Glass Industry – Dock Capacity Improvement

Posted on July 30, 2013

PilkingtonA 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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JDI JM2The 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.

Construction Materials Industry – Delay Study Increasing Production

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JDI JMA leading manufacturer and marketer of premium-quality building insulation, commercial roofing, roof insulation, and specialty products for commercial, industrial and residential applications.was experiencing a reduction in throughput on the 800 machine. They also realized the machine was running 24/7 and not meeting production needs.

Reason for Project:

  • The Client decided to hire an outside engineering consulting firm to study the reasons for the delays and identify possible solutions in order to increase throughput.

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.

Project Results/Benefits:

  • Productivity increased: Estimated downtime reduction of 25.3% (from 34% to 8.3%)
  • Capacity increased: Increased production capacity within the same footprint.
  • Quality Improvement: Increased good raw material rolls resulting in a decrease of scrapped finished goods.

 

 

Food Industry – HME Kitchen Simulation

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The Client’s Iowa facility will be testing the new Homogenized Milk Emulsion (HME) Technology as a way to produce a base sauce that will save cost, reduce quantity of ingredients, and improve the nutritional profile for the Frozen Foods product lines – 8 total production lines.

Reason for Project:

  • The Client wanted to test the conceptual design of a dual kitchen system.
  • They wanted to be able to test having only one kitchen running or both.
  • They wanted to determine if one or more CIP systems were needed.
  • They wanted to determine staffing needs for conceptual design.

Project Deliverables:

  • Development of an accurate computer simulation model of their conceptual dual kitchen HME sauce production facility. The model has variable input parameters that can be changed by the client via Excel input spreadsheet.
  • Completion of a base analysis to understand opportunities for improvement in the kitchen system design.
  • Recommendations for improving the kitchen systems based upon the initial analyses.

Project Results/Benefits:

  • Production Rates: Able to show that the homogenizer rate of 850 GPH was not able to keep up with higher product demands.
  • Layout Evaluation: Only using one kitchen resulted in having no product available during CIP times.
  • Equipment Comparison: Eliminated some of the equipment possibilities such as pump rate and tank size.
  • Labor Evaluation: Able to show that a third operator would be needed at higher demands to keep system from waiting on a resource.
  • 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.

Boxing & Supersack Operations Process Improvement

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Our Client wanted to look at the current process flow for the boxing operation in order to increase production. The boxing operation was the process of filling boxes with plastic resin.

Reason for Project:

  • The Client was concerned that the boxing operation was not being utilized to the fullest potential. They were looking to increase the amount of production from this process.

Project Deliverables:

  • Time studies were used to develop an updated procedure for the boxing operation.
  • A series of opportunities were developed/provided for improving the operational capacity and efficiency.

Project Results/Benefits:

  • Productivity Increase: By combining the process and having the two operators work simultaneously, the amount of boxes processed per hour could be increased by almost 200%.
  • Capacity Increase: If the amount of resin that the hopper (machine that feeds the boxing operation) holds could be increased by 2.5 times the current amount, the boxes could be produced at a faster pace.

I.D. Images Future State Plant Layout

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ID Images Logo - JPEGI.D. Images was experiencing a significant amount of growth. The current operations were profitable but seen as inefficient. In addition, the company was spending an increasing amount of money and time supporting an outside warehouse to store inventory.

 

Reason for Project:

  • I.D. Images decided to hire an outside engineering consulting firm to utilize Lean Manufacturing principles and techniques and develop a new (Future State) layout as an opportunity to streamline operations, improve material flow, and ultimately position the organization to be more competitive in the future.

Project Deliverables:

  • A GreenRoom process was used to co-develop a new, streamlined facilities layout.
  • A series of recommendations were developed/ranked for improving the operational capacity and efficiency.

Project Results/Benefits:

  • Productivity Increase: Material distance moved per week was reduced by 57%. Number of trips required to complete the value-stream process was reduced by 49%
  • Cost Reductions: Elimination of an outside warehouse to store inventory.
  • Capacity Increase: Increased production capacity within the same footprint.
  • Quality Improvement: Reduced material damage due to reduction in handling.

Trench Shield Manufacturing – Value-Stream Mapping

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gmeA manufacturing firm that produces high-quality trench shielding products. Its company growth over the past few years had led to increases in inventory levels, and it was concerned about the lack of “best practice” standards within its operations.

