DIRECTORS: udo heinemann*; Louis. Albertyn; Terry Henry.( * germany)

Transcription

1 Project Definitions: 2013 Marley Pipe Systems (Pty) Ltd partnering with The University of Pretoria Engineering Department Requestor: Pretoriusstad Nigel Gauteng Marley Pipe Systems (Pty) Ltd 1 Bickley Road Compiled by: Danie Tredoux and Danie Grobbelaar Issue date: 18 January 2013 Version: 1 Head Office: 1 Bickley Road, Pretoriusstad, Nigel * P O Box 67, Nigel, 1490 Tel: (011) * Fax: (011) * * Bloemfontein (051) /5 * George (044) * Cape Town (021) * Nelspruit (013) * Durban (031) * Polokwane (015) * Co * East London (043) * Port Elizabeth (041) * M * Klerksdorp (018) * Infrastructure (011) * RJ Roger DIRECTORS: udo heinemann*; Louis. Albertyn; Terry Henry.( * germany)

2 Table of Contents Historical Overview and Background 1 Problem 1: Assembly Operations at the end of line Problem 2: Specialised Product Assembly Improvement Problem 3: Short-term Compounding work practice improvement Problem 4: HDPE Fabrications Work Practice Improvement Problem 5: Pipe Extrusion Production Run Length & Stock Holding Optimisation Problem 6: Pipe Yard Storage Capacity and Handling Optimisation ii P age

3 Historical Overview and Background Marley Pipe Systems began as Marley Plumbing in 1963 as a part of the Marley SA group. In 1970, Marley Plumbing introduced the Vynadeep range of Plastic Gutters which rapidly became the preferred choice of the market. The addition of Marley Streamline to the range in 1987 reinforced Marley s position as the market leader in this sector and in 1991 Marley Plumbing entered the Pressure Pipe market and now offers a range of HDPE, upvc and mpvc pipe, as well as a range of pressure bends, tees, valves and other fittings. In 1999 Marley International was bought by the Etex group, a Belgium based group operating globally in the construction and piping industry. In 2001 Etex bought the global operation, Glynwed Pipe Systems, whose interests were then merged with Marley Plumbing, to form a new company called Marley Pipe Systems. In June 2003, Marley Pipe Systems became part of the newly formed Belgium-based Aliaxis group of companies, specialising in plastic pipe reticulation systems and today Marley Pipe Systems is the leading manufacturer and distributor of plastic pipe reticulation systems, meeting the needs of the Plumbing and Building, as well as Civil, Irrigation, Mining and Industrial Markets for sub-saharan Africa. As an Aliaxis company, Marley Pipe Systems bring solutions, new technology and expertise of a global level to the local market, ensuring our clients stay ahead. Starting late 2012 Marley is in the process of renewing its Manufacturing Organisation, bringing World Class thinking, practices and processes into the manufacturing environment and starting an investment plan during 2013 to renew its Operations. As part of this new drive Marley decided to engage with the University of Pretoria's Engineering Faculty to provide students the opportunity to get some industry exposure and in the process possibly help solve some challenges that the organisation face. A number of potential projects have been identified and are detailed below. 1 P age

4 Problem 1: Assembly Operations at the end of line Marley produces a vast number of injection moulded components. Some of these do not require further assembly or other work, while some need further basic assembly work to create the final product. The Injection Moulding Operations of Marley currently produce all components and sub-components into Work In Progress (WIP), this WIP is then moved and stored, before final assembly and packaging is performed in another production area. It is the view of Marley's Manufacturing Management that an opportunity exists to increase efficiency and effectiveness, while reducing cost by looking at reducing this WIP and double handling. This will require investigating, finding more optimum solutions and implementing ways to do as much as possible final assembly and packaging at the end of line, where the component or sub-component comes off the injection moulding machine. Key deliverables will therefore include: Analysis and classification of all products and sub-components into families and BOM's Understanding and classifying all packaging requirements Understanding work content (job analysis) of each Work balance and job design End of line design and clusters (work cells), even for operator tasks across multiple lines A stock vs. make to order model or a mixed model If investment is required, a financial ROI-type payback calculation (not simple straight line) must be provided used to cluster and group products, activities, sub-components, etc. This information must then be used to address the key deliverables required from the Project. Along the way, regular and professional formal and informal communication is required. 2 P age

5 Problem 2: Specialised Product Assembly Improvement Marley produces a number of specialised plumbing products and some of these products require specialised assembly and/or individual setting to create the final product. The Specialised Injection Moulding Operations of Marley currently produce or purchase all components and subcomponents into Work In Progress (WIP), this WIP is then moved and stored, before final assembly, setting (if required) and packaging. These secondary operations are performed in another production area. It is the view of Marley's Manufacturing Management that an opportunity exists to increase efficiency and effectiveness, while reducing cost by looking at reducing this WIP and double handling. This will require investigating, finding more optimum solutions and implementing ways to do as much as possible final assembly and packaging at the end of line, where the component or sub-component comes off the injection moulding machine. Key deliverables will therefore include: Analysis and classification of all products and sub-components into families and BOM's Understanding and classifying all packaging requirements Understanding work content (job analysis) of each Work balance and job design End of line design and clusters (work cells), even for operator tasks across multiple lines A stock vs. make to order model or a mixed model If investment is required, a financial ROI-type payback calculation (not simple straight line) must be provided used to cluster and group products, activities, sub-components, etc. This information must then be used to address the key deliverables required from the Project. Along the way, regular and professional formal and informal communication is required. 3 P age

