The Dream Team - Hopper Panel Fitment
Reasons we selected the project
This issue has been highlighted at various points across a period of time throughout the business. It has been submitted in Production Support Savings meetings and was started as an Engineering Project in 2015 but subsequently abandoned as Production Critical items took its place.
Our objectives
- Solve the Hopper Panel issue
- Improve the 5S score in an area within pipe & wire
How we achieved our objectives
Through the investigation we found the hopper panel issue to require additional input from Engineering & Management.
We improved the 5S score but found areas where further improvement could be made with Production Engineering input (jigs & fixtures).
Skills we learnt
- How to complete a 5S Audit
- How to complete a Risk Assessment
- How to work effectively as a team
- How to interpret data, develop charts & show findings
Before
- We identified a problem with hopper panels. The need to wibble out holes to enable fitment takes a third of the footprint cycle time. Wibbling takes up takt time but is not included in the standard SOP.
- We completed a 5S audit in the pipe & wire area to tidy up the rework paint section.
Following the data we gathered, we found that re-engineering the hopper panels would
- Save 588 hours per year
- Save £14,641 per year (labour costs only)
- Reduce cycle time by one third
After
- We took wibble time data & established a cost implication & necessary steps which will need to be taken to resolve the issue.
- We tidied the racking and added hooks to safely store panels.
5S Audit
- We improved the area by tidying/cleaning, using hooks for better storage & placing obsolete items in quarantine.
- To further improve the area we would propose new racking for larger panels.