Reason for Project:

  • In order to accelerate improvements to their operations, the Client decided to hire an outside consulting resource to complete a value stream mapping project of their principal product families. The hope was that this project would lay the groundwork for a Lean manufacturing operation with standardized, “best-practice” processes that are documented and followed.

Project Deliverables:

  • Completion of a Value-Stream Mapping Kaizen of the top product families.
  • Completion of a Spaghetti-Flow Analysis to consider the material flow through the facilities.
  • A series of recommendations developed through the completion of Future State Value-Stream Maps.

Project Results/Benefits:

  • Productivity Increase: Streamlined flow of materials through primary facility.
  • Lead-Time Reductions: Average of 78% lead time reduction in order-to-shipment time in Vertical Shore Production.
  • Inventory Reductions: Elimination of 50-80% of the raw and in-process inventory.

Vehicle Manufacturing – Paint Line Process Improvement

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Our Client was expanding their paint line and required facility planning for warehouse design, workstation layout, and capacity analysis.

Reason for Project:

  • An outside engineering consulting group was contracted to provide the details and drawings for the expansion for the new paint line system and looked to Epicenter to identify and quantify problems to enable areas of improvement using IE tools.

Project Deliverables:

  • Validate the existing future state design.
    • Identify any critical flaws with the current layout and approach.
    • Generate detailed workstation layouts.
    • Determine HMI screen contents and operator interactions.
  • Establish plan for the storage and flow of raw materials.
    • Raw materials warehouse size, layout and storage type.
    • Flow of materials from warehouse to the line.
    • Validate FG storage area footprint.
  • Provide recommendations to the Client that can be implemented immediately.

Project Results/Benefits:

  • Workstation Layout: Redesigned layouts and flow between departments for high level capacities through 2017. Employed ergonomic principles to manage safe working conditions.
  • Warehousing Improvement: Design of raw material and finished goods storage, utilizing annual capacity levels from 2013 to 2017.
  • Achievement of Capacity: Upon correcting the identified problems the system would be capable of operating to the designed capacity.

Time Studies

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The Client had a need for transparency in their manufacturing process that would allow them to better manage their production throughput and costing procedures. There was a lack of documentation with respect to process steps and accurate time standards for completing each step.

Reason for Project:

  • The Client had the goal of integrating an MRP system into their facility. This required standards to be in place for the each process step, many of which are very manual operations, for every product that they produce. The project objective was to provide the client with data that would give them the ability to associate a cost with each element in their manufacturing process. The client brought in an outside engineering consulting group to study the processes. Epicenter Development Group was hired to complete the on-site data collection.

Project Deliverables:

  • A comprehensive list of the products was collected which allowed for the development of product families based upon components and process steps. This allowed the facility to update their product naming standards for intermediate processing steps, which allowed for a more streamline product flow between processing areas.
  • Detailed process time studies were gathered for each product family for all of the processing areas under examination. The value added and non-value added elements were recorded in a way that will allow the client the ability to use this valuable information if they choose to implement process improvement projects in the future.

Project Results/Benefits:

  • The standards developed allowed the client the ability to compare the actual time spent on the each product to the times that they were previously using for their costing analysis.
  • In addition, the standards developed can now be utilized in the MRP system to allow the plant management a more transparent view of their production system as a whole. The client now has the ability to more clearly view their lead time by product family. This makes the hiccups that occur along the way more visible and allows the facility and take a more proactive approach in solving problems when they arise.

Food Industry – Reducing Downtime and Increasing Throughput

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Our Client  was experiencing an excessive amount of downtime during the launch of a new Plate Freezer System.

Reason for Project:

  • The Start-up Team was working hard to minimize/eliminate downtime and system inefficiencies and looked to Epicenter to identify and quantify problems to enable more targeted corrective action.

Project Deliverables:

  • Over the course of 2 weeks, the system was observed and all downtime was recorded, summarized and analyzed.
  • Recommendations were developed and ranked for the highest impact to improve the system throughput.

Project Results/Benefits:

  • Throughput Improvement Opportunity: The root causes of downtime identified uncovered a potential throughput improvement of 20-25%.
  • Start-up Improvement: Root cause information provided Engineering/Maintenance necessary information for a targeted correction strategy. Cost and timing were improved from knowing what the real problems were.
  • Achievement of Capacity: Upon correcting the identified problems the system would be capable of operating to the designed capacity.