department to department. Plus the more they refi ned 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 opera- tors. “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 program- ming 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.”
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.
Once they had cells established and had a better under- standing 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 ma- chine 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 owner- ship in it and they made it work.”
“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 Refi ne
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-fi ve machines per cell), and reorganized the
16 E. Piper Lane • Suite 129 • Prospect Heights, IL 60070 847-749-0633 •
info@heimatecinc.com •
www.heimatecinc.com Preben Hansen, President
February 2015 |
AdvancedManufacturing.org 101
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