greater floor-space efficiency has provided a new cafeteria and a break room with foosball and ping-pong tables, vending and ice cream machines.
Horbachevsky vows the company will be “relentless” in its pursuit of further lean improvements. Thus far, Steinway has completed 80 events—36,000 hours—and projects that sometime next year, it will have completed the 100 week-long events needed to make its first complete pass through the plant. But it won’t end there. Steinway intends to revisit events to make further improvements.
“We’re not just event-driven,” Horbachevsky notes. “Lean has become part of the lexicon of how we do things here, and it’s also how we deal with our vendors and customers.”
Satisfying customers always has been the sole focus of Steinway & Sons, but the lean process has helped Steinway employees expand their definition of customer beyond those who purchase these fabulous instruments. They have learned that their co-workers are internal customers who should be cared for as well.
For instance, as piano components are made, they are shipped elsewhere in the factory. Now everyone asks, “Do these parts meet every need of my internal customers?” For Steinway, lean is not about cost reduction, unless it reduces the cost of doing business. “Clearly we need to use less power, reduce overhead, and optimize our materials to remain competitive,” says Anesta. “But the one thing we’ll never do is cheapen a piano.”
When it comes to producing quality pianos, cost isn’t a consideration. “If we think something adds value to the piano, we will add cost back in,” Horbachevsky says. “The overarching goal is to improve our product so if, for example, we must choose between A and B, we will always choose the answer that’s best for the piano.”
Henry E. Steinway had three basic principles for his fledgling piano company that continues to direct every decision of today’s management team: Build to a standard, not a price. Make no compromise in quality. Strive always to improve the instrument.
It’s interesting how Steinway & Sons always has found a way to dovetail such time-tested philosophies with it current standards of performance. In this case, a hallmark of Steinway’s lean transformation is what is known as standard work, which has taken the best practices of each Steinway craftsman and consolidated them into a series of volumes known as “the bible.” In this way, the company has secured the knowledge of its most skilled craftsmen to ensure that consistent high quality is standard on every instrument.
Steinway & Sons has a proud history of continuous improvement, never hesitating to introduce technical innovations or to try different methods for the good of the product. In the past few years, lean has become a force at this venerable company, a logical extension of a company culture that prizes hard work, creativity and change for the better.
The sounds of Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” echo throughout the room while an audience listens intently to the soothing music. The man at the piano plays with ease and a smile on his face. As the song ends, the audience claps and looks on with amazement.
This classical number, written hundreds of years ago, is not being played at a large concert hall at the Lincoln Center or Carnegie Hall, but rather Steinway and Sons piano factory in Astoria, Queens. The musician is Wally Boot, the tone inspector at the factory who has worked there for 48 years.
Boot’s job is to make sure every piano that leaves the factory is in top shape with the right tuning. He inspects about five pianos daily, poking and prodding each instrument until every note is correct.
“I get to practice all day and get paid for it,” said Boot of his work.
Steinway and Sons has been a leading manufacturer of pianos since 1853 when Henry Steinway, a German immigrant, started making the instruments in a factory in downtown Manhattan. Later, the company moved its headquarters to Queens where it is still based today.
The company makes grand pianos based on size, the categories vary from models S, M, O, A, B, D, ranging from the baby grand S-model to the concert grand D-model. The S-model retails around $50,000 while the D-model can cost close to $100,000. Customers can choose wood types from mahogany and walnut to the more expensive Macassar ebony from India. The factory produces 10 pianos a day with a very thorough and detailed manufacturing process.
“That’s really what makes a Steinway, it’s a very personal instrument and we have special instructions to make it a certain way,” said Sami Shaker, an engineer who has worked at Steinway for 13 years.
It takes an average of nine months to a year to create a piano. Three months of that time period are used to condition the wood in a special room that controls the equilibrium moisture content, which ensures that the percentage of moisture to weight of a piece of wood will make it stable enough for the lifetime of the piano.
The process starts with creating the rim of the piano. Workers glue together long strips of wood in 10 to 11 layers depending on the model. Four men are needed to create the rim using a metal mold of the particular model, they bend and twist the wood to adjust the shape. Afterwards, the piano makes it rounds throughout the factory where employees create the rest of the body of the piano, attach a soundboard, strings and keys and paints it a shiny lacquered colored.
Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg's dedication was: "To build the best piano possible".[9] He established at his company three basic principles: "Build to a standard, not a price", "Make no compromise in quality", and "Strive always to improve the instrument".[10] Research and inventions by the company have earned it so far around 130 patents,[11][12][13] a greater number than any other piano company.[14]
After merging with the Selmer Company in 1995, Steinway's current affiliates include the Boston and Essex lines of pianos. The Selmer Company, today named Conn-Selmer, is a subsidiary of Steinway.
Steinway holds 12 Royal Warrants,[15][16] including one from HM Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
At Steinway & Sons, piano-making is as much about art and craftsmanship as it is about production. As such, employee retention is extremely important and the fact that Steinway boasts scores of craftspeople that have been with the company for 20 years or more is a great source of pride for the company.
“We respect our workforce,” says Horbachevsky, who adds that Steinway sought and received full cooperation from the factory’s labor union before undertaking the lean journey. And it certainly didn’t hurt that Steinway assured union officials that no jobs would be lost as a result of lean activities. The fact is, Steinway even added positions. A few workers have been reassigned, but neither has seniority been lost nor pay reduced.
Achieving and sustaining the success of Steinway’s lean transformation is the result of management’s flexible implementation of lean concepts. For instance, shortly after launching its CI initiative, Steinway management realized that elements of the lean philosophy could control production abnormalities that directly affect quality. However, not all lean tenets applied to piano manufacturing.
