About five months ago, a member of the Lean Business

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "About five months ago, a member of the Lean Business"

Edward Gilbert
6 years ago
Views:

Scott Carter and his team at Rable prove that simple, common-sense lean techniques can result in gigantic improvements to productivity and profitability.

1 Scott Carter and his team at Rable prove that simple, common-sense lean techniques can result in gigantic improvements to productivity and profitability. Never Out of Style in the Shop: Classic Lean Techniques One machine shop used basic common sense lean techniques to boost its sales and operations Ed Sinkora Contributing Editor About five months ago, a member of the Lean Business System group on LinkedIn posed the question: Can you describe lean with one word? Or at most three? The most common answers were things like wastefree or efficiency, plus phrases that echo continuous improvement. But perhaps the most popular submission and there were over 400 was focused common sense. Indeed, most professionals in manufacturing probably do think of lean as common sense. Of course, you want to eliminate waste from your production. Of course, you want to focus on what brings value to the customer. On top of that, so much of what goes into implementing lean is fairly simple: things like shadow boards for your tools and color coded bins for good, iffy, or bad parts. Yet the sad truth is that lean manufacturing, like common sense, isn t nearly as common as it should be. It s certainly far from universal. Yet those simple February 2015 AdvancedManufacturing.org 99

techniques can make huge improvements to your productivity and profitability, as Rable Machine (Mansfield, OH) has late how many run hours we had on that part in an average had a part that was run

2 techniques can make huge improvements to your productivity and profitability, as Rable Machine (Mansfield, OH) has late how many run hours we had on that part in an average had a part that was run through a lathe, we would calcu- shown over the last 10 years. quarter. If we had another part that was a lathe-lathe-mill operation, we d quantify those. We started adding these The problem: Too many jobs to keep in your head together and then added in factors like material and size. As When Scott Carter joined Rable as their president eleven we progressed, we even added the type of tooling we d use years ago, the shop produced roughly 1700 unique precision for each job. In doing this we found that there were indeed parts. The parts were all relatively small (few bigger than a 3" certain mixes of jobs that fit together. cube) and came from a variety of industries, from oil and gas The quarterly volume data also told us how much we to aerospace, telecommunications, and medical. Production could group together from a capacity standpoint. This lead to runs were mostly low-to-medium volume, with a wide mix of a reorganization of the shop floor into different process family processes. There wasn t any obvious grouping. cells. So, for example, we could see that a lathe-lathe-mill cell would be fully occupied year round. Carter says that while some no brainers took little analysis and lead to the creation of the first few cells within a year, it took about 10 people three years to get everything in place and optimized. That s because aside from a few obvious cases, they didn t really get a handle on things until they d put every job in the shop into what they call a process family Typical parts produced at Rable for use in fluid management systems, industrial automation, network power systems, climate control systems, oil and gas transmission, petroleum refining, and medical devices. More importantly, Carter knew they weren t as profitable as they could be. The shop was organized by department: lathes in a line here, mills there, screw machines over there, and so forth. Parts bounced around the shop based on the required machining steps. It was difficult to keep track of anything, though it was pretty clear time was being lost. It was equally clear that growth would add to the confusion without necessarily adding to the bottom line. Rable needed to change. Carter took his 20 years of lean experience and introduced focused common sense. Categorize and Count The first step into lean production was also the most difficult: Categorizing each of the 1700 parts they produced. As Carter recalls: Our first attempt to categorize was to count the processes used by quarter. So, if, for example, we code system. The code system gave them a way to describe each job by machine or cell number, material, size, shape, whether or not it required live tooling, whether or not it required a subspindle, the specific type of machine required for the primary operations, and the type of machine required for the next operation. And because they could sort this database by each field, they could quickly determine what part numbers could go together in greater detail. This lead them to further refine their cell arrangements and in some cases, to buy new machines. Moving the machines to create the cells was the easy part. The hard part was the engineering task of assessing all the parts. What s So Great about Cells? When Rable organized the shop into groups of process capabilities that each produced expected part volumes, they eliminated all the hassle and time lost in moving parts from 100 AdvancedManufacturing.org February 2015

department to department. Plus the more they refined their cell arrangements based on the data from the code system, the better the parts matched the cells and the faster they could change setups.

