Lean Initiatives in Metalcasting at ME Elecmetal

Transcription

1 Lean Initiatives in Metalcasting at ME Elecmetal TPPEN Presentation August 2014 ME Elecmetal - Duluth Facility Loren Auch Process Engineer Justin Meller Sr. Industrial Engineer

2 Overview Introduction to ME Elecmetal Value Stream Mapping Finishing Molding 6S Project Areas Core Room Maintenance Ladle Repair

3 ME Elecmetal Facilities

4 Duluth, MN Facility Chrome-moly steel and white iron castings for mining and crushing equipment Casting Sizes: ,000 lbs 40,000 tons per year plant capacity

5 Plant Capacity Improvements Previous plant capacity 110 Tons / Day (27,500 Tons / Year) 2011 Improvements Increase casting cooling capacity Increase heat treating capacity Moved & optimized Finishing department 130 Tons / Day (32,500 Tons / Year) 2012 Expansion Added 3rd electric arc furnace Further increased heat treating capacity Added 3rd shift to Molding & Finishing departments 160 Tons / Day (40,000 Tons / Year)

6 Pattern Shop

7 Melting

8 Vacuum Molding Center

9 Pouring Bay

10 Pouring Molds

11 Shake-out Area

12 Heat Treating

13 Casting Cleaning & Inspection

14 Finishing Value Stream Mapping

15 Heat Treat

16 Swing Grinding

17 Hand Grinding

18 How This Production Area Was Selected High labor area, lots of overtime Lots of inventory sitting around Poor casting flow Needed to increase capacity

19 Value Stream Definition What is a value stream? It is the flow of all of the activity, both value added and non-value added, needed to fulfill a request for a product or service

20 Value Stream Definitions Value Added What the customer is willing to pay for Physically changing the product Non-Value Added (Waste) Waiting / transportation Inventory Defects / re-work Value Quotient Percentage of the total time that value is added Supermarket Organized inventory that communicates the work needed to be done

21 Value Stream Improvement Focus on Reducing Waste It s about the process, not people Tackle the non-value added steps Inventory reduced and organized Expected Benefits More efficient through-put (less non-value added tasks) More responsive to our customers Better quality control Safety

22 Value Stream Mapping Project Scope Swing grinding to finished goods Focus was on the standard process which is about 90% of production Non-standard castings are processed separately grinding before heat treatment Machined castings 1 st article samples

23 Previous Process Flow Iron Steel Shipping Shakeout

24 Previous Finishing Floor Plan Total 17,000 sq ft

25 Previous Finishing

26 Previous Value Stream Map

27 Previous Value Stream Results Previous Value Stream Total lead time: 532 minutes Value added: 31 minutes Value Quotient: 5.8% Targeted Areas for Improvement Inventory buffer between swing grind and hand grind Hand grind table wait time Material handling

28 Determination of Supermarkets & HG Table Sizes Batch size determined to be 8 to 9 castings Balances efficiency & value stream Two changeovers per table to meet production Average castings in a heat Average amount on 2 HT trays Table size needed: 40 feet Supermarket size between SG & HG: 8 castings

29 New Finishing Floor Plan Total new = 12,100 sq ft

30 New Process Flow Iron Steel Shakeout

31 New Finishing

32 New Current State

33 Value Stream Improvement New Value Stream Total lead time: 234 minutes Value added: 41 minutes Value Quotient: 17.5% This represents a 300% improvement in the Value Quotient 5.8% to 17.5%

34 Managing New Process Scheduling is key Providing adequate product mix while maintaining priority (ship dates) Entire process is linked The inventory buffer between swing grind and hand grind is significantly reduced Both swing grind and hand grind must remain productive

35 Project Benefits Improvements Value quotient 5.8% to 17.5% = 300% improvement 532 min to 234 min = 298 min saved Floor space 17,000 to 12,100 sq ft = 29% Increased labor efficiency by 7% Reduced Overtime by 28% Reduced handling and eliminated 1 fork truck WIP reduction from 11 to 8 days Increased plant capacity from 110 to 160 tons per day

36 Molding Value Stream Mapping

37 How did we choose this department? With increased production rate, the Molding Department was identified as a bottleneck area Need to maintain high production rate at all times little room for delay

38 Molding Department

39 Initial VSM in Molding Higher-level value stream mapping analysis was previously completed on entire molding process Close-up station identified didn t meet the 10 minute per mold rate requirement Grate Molds took minutes (about 10% of production) 2 operators always required to place cores High number of cores & long distance to move Repairs to cores

40 Old Crane for Grate Cores Old vacuum on a chain hoist 2 man operation

41 Core Manipulator Introduced in January 2014

42 Core Manipulator Cores moved closer Decking added to eliminate stairs Only requires 1-man operation 2 nd operator able to complete other necessary tasks, reducing cycle time

43 Close-up Station VSM Phase 2 Production rates still weren t being met Value stream Mapped close-up station with grate molds in July 2014 Findings VQ = 54% (slightly better than old system) Equipment wasn t utilized at the right time 2 nd operator was not always doing the most important tasks to reduce cycle time Identified opportunities to maximize core size and reduce the number of cores

44 Molding Future State Change the order of operations Utilize equipment better Prioritize tasks on the critical path Continue efforts to combine cores and reduce core quantity Predicted Future State VQ : 84% VQ improvement of 55% 32% time savings per grate mold Currently Culture Change & Training

45 VSM What have we learned? Can t let up when changing the culture Idea that familiar is better is hard to get past Just because it worked doesn t mean its best Be flexible and open to ideas with planning Let everyone know what the plan is

46 6S Projects - Core Room - Maintenance - Ladle Repair

47 Definition

48 6S Process Pre-Planning Identify your scope Create a diverse team Make an event charter Plan red tag event & location Plan each of the six S steps Kaizen Event Continue to work on additional projects (outlined in your charters) as projects are completed match skill sets with projects

49 Core Room Before After

50 Maintenance Before After

51 Ladle Repair Before After

52 6S What have we learned? Break up large areas into smaller projects Sustaining is key Random audits display boards and postings help sustain

53 Questions?