6 Problem 3: Short-term Compounding work practice improvement At the heart of the PVC extrusion processes of Marley is the PVC compounding Operation that delivers the compounded PVC material mix to the extrusion and sometime also the injection process. This section is currently very manual, with a number of very manual ingredient weigh stations, manual process steps and manual work practices. A major investment is planned for this area during 2013 that will provide a completely new and more automated process by late It is imperative however that until a new system is introduced the consistency (quality) of the PVC mixes are improved and that good work practices are also incorporated into the design of the new system. The result of the way that the existing PVC Compounding System is operated is a very dirty work environment, high losses (waste) and increased variability in the compounded PVC material mix. It is the view of Marley's Manufacturing Management that an opportunity exists to increase efficiency and effectiveness, while reducing cost and improving housekeeping in this area by changing the work practices and process control of this operation. This will require investigating, finding more optimum solutions and implementing ways to improve the process consistency and quality of the compounded PVC material mix, while identifying opportunities to improve housekeeping. Key deliverables will therefore include: Analysis and classification of current process and mix consistency Understanding all relevant Compounding Process parameters Understanding work content (job analysis) of each Work balance and job design, even for operator tasks across multiple areas Improved quality (mix consistency) Provide work practice and job design inputs to the Capital Investment Project used to develop an improved operation to address the key deliverables required from the Project. Along the way, regular and professional, formal and informal communication is required. 4 P age

7 Problem 4: HDPE Fabrications Work Practice Improvement A growing business area for Marley is the fabrication of HDPE components. These components typically form part of pipe system installations and are fabricated using heating, then bending, cutting and "welding" and machining operations. The demand for these products is mostly order driven and some items may be considered standard, while others are made to Engineers Drawings at specific angles, etc. This leads to challenges on planning this operation, carrying stock and levelling of work across the resources responsible for the fabrication work. It is the view of Marley's Manufacturing Management that an opportunity exists to increase efficiency and effectiveness, while reducing cost in this area by changing the work practices and process flows and equipment layout of this operation. This will require investigating, finding more optimum solutions and implementing ways to improve the resource and equipment utilisation. Key deliverables will therefore include: Analysis and classification of current processes Understanding all relevant and required process steps and WIP requirements Understanding work content (job analysis) of each Work balance and job design, even for operator tasks across multiple areas Improved process flows and equipment layouts A stock vs. make to order model or a mixed model Provide work practice and job design inputs to the Capital Investment Project used to develop an improved operation to address the key deliverables required from the Project. Along the way, regular and professional, formal and informal communication is required. 5 P age

8 Problem 5: Pipe Extrusion Production Run Length & Stock Holding Optimisation Marley produces a wide range of PVC pressure and waste pipes by means of an extrusion process. The number of unique pipe size and pressure class combinations that are produced on a limited number of production lines creates a very challenging production scheduling environment. An optimal balance needs to be achieved between, production run lengths, stock level profiles and line change flexibility in order to maximise production output whilst still ensuring good product availability without incurring excessive stock holding costs. Additional production lines could also be considered and modelled in order to create spare capacity to address some of the challenges induced by the variability in demand.(optional) It is the view of Marley's Management that an opportunity exist to optimise production run lengths whilst still considering at least the following constraints: Physical Stock Holding Space Working Capital Costs Customer Stock Availability Requirements Physical manufacturing processes Operational Research methods will have to be used to develop a toolset that will suggest optimal production run lengths. Key deliverables will include: Run Length Constraint Identification Constraint function formulation. (Parameter Driven) Programmed Optimisation Run Length model. A stock vs. make to order model or a mixed model For working capital investment, a financial ROI-type payback calculation (not simple straight line) must be provided Model Benefits and costs of introducing new production lines to cater for variability in demand. (optional) Calculated optimal cost model with suggested additional lines as a trade-off to stock levels.(optional) used to cluster and group products vs. production line dependencies etc. This information must then be used to address the key deliverables required from the Project. Along the way, regular and professional formal and informal communication is required. 6 P age

9 Problem 6: Pipe Yard Storage Capacity and Handling Optimisation Marley produces vast volumes of plastic pipe through its extrusion processes. The wide range of different pipe items that are produced further complicates not only production processes but also storage and handling operations. Around 50% of pipe products are produced for stock while the remainder are produced to customer order. The Marley logistics operation is currently hampered by the size of the current pipe storage yard. At the moment all pipes are routed via the pipe yard before it is dispatched to customers. Marley intends to increase pipe stock levels substantially as part of its business strategy as soon as it can be accommodated within the pipe yard capacity and processes. It is the view of Marley's Management that an opportunity exists to increase storage capacity as well as handling efficiency within the existing pipe yard by implementing intelligently designed material flow processes as well as innovative storage methods and equipment. This will require investigating, finding more optimum solutions and implementing ways to improve the process flow and storage methods. Key deliverables will therefore include: Analysis and classification of current inventory flow and different inventory group requirements. Analysis and classification of current storage logic and different inventory group storage requirements. Understanding all relevant efficiency drivers. Understanding and classifying current storage capacity Suggested optimised storage methods with improved capacity. Suggested optimised inventory flow processes. The overall capacity improvement must be quantified. Quantify capital investment requirement. used to develop an improved operation to address the key deliverables required from the Project. Along the way, regular and professional, formal and informal communication is required. Application Process 1. application to Indicate your first and second option from the above projects and provide a one paragraph motivation why you want to do these projects and believe you will add value. Please provide full contact details. 2. Short interviews with interested students will be held at UP, most likely involving the project sponsors. This will be done during the first week of the semester. 3. The accepted applications will be communicated via ClickUP within 48 hours. 7 P age