Category: Value Stream Mapping

A layout and line balancing improvement activity, supporting the company’s achievement of customer requirements and corporate growth plans, avoiding €2M capital expenditure

 

Background

The client company is a leading global automotive supplier supporting the sector with manufacturing plants in 29 countries. In late 2011 a plant was built in Hungary to support a major customer’s vehicle assembly operations nearby. The original product line consisted of carpet and load space systems for a vehicle in current production.

The Challenge

At the end of 2012, the company started to install a new line to manufacture the full set of door trim systems for a new vehicle model line. New staff were employed and the line had to ramp up to full volume with a tough target date for full run at rate sign off by the customer. At the same time, the plant had to incorporate the manufacture of 2 other model lines, in line with the corporate capacity and growth strategy. A €2M extension to the plant had been identified to fit in the new business, but the corporate budget was not available.

The Objectives

The plant objectives for the project were 3-fold: to achieve a timely and successful product launch, to re-layout the factory to incorporate the complete manufacturing facility for 2 additional models, without compromising the flow and efficiency of the current products, and to develop the skill level and capability of the current workforce in kaizen activities.

The Industry Forum Solution

A multi skilled team of engineers from the client company worked with an Industry Forum Senior Engineer to create a value stream map capturing all of the issues in the current door trim manufacturing and assembly lines. Two teams (consisting of engineers, supervisors, team leaders and operators) were formed to design a fully aligned future state for the manufacturing and assembly areas. The teams identified and carried out improvement actions to stabilise the current state before starting to implement the current state. The management team took part in a 3 day off site workshop to embed a common understanding of the lean tools and principles, in order that they could fully support the improvement teams by providing resource and removing any ‘road blocks’.

Using the lean principles learned, the teams designed manufacturing systems and layouts, and identified the improvements necessary to allow them to work effectively. The layouts were shared with the project management team together with a spreadsheet modelling the linked flow from manufacturing to assembly. A project plan was devised, the workforce briefed and the new layout was implemented during the Easter shutdown. The integrated improvement activities of the lean teams and the technical engineering/project management team enabled a successful achievement of the targets during the customer ‘run at rate trial’.

The initial improvement activities demonstrated the success of ‘lean’ to the workforce and these were followed up by 4 waves of team leader training to assist the CI manager raise the capability at production team level (particularly in data analysis and problem solving) and embed continuous improvement into all areas. The improvement activities implemented included layout 7 line balance, set up improvement, 5S, waste elimination, standardisation, visual management and development of team SQCDM boards.

Results

CapEx cost avoidance	€2M	Re-layout
Manufacturing WIP reduction	75.3%	Pull systems, scheduled changeovers
Assembly WIP reduction	68.9%	Single piece flow
Average assy cycle time reduction	41.2%	Waste elimination and standardisation
Press OEE increase	30.4%	Problem solving
Current production space reduction	41.3%	Re-layout generating 1470m² for new products

 

The Customer’s View

‘The project has not only assisted us in a successful product launch, but enabled us to integrate 2 new production lines, without the expense of extending the factory and without compromising the flow of the existing products. In fact, the project has enabled us to introduce pull into the manufacturing stage, as well as assembly, reducing batch sizes, WIP and product movement. We have also upskilled our team leaders and spread improvement activities to all areas.’

General Manager

“The Industry Forum team has integrated really well with the local workforce and management team, plus the central engineering and project management team. The team has approached the issues in different ways and allowed us to achieve things which we would not have done without help. I am sure that there is a lot more that Industry Forum can help us with in the future.”

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A case study in value stream transformation at an automotive interior components supplier.

Background

The client is one of the world’s largest suppliers of automotive interior components who supply all of the major automotive OEMs. Their core product categories include door and trim systems, instrument panels, consoles, cockpits, flooring, acoustic systems, headliner and overhead systems as well as complementary exterior components.
To meet all of the OEMs’ diverse needs an expansive plastic injection moulding press is used, with a clamping pressure range from 150 to 3,000 tonnes, which enables products as diverse as a coin box to a dashboard top to be produced. Parts are moulded in three main materials PP, ABS and GRP which often incorporate in-tool adhesion of cloth trim elements and rubber encapsulation.  Secondary processes include laser cutting, bonding, heat staking, general assembly and painting.