By putting cells together we were able to become real experts within that cell in the manufacture of that particular process family.

A new employee learned similar process-type methodology when he joined a cell. And he got to know equipment more quickly than he would hopping all over the shop.

So, for example, instead of a lathe-lathe-mill cell, they asked if it might not make more sense to get a machine that performed all those operations.

3 department to department. Plus the more they refined their cell arrangements based on the data from the code system, the better the parts matched the cells and the faster they could change setups. Carter says skills also improved. The previous shop layout meant that a given part type might be produced on different types of machines with different operators. By putting cells together we were able to become real experts within that cell in the manufacture of that particular process family. Not only from a programming standpoint, but from a tooling standpoint and a changeover standpoint. It also helped employee training. A new employee learned similar process-type methodology when he joined a cell. And he got to know equipment more quickly than he would hopping all over the shop. Once they had cells established and had a better understanding of their volumes, they also explored multitasking machines. So, for example, instead of a lathe-lathe-mill cell, they asked if it might not make more sense to get a machine that performed all those operations. If, in other words, more capable technology would further optimize any given process. They involved the employees in exploring these possibilities and Carter says it really helped. Because even if it wasn t always the most perfect decision, they had ownership in it and they made it work. The kanban board for some of the subassemblies Rable produces for an oil and gas customer. Each line represents a subassembly and the cards represent the demand for that item. When the pull from the customer reaches red, that subassembly takes priority. Conversely, Rable would reassign any resources tied to items in the green. When We Say LIVE TOOLING We Mean It! It took about 10 people three years to get everything in place and optimized. For example, much of the work now being down by two Mori-Seiki NL 2500 CNC turning centers used to take two lathes and a mill. The Mori produces those parts complete in one chucking. Repeat and Refine By the time Rable had grouped all their machines into cells and optimized their processes they had grown so much that they needed more space. They bought the adjoining building, moved the Brown & Sharpe equipment there (four cells of four-to-five machines per cell), and reorganized the Heimatec, a name you may not know but you soon will. Great reputations have a way of spreading. A leading German supplier of live tooling, Heimatec offers a wide assortment of tools for CNC lathes and machining centers, plus the U-TEC quick change system, toolholders, multi-spindle drilling heads, specialty tools and more. Application engineering, dealer and end user training from our Chicago headquarters, plus a nationwide network of quality machine tool reps and dealers to serve you. NEW LITERATURE DOWN- LOADS ON LIVE TOOLING FOR BRAND-SPECIFIC MACHINES OKUMA, MAZAK, HAAS, NAKAMURA AND MORE! 16 E. Piper Lane Suite 129 Prospect Heights, IL info@heimatecinc.com Preben Hansen, President See us at HOUSTEX Booth #209 February 2015 AdvancedManufacturing.org 101

4 shop floor again. It helped, but didn t do everything they needed so Carter explored further expansion. This coincided with the recession, but Carter knew their lean production methods had already boosted sales-per-employee by about 50% and increased profits, so he confidently searched for a large building to house all their operations. They ended up buying a 53,000 ft 2 (4924 m 2 ) bottling plant that was mostly warehouse, so they had to install all-new electrical power and transformers, material handling systems, cranes, lighting, and other features to turn it into a manufacturing facility. But this gave them the opportunity to redo their entire lean process organization. We put together a large magnetic board representing every machine on the floor and restarted the process of reorganizing the whole factory again, says Carter. I think we achieved the highest possible level of organization. For example, the machines with 12' (3.7-m) bar feeders are the closest to the receiving area in order to reduce material handling. The machines that are farthest from the receiving area are those that produce completed parts in one setup. They store the 12' bars on cantilevered roll-out racks. So when they do have to move a big bar, they can lift the bar with a crane rather than a forklift. It s easier, faster, and safer. In other departments they ve standardized on 4' (1.2-m) bars, which they get pre-cut to length. This allowed them to implement handy carts to push that stock around the floor easily, rather than use forklifts or cranes. The Guys Came Up with Rable Turret Law... When Rable created their process families and tooled up the machines, they also established a standard turret setup for their lathes so an operator wouldn t have to reengineer from job to job. Under Rable Turret Law, no matter what type of cell you re in, each turret position gets a specific tool. That means programs can all be consistent and tool-change time is reduced. Once they had cells established and had a better understanding of their volumes, they also explored multitasking machines. On a related note, Carter points out that because each cell machines families of part, it also means that each cell has a lot of tooling that they use all the time. So what we ve started to do is to pull those standard tools out of our toolroom and into each cell. Like a lot shops, we had been doing advanced staging for upcoming jobs in the toolroom, but that s a lot of double-handling, which is much less efficient. Cells with dual-spindle lathes and mills. Rable s skilled operators typically manage three to four such machines at a time. 102 AdvancedManufacturing.org February 2015

