Page 290 - How To Implement Lean Manufacturing

Using the Pr escription—Thr ee Case Studies 267

Kaizen Opportunities Related to the Spaghetti Diagram
The following kaizen opportunities were found while studying the spaghetti diagram.
• Move FG Inventory near the aisle on the storehouse side of the process area
• Move the Hipot operation next to the press.
• Move the CNC lathe to the corner near the curing oven.

Document Kaizen Activities on a Future State Value Stream Map
In this case, we documented the major kaizen activities on a future state value stream
map (FSVSM). See Fig. 16-11.

Additional Kaizen Activities
In addition to the kaizen opportunities mentioned earlier, the following were measures
we also took.
• We ran off the huge volume of WIP, almost 700 units. We took special actions to
accomplish this. First, we temporarily shut down operation of all stations before
the CNC lathe and reassigned those trained to fill in for all workstations from
the CNC lathe through packing. Next we sent the extra people to the rework
station or assigned them to a kaizen project and began rescheduling to cover
24-hour operation, including lunch and breaks, for all stations from CNC lathe
through packing.
• We reduced the cycle time at the CNC lathe to achieve 160 units per day by
adjusting work procedures at CNC lathe. To do this we transferred work from
the CNC operator to the helper, who was lightly loaded, so as to decrease
workload and the cycle times of the CNC operator. This reduced the line
bottleneck by a half minute.
• We performed SMED analysis on the CNC changeover times to reduce
changeover time and further increase production at the lathe. We began
immediately producing the universal holding jigs. Next we implemented other
SMED activities; changeover time was reduced to 11 minutes. These steps took
three days and when complete we were producing 220 units per day at the
CNC lathe.
• Final assembly could no longer keep pace, so we increased the number of
changeovers at the CNC lathe. This allowed us to decrease the batch size and
better level the model mix. At this point, we had all stations running, at least at
half rate.
• We leveled the production at the insertion cell using a heijunka box with kanban
and modified the staffing for the small stators to three operators per cell for
better balance.
• After two weeks, it was possible to combine final inspection with packing and
eliminate another position.
• In addition, over 70 other minor process improvements were executed, mostly
by the supervisors, line leaders, and operators in the next four weeks.
• Even though capacity was up, we continued to run seven days per week with
two normal 11-hour shifts. This was needed to establish inventories of cycle,
buffer, and safety stocks for all ten models.