Lean Manufacturing - Waste Elimination

Problem Statements

• Production requirements were past the capacity of existing welding process
  • Many forms of waste were present in the existing process from fit up to final welding
  • All welding was done manually
  • Quality issues with purchased parts
• Support was needed to facilitate and execute Kaizen and 5S activities

Solution

• Reduced the inventory clutter and travel to part shelves
  • Eliminated excess parts
  • Removed unneeded shelves and racks
• Improved ergonomics of fit up fixture by eliminating all twisting action clamps
• Vendor agreed to fix all part related problems
• Drafted Production Scoreboard, Visual Metrics
• Facilitated procurement and implementation of Robotic Welder

Results

• 45 operation steps decreased to 29 - 36% Improvement
• 28 minute cycle time decreased to 16 minutes - 43% Improvement
• 260 footsteps by operator decreased to 147 - 43% Improvement