Like the process family cells, the turret law and local tool storage both go back to the database and the detailed knowledge it gives Rable about their operations: Knowing that a lathe turret should

5 Like the process family cells, the turret law and local tool storage both go back to the database and the detailed knowledge it gives Rable about their operations: Knowing that a lathe turret should have X number of turning tools and Y boring bars to handle 80% of the jobs. Kanban Cuts Inventory 45% One of Rable s large oil and gas customers helped drive their lean journey by challenging them to produce assemblies within a kanban system. Rable had been making roughly 400 components for this customer, but no assemblies, and trying to meet demand through forward planning of the inventory. The customer gave Rable an annual commitment and asked them to combine some of the components into a dozen subassemblies, but only when they issued an electronic kanban. So Rable set up internal stations for making the subassemblies and instituted their own kanban system to control all the components that go into those assemblies. We starting pulling product as we needed it, instead of forward planning. This helped us to stay more in tune with our customer s usage and replenish components only when we needed to, which dramatically reduced inventory while opening up machine capacity, explains Carter. For example, one assembly that goes into pumps is a valve spool we run on a dual spindle, dual turret, live tool, Y-axis machine. The part also gets honed and anodized. We make thousands of these and the pull system allowed us to reduce our inventory by 45%. It s been very good for us and the customer loves it because they don t have to worry about running out. They ve been growing and they get to add more business while keeping the head-count down. Seeing is Smart Scheduling By 2012, Rable s lean practices had enabled such growth that they were juggling 3500 different parts over the course of a year, more than twice the number that inspired the change. That s when they took another simple, common sense step. They installed a visual scheduling system, extending 100' (30.5 m) down both sides of a hallway. Every scheduling tag on the board represents an individual job, with a miniature drawing of the part to make identification easier. A computerized system looks out eight weeks to project load, but the visual boards drive Rable s short-term scheduling of one to two weeks. The benefits are almost unbelievable. Let s say you re running a job and coming close to the end, explains Carter. You look at the board and see a job that s very similar but it s three jobs away. You know you re virtually setup for that job already, you can do it just by tweaking a few things. So you go to production control to see if there s time in the schedule to allow you to shift this around. If they approve, it typically amounts to a very large setup reduction. It s made a huge impact, especially the bigger and busier we re getting. We re generally saving in the neighborhood of 65% in our setup costs. Aside from the visual aid, the key point here is that these discoveries are made at the cell, not by management or production control. Even with the benefit of the Process Family Code System and cell optimization, achieving peak efficiency depends on the machine operators taking the initiative to look for, recognize, and act on opportunities. It s that drive to always look for ways to make things better that has boosted sales-per-employee by 61% in under 10 years. It s part of their mindset. It s lean. Or if you prefer: It s focused common sense. Precision Rotary Tables World-class ULTRARON TM and ULTRADEX TM Rotary Tables Inspection Radial Milling Calibration Index Position Contouring Circle Division 4 th -5 th -Axis Machining Manual and Automatic Systems Telephone Fax Website: agdavis@agdavis.com February 2015 AdvancedManufacturing.org 103

Putting non-service employees on the phones

Putting non-service employees on the phones For the article Vista Print puts its employees on the phones to Learn the Customer in the July issue of Customer Service Newsletter (CSN), editor Bill Keenan