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Lean Starts With The Smallest Of Things

By Mike | May 16, 2008

Some people I work with believe “Lean Manufacturing” means cutting people, working harder, or any of those other myths that are out there. But, in reality, it starts with the smallest of things. There is not always a need for work cell shutdown, and a full blown Kaizen. Sometimes, it just takes 2 people, the operator and someone to make the changes happen, to get a job simplified and running lean.

I just studied on specific operation with an operator a few days ago. I just stood there, talked with her about her problems and suggestions, and watched the movements of what she was doing. I did this for about 30 minutes, and found 3 changes we could do, not to speed up the process, but rather make her job easier.

This is a picture of the operation being done.

There is a mold on the top and a mold on the bottom. You can now see these have a center piece on them. Originally, these were flat, thus we has no real way to center them. The bottom mold is heated to 450F for curing of the adhesive. Here is what was happening.

When we would cure the adhesive on the bottom mold, we would then flip the part over, place a gasket with glue on the 450F side, and place it back onto the mold to cure the other side. The next step is to lower the top mold for good compression.

Well, with the part being at 450F, and the glue still being slightly tacky, the flat top mold was causing the gasket to slide slightly and be off center.

So, we first changed the top mold to add the center piece to align the gasket. Problem was, the operator was now having to try to center the part on the bottom plate to get the top mold to line up.

Next step, add a center piece to the bottom mold to have both sides centered.

The last item we changed were the air cylinder buttons. We went to a toggle switch, instead of having the operator hold a button down to raise or lower the top mold. Now, we just set the height of the molds, and have to hit the toggle switch to lower the mold. This means the operator can walk away from the part after they hit the switch.

This was all figured out in less than 30 minutes. Then, it was a matter of me, the engineer, getting with the machine shop, and getting it done. It is not that difficult. The operators will tell you what they need. There does not always need to be a full blown kaizen event to uncover this stuff. Just ask!!

Topics: Lean Manufacturing |

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