Metal Fabricator
Issue:
A low volume line product had a horrific flow. There were eleven (11) stops during manufacturing that required a stacking and unstacking step.
Scope:
Goals for the team were to establish pull and improve the flow of the product. They also needed to document all the new procedures and identify future opportunities for improvement of the product line.
Approach:
A team was assembled of shop floor workers familiar with the product. The team used takt, 5S and spaghetti diagrams to create the pull and improve the flow of the targeted product.
Results:
Product that had to stop eleven (11) times before, now only had to stop five (5) times. This could be further reduced but capital would be required. Material areas were established for each product that create a pull of product through visual queues. As a result of the teams activities, lead times for the targeted product were reduced by over 50% over a period of four (4) weeks.