INDUSTRIAL FABRICATOR
Americas largest plate-fin heat exchanger plant required a hands-on Lean system design and operator training to achieve industry-first certification by international certifying body. The market demand for stainless steel coils was compelling but required a complete redesign of the tools, processes, and operator training of this long-standing industry leader of brazed coils. Two prior attempts, by this company, at achieving the required certifications had failed, prompting leadership to seek out a practical/hands-on leader to achieve their goal. The project kicked-off with a deep-dive on the scope, history, and objectives. The project plan was then clearly defined and included:
- Created all new quality manual documents, including inspections, work instructions, and design specifications.
- Developed complete training plan for all engineers, assemblers, and welders to ensure the high quality workmanship required to pass rigorous certification standards were achieved.
- Designed new facility layout, process flow, specification and installation of all required production equipment and tools including weld-positioners, welding machines, ultra-sonic cleaning process equipment, cover-gas manifold supply system, leak-test tanks, material handling equipment including hoists, cranes, and trucks.
- Executed training plan for employees, achieving 100% certification pass-rate
- Project completed on-time and under budget.
CONNECTOR MACHINING AND ASSEMBLY
Global industry-leading network equipment designer/builder eliminated health and safety incidents with Lean program design/implementation and engagement. A global team of assemblers, machinists, and technicians were struggling to break out of historical patterns of lost-time work injuries that continued to impact health & safety as well as team morale. By establishing clear stretch targets, the global incident rate was brought to zero and sustained. The goals were clearly defined, measurement systems developed, and incentives implemented to drive open dialogue, rapid identification of risks, and effective corrective action implementation program put in place. The power of the team’s ideas and clear strategic objectives took 18 months to drive annual lost-time incidents to zero.
AUTOMATED EQUIPMENT BUILDER
Mid-sized automated equipment design/builder improved team engagement and increased productivity by 35% through Lean visual management and daily gemba-walk program. Team leaders engaged assemblers, welders, and inspectors in daily Lean KPI updates to drive rapid identification and resolution of design, supply chain, and production issues. Visual management proved a powerful alignment tool when combined with hands-on communication, fast response RCCM to tactical problems, and alignment with strategic business performance metrics including Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost, and Inventory.
DIGITAL DEVICE ASSEMBLY
Aerospace digital device manufacturer required increased productivity and higher first-pass yield on a critical component assembly line. A detailed process analysis was conducted including historical FPY trend data to reveal the key assembly driving current results was a long-standing high-touch design that required many months for new operators to master assembly, introduced frequent repetitive motion injuries, and introduced significant variability into the function and reliability of the end assembly. A change in material type, addition of an off-the-shelf joining process, and elimination of three components, resulted in a redesigned assembly with higher quality, less variability, 80% reduction in tough-time, elimination of repetitive motion injuries on this line, and 40% increased durability in life-test results, fast new operator training, and $1M EBITDA gain.