The Challenge

A vehicle OEM was increasing volumes on the majority of its product lines whilst simultaneously conducting production readiness trials on tooling for the launch of several new models with each new model being offered with a wide range of interior trim variants. All of this additional work was to be entrusted to the same supplier who already had significant daily production commitments. Industry Forum were asked to support the client in ensuring that all of their existing processes and systems were working to optimum efficiency and that they had sufficient capacity to meet both the current and future projected demand levels from the OEM whilst achieving the expected levels of quality, cost and delivery performance.

The Objectives

Industry Forum holistically evaluated the client and identified opportunities for improvement. Having identified and prioritised the opportunities, Industry Forum then developed and executed an improvement plan in partnership with the supplier.

The Industry Forum Solution

Phase 1
Having held discussions with both the client and their customer, Industry Forum agreed a plan with all parties to satisfy the challenge whilst minimising demand on the client’s already heavily utilised workforce. The first stage was a value stream diagnostic which was conducted in three parts:

A partnership assessment to achieve a full understanding of the quality of relationships and interfaces between the client and their customer. This dealt with empirical data and perceptions from both parties and covered production, finance, logistics, engineering and sales functions.

Data analysis of the current product and service provided to the customer in terms of Quality, Cost and Delivery (QCD) both internally and externally. In addition to establishing the accuracy, availability and relevance of the available data.

An opportunity mapping exercise (a hybrid of value stream and transactional mapping) was used to highlight the wastes, duplications, omissions and appropriateness of the suppliers existing processes. The initial map was created by Industry Forum who collected information through available data sources and this was supplemented by shadowing, direct observation and interviews. The first draft was reviewed for consistency and accuracy by process owners within the business. Following this activity a broad cross-section of the work force were invited to review the map and add their issues, comments and opportunities. This created the largest possible pool of opportunities as well as improving buy-in to the eventual actions proposed.

Phase 2
The second phase involved Industry Forum independently assessing the supplier against the customer’s supplier award criteria. Where it was identified that the supplier had not yet reached the client’s required standards, a list of instances was drawn up and they were cross-referenced against the full list of opportunities identified in Phase 1. Wherever there was a match between the requirements of the award, benefit to the suppliers’ business and benefit to the customer, resolution of the particular issue was given high priority.

Phase 3
Once a significant number of high priority opportunities had been identified, Industry Forum supported the client to group similar items into distinct work streams. Eventually a total of 24 work streams were identified, of which 6 were further prioritised by Industry Forum staff in conjunction with the client’s senior leadership team. These were:

• Zone leader training
• O.E.E. recording and calculation accuracy
• Set-up improvement
• Production planning
• Problem solving
• Autonomous maintenance

For each of these prioritised work streams a charter was created and appropriate supplier personnel given ownership of the task, milestones and targets. Industry Forum provided practical coaching and support to the work stream owners to assist them in achieving the targets in a timely manner.

In addition to supporting the implementation of work stream solutions, Industry Forum provided coaching for all those actively involved in the improvement process. Industry Forum independently tracked the progress of the client towards their goals and provided the senior leadership teams for both parties with feedback on the progress made along the glide path to success.

Instances of the progress made include:

• 20% reduction in warehouse WIP levels
• 45% reduction in metal to metal set up times on critical machines
• 20% reduction in stock picking time
• 18% reduction in Mould Shop down time due to no material being available
• Zone leaders successfully trained to audit compliance to standard operations documentation

All of these achievements were made against a backdrop of customer demand increasing by circa 45%.

