We began our lean efforts in summer of 2002. The entire Sunset team went
through a lean training course conducted by Gary Conner from Lean Enterprise
Training. We followed the training with our first Kaizen event encompassing
setup reduction. The results from this event were far greater than anticipated.
The enthusiasm from this event pushed us right into our second event, a 5S
(sort, straighten, shine, standardize, and sustain) of our tool room.
Following are some highlighted improvements from our setup reduction events. We have done over 10 such
events on entirely different projects, and the results were very similar.
- 80% reduction in distance traveled during setup
- 75% reduction in labor hours for setup time
- 80% reduction in machine downtime due to setup
- 12% increased machine capacity per week
The lean tools began to spread like wildfire in the shop and office. It became very apparent managing these was looking like a full time job. All things considered we knew that we needed to reach out to some other companies that were on the same path. We became the 7th member company of the Northwest High Performance Enterprise Consortium. The consortium was specifically started for companies implementing Lean manufacturing practices, acting as a sounding board for each company participating. You can find more regard the NWHPEC group on their website
www.nwhpec.org
How our lean journey has impacted our customers:
Inventory control / reductions:
- Aligning our production schedule with our customers build schedule
- Just in time delivery
- Kitting - packaging sub-assembly parts in correct assembly quantities
- Kanban rotation - internal & external
Standardization:
- Recyclable packaging - standard quantities in the same tote every time
- Uni-lock fixturing systems
- CNC CMM utilized on all FAI's and repeat production projects
Setup Reduction:
- Cells allow provide for one time setup, no minimum "batch sizing" necessary
- Uni-Lock system allows rapid change over on stand alone equipment
- Run quantities based on demand, not on amortization of setup calculations
- Increases capacity for current demand by increasing number of jobs produced in workcenter
Other Solutions:
- Design for manufacturability - reduced cycle time, eliminate non-value added operations
- Flexible customer solutions to meet specific needs
- Single point of contact for project based machining needs
- Lower inventory = increased cash flow, "best pricing", low risk on revisions, etc
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Uni-lock devices – installed on both the Hitachi and Toyoda cell systems, multiple tombstones, also installed on the Fanuc Robo-drill with pallet changer.
These devices allow for quick changeovers, we can essentially run 5 – 7 different parts each day on the stand alone Robo-drill. The advantage on this machine is basically 5 minute changeovers. We run several parts that are kitted together for the customer. One part is worthless without the other 3.
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On the cells we have approximately 20 to 30 different part numbers that are dedicated on the removable fixture plate which locates within 0.0002" when locked back in place. This allow for large multiples of parts to run on these fixtures as we have eliminated the concern for balancing time so the spindle doesn’t sit while the operator loads a fixture. We just switch out the plates with raw stock already loaded.
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Material supermarkets in place for ongoing production jobs, the quantity on these jobs will vary from 7 per week to 1000 per week. The supermarket insures the correct amount of material is available to run on a daily basis. We do not have excess on hand and we do not have to worry about running out when demands increase.
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This allows us to contract with our vendors for best pricing on the materials. This streamlines every process involved, from paperwork to production, level loading for manufacturing and increased inventory turns.
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If you would like to know more about our efforts in lean, and how these efforts can help with your companies machining service needs, please feel free to contact Rob Nees. We are happy to show how our efforts can benefit our customer relationships.
Please make sure to check back for updates.
