PROJECT:
Cycle time reduction for the assembly of a medical product.
START POINT:
The process involved taking a flexible plastic pouch applying silicone grease and then inserting a plastic tap into the end. The initial process required 6 people to keep the output requirement of 7800 parts/shift/line. The process was run on two lines and bottlenecked the product range and offered health and safety concerns.
SOLUTION:
An initial time and motion study was performed on each task to assemble the parts to understand where dead time was in the process due to excessive handling. It was found that parts were picked up multiple times leading to doubling of the possible cycle time. A proposed solution was to ensure that each operator only did one operation and removing the handling of the product which offered a reduction of staff levels from 6 to 3 per line /shift giving a total saving of 12 persons. A proof of principle rig was designed to prove the concept and to sell the idea to the operators. A rotary table incorporating multiple stations was then developed, which rotated slowly providing the operator to load the parts without any H&S issues and reducing the handling.
DELIVERABLES:
- Project delivered within 12 weeks
- Output improvements from 7800 to 9000 parts/ line / shift
- Labour reduction of 12
- Higher availability of the process due to reduced staffing levels
