“Epicenter has been patient working around the plant’s busy schedule.”
– Petrochemical Industry Client
Author Archives: Bill Proctor
CNH
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Ghafari
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“The project execution method and deliverables were not fully defined by the client, and your team was able to quickly understand [the client’s] production processes and make recommendations regarding how to most efficiently collect and report the time study data. Epicenter also was able to offer productivity inhibitors, which were communicated to the client. Thank you again for your support on this project.”
– Ghafari
Energy Industry – Improvement Plans for Existing Facilities and Systems
Posted on August 1, 2013
A rapidly expanding confidential client required assistance with improving existing systems and developing new capacity.
Reason for Project:
- Efficiency gains through improvement of existing systems and creation of capacity through the design and construction of new facilities were required to keep pace with growing customer orders.
Project Deliverables:
- Improvement Plans for Existing Facilities and Systems
- Design of New Facilities – From conceptual block layouts to final detailed design.
- Estimating of Material Handling Systems.
- Simulation Modeling – Prove out design concepts.
- Equipment Specifications – All aspects; development of performance specifications through the bid, evaluation and award process.
- Vendor Equipment Development – Acted as Client representative to facilitate and monitor detailed design development, construction and testing of purchased equipment systems.
- Construction Packages – Developed “material handling” packages and contributed to the detailed design of other disciplines.
Project Results/Benefits:
- Increased Capacity: Improvements and Expansions provided the Client significant leaps in processing capacity (enabling them to fulfill customer orders on schedule).
- Innovative New Systems: Epicenter was the originator and/or developer of multiple ideas and systems that greatly improved and expanded the Client’s production capabilities.
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Distribution – Facility Outbound Simulation
Posted on July 31, 2013
The client was in the process of rebuilding their distribution center operations. We modeled the entire outbound process from the workstations for picking, kitting, and auditing to the dock doors. At the time, they wanted to use simulation modeling techniques to evaluate and fine-tune their base outbound system conceptual design. This would enable them to make system changes, as required, to best meet their short- and long-term operational needs.
Reason for Project:
- After their previous distribution center was destroyed by a tornado, they were redesigning a completely new facility and wanted to validate the conceptual design.
- Discover any potential bottlenecks with the proposed system.
- Determine the labor requirements for the outbound processing stations.
Project Deliverables:
- Development of an accurate computer simulation model of their outbound operations process. The model has variable input parameters that can be changed by the client via Excel input spreadsheet.
- Completion of a base analysis to understand potential bottlenecks and labor requirements
Project Results/Benefits:
- Layout Validation: Evaluated the layout and determined potential bottlenecks (quantified benefits).
- Labor Evaluation: Simulation model was able to flush out a data/design defect early on where the data wasn’t accounting for almost one-third of total labor in one section.
- Tool Development: Developed a tool for the client to use to run many different scenarios/experiments to help them determine equipment and production needs and limitations.
Food Industry – Sanitation Process Study
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The client is a multinational food manufacturing company. Due to production demand increases at their Ohio canning facility, the staffing had shifted from third shift (sanitation) to first and second shifts (production). One of their canning lines was at capacity.
Reason for Project:
- The client needed to reduce the sanitation time on the lines to increase available production time and increase their capacity.
Project Deliverables:
- Evaluated the current Standard Operating Procedures for Sanitation Operations and prepared a report comparing the SOPs to what operators were actually doing.
- Compiled a list of recommendations to reduce cleaning times including: potential CIP locations, changes in the order of operations to increase efficiency, and best practices to reduce unnecessary additional cleaning.
- Identified and reported personnel issues that contributed to long cleaning times.
- Updated SOPs with changes as approved by the client.
Project Results/Benefits:
- Productivity increased: Estimated sanitation cycle time reduction of 50%.
- Capacity increased: Estimated increasing production hours from 18 to 23 each day for each production line.
- Cost Reduction: By increasing production hours (income) and reducing downtime for cleaning (cost), the client is able to increase saleable goods production without increasing fixed overhead costs.
Food Industry – FEL1 Study
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Our Client was evaluating a new site for company business continuity and projected growth of 5-7% for the next 10 years.
Reason for Project:
- Our Client decided to hire an outside engineering consulting firm to develop a FEL1 study of a new facility. This study included a 30% cost estimate and milestone schedule. The new facility would also accommodate new process and packaging technology and automated material handling methods.
Project Deliverables:
- Complete facility layout including office and employee complex. On-site boiler/maintenance buildings.
- Equipment list with estimated capital cost for process equipment and facility services and building construction. Automation justification.
- Milestone schedule.
- Site staffing estimate.
Project Results/Benefits:
- Productivity increased: The new facility would allow the company to double production with a lower manpower staffing ratio than current plants.
- Capacity increased: Double production by end of ten year period.
- Quality Improvement: The new manufacturing facility was designed to isolate dirty operation from clean critical operations. The new site would meet all FDA regulations.
Glass Industry – Dock Capacity Improvement
Posted on July 30, 2013
A multinational glass manufacturing company’s export sales had grown significantly over the past few years. As a result, the workload associated with preparing outbound shipments had risen exponentially.
Reason for Project:
- In order to best handle the shipping operations, the Client decided to commission a study to determine the “best practices” for loading shipping containers and the proper staffing levels for all warehouse operations.
Project Deliverables:
- Created a Loading Model to evaluate the best method for loading trailers and shipping containers and the expected load time.
- Developed a Hauling Model to evaluate the staffing required on a daily basis to stage outgoing materials. The model was fully integrated into the Client’s existing scheduling spreadsheet.
Project Results/Benefits:
- Capacity Increase: Significantly reduced the time to load shipping containers from 50 minutes to 15 minutes (50%-80% improvement). In addition, Epicenter helped to evaluate the proper forklift driver labor required to reduce shipping delays.
- Productivity Increase/Labor Reduction: See above. Also reduced the labor associated with staging outgoing materials through the use of the Hauling Model tool by the warehouse supervisor.
- Quality Improvement: Improved loading quality through development of standard loading process across all three shifts.
Roofing Materials Manufacturing Downtime Study
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The client designed a new production facility in Milan, Ohio. All of the Narrow roll equipment was new and designed to required specifications. After the production line was up and running, they discovered that the finishing operation was not meeting the specified throughput.
Reason for Project:
- The company was operating at capacity, but only producing 68% of the expected throughput. They commissioned an outside manufacturing engineering resource to evaluate why the Narrow Finishing work center was under producing.
Project Deliverables:
- Created a list of delay reasons and calculated the downtime associated with each cause.
- Delivered an itemized list of ways to improve throughput by identifying procedural changes that could be implemented immediately to reduce cycle time (no cost), specification deficiencies for the machine manufacturer to correct (no cost), machine control systems changes (low cost), machine modifications (low cost), and work center realignment opportunities (high cost).
Project Results/Benefits:
- Productivity increased: Estimated production increase of 27% based on procedural changes, an additional 4% with machine corrections, and an additional 13% with minor modification. These improvements would increase the work center throughput to the desired rate.
- Capacity increased: Instead of operating at capacity, the work center would have room for future demand growth.