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A Value Stream Mapping and O.E.E. improvement activity, supporting Albon’s investment in machinery and tooling, resulting in a 70% increase in line output

Background

Albon Plc. is a large, independent design and manufacturing company specialising in the machining and assembly of engine components for automotive and diesel manufacturers world-wide.

Current activities consist of high volume connecting rod manufacture and bearing cap assemblies which are produced in UK, US and Serbian manufacturing plants. Albon’s UK facilities consist of 3 factories near to Southend, Essex.

The Challenge

Albon was facing increasing production demand from various customers. One in particular, a major global manufacturer of diesel engines, was predicting 70% growth in sales of one of its engine variants, which meant that Albon would be required to increase the output on one of its connecting rods lines to meet this demand. Albon’s challenge was to physically demonstrate its ability to “Run at rate”, within a 3 month period, without entailing excessive cost.

The Objectives

Albon’s objective for the project was to physically demonstrate the lines ability to increase output from the current level of 1052 rods per day to a maximum of 1788 per day (+70%) without recruiting additional manpower and without weekend working. Albon also wanted a sustainable, standardised process for replicating this on other lines, for the same and other customers.

The Industry Forum Solution

A multi-skilled team from Albon worked with an Industry Forum Senior Engineer to create a value stream map capturing all of the issues in the current production line. Albon identified that a new multi-spindle machine would be required, in addition to replacing a vertical machining centre and providing new fixturing, and a robotic finishing cell. The first step was to introduce the concept of Takt time and calculate it for the current and future demand. Three months Downtime and Quality data were analysed, and the OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) was calculated for each process. This information was used to create an effective cycle time (cycle time/OEE) v. Takt time chart to identify the priorities for improvement. This was key to the identification of priorities for improvement activities.

The team took part in a “plug game” simulation and experienced the effect of introducing the lean principles to a production process. Using this knowledge and understanding, a future state map was created, together with an action plan to achieve it. Actions to stabilise the current state, by implementing 5S on 2 of the priority processes, resulted in the target OEE being achieved (and sustained through Standardised Work).

Target OEE levels were set for each process and the effective cycle time v. Takt time chart was continually updated as improvements were verified and used as the driver for further improvements through a series of Rapid Improvement Workshops. Some of the improvements involved eliminating the 7 wastes and implementing revised Standard Work. Others involved technical solutions, with the help of the maintenance department, to reduce machine cycle times, or identifying where additional machines would be required.

A visual management board was created and regular production team meetings were introduced to review actual performance against targets. Visual management was employed to maintain the standard in each work station.
Albon needed a standard process for replicating improvements on other lines and so the Albon Lean Production System (ALPS) was developed. This was made a formal part of the company’s APQP process. A 10 step ALPS implementation checklist was created and the documented evidence of the improvement process was incorporated into the final element of the PPAP submission to the engine manufacturer.

The improvements continued in line with the plan and on 10th July a full line “run at rate” demonstrated an output of 1790 rods per day. The final customer was delighted that, not only had the objectives for this line been met, but the same standardised and sustainable approach was being applied to other lines which manufactured rods for its engines, driven by the Albon change agent. The value stream transformation resulted in the average OEE for 5 of the key machines on the line being increased from a baseline of 73.8% (January through March) to 89.7% (average for July).

The Customer’s View

‘The project has not only allowed Albon to prove that we are more than capable of meeting the projected demand of one of our customers, it has given us a standard structure to use on any new projects. Our other customers like what they are seeing and are asking for the approach to be applied to their product lines. We have replicated the process 4 times already.’

“The service and support that the Industry Forum senior engineer provided to Albon Engineering has been a great help to our production lines.

We now have a much better understanding of Value Stream Mapping, Takt time, OEE, Standardised Work, 5S and “run at rate” trials.

We also have set up visual management boards to display this work, and use it to help control our production lines. Our customers are delighted.

Albon will continue using this work throughout our business.”

Guy Hamilton, Albon Lean Production System manager, Albon Engineering and Manufacturing plc

Reference file:

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This case study has been produced with the kind permission of Albon Engineering and Manufacturing plc.