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Partnering February, 2013 Custom Building Projectors with 24-Hour Turnaround By Christina Dube, Marketing Communications Manager, Kardex Remstar, LLC, Westbrook, ME C
hristie is a global visual tech- nologies company offering di- verse solutions for business, en-
tertainment, visual environments and medical industries. With over 100,000 projection systems installed world- wide, Christie technologies include so- lutions for cinema, large audience en- vironments, control rooms, business presentations, training facilities, 3D and virtual reality, simulation, educa- tion, media and government. The manufacturing facility in
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada is the worldwide center for advanced manu- facturing of all Christie DLP® projec- tors. With over 200,000-ft2 (18580m2) of production floor space and 600+ em- ployees, the certified ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001 facility houses top-of- the-line technology, equipment and employees. The manufacturing pro - cess is based on the Kaizen Lean Man- ufacturing philosophy that focuses on continuous improvement pro cesses and the 5S methodology.
Meeting Customer Needs The company has started to ex-
pand into new markets and new ter- ritories. With production already at
capacity and limited room for expan- sion, Christie installed two Shuttle VLMs from Kardex Remstar —recov- ering 70 percent floor space, doubling capacity and cutting labor require- ments in half. All Christie projection systems
are configured to order, but cus- tomers were also demanding quick delivery times. While increasing ca- pacity, the company also sought to give customers the best of both worlds: custom-built projectors with 24-hour order turnaround time.
Room To Grow With orders increasing, the com-
pany needed to double the number of sub-assembled projectors kept on hand. Previously, Christie maintained an inventory of 100 sub-assembled projectors, each stored on a cart that was two feet by three feet. “To double inventory with the previous cart sys- tem, we would have had to expand the area to make more room for 200 carts on the floor, buy more carts and hire more people,” said Philip Hibberd, Sr. Manufacturing Engineer. Maintain- ing its lean manufacturing policy, the company implemented two Shuttle XP VLMs (Vertical Lift Modules), each
holding 100 sub-assembled projectors. Both have room for more capacity, al- lowing inventory to increase based on sales projections. Including the work aisle, each Shuttle VLM occupies only 180-ft2 (16.7m2) of floor space, com- pared to the 600-ft2 (55.7m2)occupied by the previous cart system — provid- ing a 70 percent floor space savings. Adding another VLM allowed the com- pany to double capacity while only oc- cupying an additional 180-ft2 (16.7m2). “The recovered floor space has been used to expand the sub-assembly process from six assembly stations to nine,” said Hibberd.
Ergonomics and Safety With each projector weighing in
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at approximately 52 pounds (26.6kg), worker ergonomics and safety is al- ways a concern. “The projectors are very heavy and lifting them puts the employee at risk of injury and the projector at risk of damage,” says Hi- bberd. Previously, projectors were stored on carts and the carts were often shuffled around to get to the one in the back. Employees were pushing and pulling carts all day long, leading to fatigue. Hoists were available to move projectors from a station to a cart and vice versa, but not all employees utilized the hoists. Each VLM is equipped with au- tomatic tray extraction and a hoist is mounted at the access point. The pro- jectors are stored closely together on the trays, making it difficult to ac- cess the sub-assembled projectors without using the ergonomic hoist. Once the tray is delivered to the
access opening it is automatically ex- tracted (pushed) out onto an extrac- tion table for easy access. When a pro- jector is ready for picking, the operator uses the handheld controls to position the hoist near the desired projector. The operator hooks the hoist onto the projector and again using the hand held controls lifts the projector into the air, moves it over to the cart and lowers it down onto the cart. The operator confirms the pick
and the tray is returned into the VLM. The hoist is unhooked from the projector and the operator wheels the projector over to the work table just a few feet away. Using the VLM auto- matic extraction feature combined with the ergonomic hoist eliminates heavy lifting when retrieving the projector.
Improving Efficiencies Previously, four workers were
required to pick and finish the sub- assembled projectors. Using a FIFO (first in, first out) picking strategy, it took a worker an average of 15 to 20 minutes to find a projector. “The sub- assembled projectors all look the same, so the operator would need to check each serial number until they found the correct one,” said Hibberd. With the VLMs, only two workers are required and the required projec- tor is delivered to the worker in
under a minute. Christie is retriev- ing the projectors over 90 percent faster with half of the labor. The VLMs have also allowed
Christie to vary labor requirements based on demand. When orders in- crease at the end of the month, they can add another person to the VLM area quickly and easily. Variable labor provides Christie increased productivity when they need it to meet increased demand.
How It All Works Now, after projector models are
sub-assembled and tested, they are delivered to the Shuttle VLM work in process area for storage. Projectors are received into the VLM inventory and stored by serial number and sub assembly date so that they can be easily identified for FIFO (first in, first out) picking later in the process. Customer orders are received and processed through JD Edwards soft- ware and sent to the FastPic invento- ry management software that man- ages the VLM workstation. The oper- ator in the work-in-process zone is tasked with identifying the correct subassembled projector to the order by serial number, finishing the as- sembly work and delivering it to final electrical testing. When ready, the operator
processes the order with the click of a button and the VLM automatically presents the projector required. Since each projector is stored by seri- al number and sub-assembly date, the software picks the projectors in FIFO order. Upon delivery, the tray is auto-
matically extracted (pushed) out onto a table so that the operator can use an ergonomic hoist to lift the projec- tor from the tray onto an assembly cart. Each tray has 4 to 5 locations within the tray, each identified with a location number. The FastPic inventory manage-
ment software screen identifies the exact position in the tray where the projector is located. The operator re- trieves the correct projector, and moves it to a cart using the ergonom- ic hoist. The cart is then wheeled over to the workstation where the op- erator customizes the projector based on the options the customer requires. The completed projector is then
delivered to electrical testing. Once electrical testing is completed, a UL- approved label is applied and the projector is sent to shipping, where it is shipped to meet the 24-hour turn- around time that customers expect. “The VLMs fit nicely into the
lean flow in our facility. From sub-as- sembly to testing to storage to configu- ration to verification testing to ship- ping — we strive for a lean process — cutting wasted time and effort from
the process,” said Hibberd. Contact: Kardex Remstar, LLC,
41 Eisenhower Drive, Westbrook, ME 04092 % 800-639-5805 Web:
www.KardexRemstar.com r
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