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Business Process Improvement

Lean Environment Provides Shop Efficiency

Solution

Visibility Manufacturing & Business Process Improvement Consulting

Solution Benefits

Key business process improvements can realized by:

• Adopting flexible setup across shop floor work centers

• Leveraging a master production schedule to optimize resource utilization

• Managing for accuracy in production bills of material and work order or job routing

Customer Background

A Visibility customer, located in the southern United States with revenues of $300M, manufactures interoperable communication systems for mass transit and other markets. While some of the product is built to customer specifications, much of it is comprised of common subassemblies, making it advantageous for this customer to adopt a lean manufacturing philosophy.

Key Challenges

• Reduce costs and maximize profits through the total elimination of waste

• Convert from a push to pull process

• Establish and improve standardized products and processes

• Develop focused work cells

• Respond to KanBan orders, deliver to JIT windows and utilize KanBan for production control

• Implement single-piece flow in the manufacturing area

Detailed Challenges

The company saw the need to update and change their entire business philosophy. They embraced a lean enterprise to enhance performance and create a common framework for improvement throughout their evolving business. This philosophy was initiated in manufacturing. The customer had been using VISIBILITY for over two years and now had to alter the use of the system to match a new set of planning and control objectives.

Solution Details

The company started a lean transformation program with “Black Belt” experts. The customer, working with Visibility’s consulting staff, planned and organized a cohesive strategy to adapt VISIBILITY to their lean environment.

The factory floor was transformed. Gone were most of the large bins carrying an indeterminate amount of work-in-progress; in came bins on wheels. Flexible manufacturing cells were organized and equipment moved to improve workflow. When one piece of equipment was needed for a number of jobs, it was put on wheels and moved to where it was needed. Some cell leaders were involved in planning new cells, not only leading to an excellent layout but also an increased sense of ownership in the new layout.

Key business improvement areas are:

• Adaptable set up in Shop Floor Control - Work centers and departments were set up in the Shop Floor Control module of VISIBILITY to reflect the necessary changes.

• Cumulative lead time view - The Master Production Scheduling module was put in place carrying the production plan out to a horizon that matched the products’ cumulative lead time and providing a dramatic improvement in the information quality for both the factory and the purchase of raw material.

• Inventory accuracies improved - The Cycle Counting function of Inventory Control contained in the Materials module was set up. By counting a small sample of stock each day, the customer was able to bring inventory accuracy to just under 100% by part and location. The information uncovered by this exercise allowed them to focus on the causes of inventory inaccuracies and develop a plan to gain control.

• Significant reductions in safety stock - Using VISIBILITY’S Work in Process module, work order routings and bills of material were set up to back flush labor and parts automatically. This instant updating of both WIP and inventory information allowed the customer to make significant reductions to the safety stock, which were previously built up as a protection against timing errors.

By taking advantage of the adaptability of the VISIBILITY ERP system, the customer was able to realign the system to a totally new way of managing the production facility. Work order scheduling and control were brought into line with the lean philosophy, while production and material planning were synchronized to a kanban environment.