“The fact that Steinway pianos require a year to complete may seem in conflict with lean concepts,” Horbachevsky points out. “But we won’t reduce the length of time it takes for wood to cure because it would reduce quality. In the case of piano construction, that is considered value-added time.”
That is not to say, however, that Steinway didn’t want to improve productivity; it simply means that time spent on the art and craft of piano-making was not, in fact, waste.
However, implementing the concept of kitting—pulling together individual parts into a set that is assembled at the same time—was an excellent solution for workflow problems, increasing productivity, lowering inventory, as well as reducing the distance that those parts must travel in the factory.
As the program continues to gain momentum, lean concepts have become daily priorities producing tangible results in all manufacturing and administrative areas, and especially where housekeeping and organization are concerned.
Steinway’s factory tour has been ranked among the nation’s “Best Indoor Sightseeing” by Reader’s Digest magazine in its annual list of America’s 100 Best people, places, ideas, and programs. “No one is more impressed by the organization and cleanliness than visitors taking factory tours,” Horbachevsky observes. “This shows everyone who comes here that pride and attention to detail are evident in everything we do at Steinway & Sons.”
But more than simply improving the factory’s public image, lean concepts that reduce and reorganize Steinway’s production area into cells has freed up floor space, which, while not a specific goal of any CI event, was the natural consequence of improved process and work flow.
It also represents a significant source of savings. More usable floor space means pianos don’t bump into each other, so there is less re-work. The company also has consolidated the number of floors used, reducing energy costs and overhead.
For employees, greater floor-space efficiency has provided a new cafeteria and a break room with foosball and ping-pong tables, vending and ice cream machines.
Horbachevsky vows the company will be “relentless” in its pursuit of further lean improvements. Thus far, Steinway has completed 80 events—36,000 hours—and projects that sometime next year, it will have completed the 100 week-long events needed to make its first complete pass through the plant. But it won’t end there. Steinway intends to revisit events to make further improvements.
“We’re not just event-driven,” Horbachevsky notes. “Lean has become part of the lexicon of how we do things here, and it’s also how we deal with our vendors and customers.”
Satisfying customers always has been the sole focus of Steinway & Sons, but the lean process has helped Steinway employees expand their definition of customer beyond those who purchase these fabulous instruments. They have learned that their co-workers are internal customers who should be cared for as well.
For instance, as piano components are made, they are shipped elsewhere in the factory. Now everyone asks, “Do these parts meet every need of my internal customers?” For Steinway, lean is not about cost reduction, unless it reduces the cost of doing business. “Clearly we need to use less power, reduce overhead, and optimize our materials to remain competitive,” says Anesta. “But the one thing we’ll never do is cheapen a piano.”
When it comes to producing quality pianos, cost isn’t a consideration. “If we think something adds value to the piano, we will add cost back in,” Horbachevsky says. “The overarching goal is to improve our product so if, for example, we must choose between A and B, we will always choose the answer that’s best for the piano.”
Henry E. Steinway had three basic principles for his fledgling piano company that continues to direct every decision of today’s management team: Build to a standard, not a price. Make no compromise in quality. Strive always to improve the instrument.
It’s interesting how Steinway & Sons always has found a way to dovetail such time-tested philosophies with it current standards of performance. In this case, a hallmark of Steinway’s lean transformation is what is known as standard work, which has taken the best practices of each Steinway craftsman and consolidated them into a series of volumes known as “the bible.” In this way, the company has secured the knowledge of its most skilled craftsmen to ensure that consistent high quality is standard on every instrument.
Steinway & Sons has a proud history of continuous improvement, never hesitating to introduce technical innovations or to try different methods for the good of the product. In the past few years, lean has become a force at this venerable company, a logical extension of a company culture that prizes hard work, creativity and change for the better.
The sounds of Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” echo throughout the room while an audience listens intently to the soothing music. The man at the piano plays with ease and a smile on his face. As the song ends, the audience claps and looks on with amazement.
This classical number, written hundreds of years ago, is not being played at a large concert hall at the Lincoln Center or Carnegie Hall, but rather Steinway and Sons piano factory in Astoria, Queens. The musician is Wally Boot, the tone inspector at the factory who has worked there for 48 years.
Boot’s job is to make sure every piano that leaves the factory is in top shape with the right tuning. He inspects about five pianos daily, poking and prodding each instrument until every note is correct.
“I get to practice all day and get paid for it,” said Boot of his work.
Steinway and Sons has been a leading manufacturer of pianos since 1853 when Henry Steinway, a German immigrant, started making the instruments in a factory in downtown Manhattan. Later, the company moved its headquarters to Queens where it is still based today.
The company makes grand pianos based on size, the categories vary from models S, M, O, A, B, D, ranging from the baby grand S-model to the concert grand D-model. The S-model retails around $50,000 while the D-model can cost close to $100,000. Customers can choose wood types from mahogany and walnut to the more expensive Macassar ebony from India. The factory produces 10 pianos a day with a very thorough and detailed manufacturing process.
“That’s really what makes a Steinway, it’s a very personal instrument and we have special instructions to make it a certain way,” said Sami Shaker, an engineer who has worked at Steinway for 13 years.
It takes an average of nine months to a year to create a piano. Three months of that time period are used to condition the wood in a special room that controls the equilibrium moisture content, which ensures that the percentage of moisture to weight of a piece of wood will make it stable enough for the lifetime of the piano.
The process starts with creating the rim of the piano. Workers glue together long strips of wood in 10 to 11 layers depending on the model. Four men are needed to create the rim using a metal mold of the particular model, they bend and twist the wood to adjust the shape. Afterwards, the piano makes it rounds throughout the factory where employees create the rest of the body of the piano, attach a soundboard, strings and keys and paints it a shiny lacquered colored.