Mid-size manufacturing
When it comes to production system management and improvement, small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs) have totally different targets and requirements compared to large-scale manufacturers.
SPS PMA is designed with SMEs in mind. It can be programmed to address problems that mid-size plant managers face in a daily basis.
From lead time analysis and optimization, to WIP control, to lean manufacturing, to throughput maximization, all is available in PMA and can be curated to different manufacturing plants.
PMA requires minimal input from factory floor machinery, stations, and operators. So there is no need for huge investments in plant monitoring and data collection systems.
A simple monitoring system that records stations uptime, downtime, and cycle times is enough to get you started with PMA.
If your plant does not have advanced IT infrastructure, you can use our cloud-based solutions, without the need to purchase expensive computer equipment.
LED streetlight manufacturing
The LED streetlight manufacturing system is a mid-size manufacturing plant with several manual and a few automated stations.
This production system suffers from significant throughput loss. Upon initial studies, SPS team noticed a daily throughput loss of more than 30%. After a more thorough investigation, we were able to identify the system bottleneck and quantify the losses by different sources.
Next, we developed a comprehensive improvement plan that ranks different improvement options based on their feasibility, effects, ease of implementation, and cost.
Finally, the team were able to recover half of the losses by implementing the best recommendations. This improvement was achieved with $0 investments, and only by reallocating existing resources.
15%
throughput increase
$0
costs
Hot-dip galvanization factory
The hot-dip galvanization is a small manufacturing plant with about 50 employees. This manufacturer receives bare iron components from home appliance manufacturers. The goal is to zinc coat the metal parts to increase their life against corrosion.
There is no buffer cap in this plant. Infinite amount of work-in-process can be stored on the factory floor between different stations. As a result, the amount of WIP and lead time for parts is extremely large. This has made the customers unhappy and has hindered company's cash flow due to late delivery of jobs.
SPS team were able to cap job lead time to one hour, which dramatically improved overall system performance. Also, after a quick study of the bottleneck machines, the team came up with recommendations to improve system throughput.
These improvements were the difference between staying in the market or shutting down the business for this small manufacturer.
Lead time decreased from days
to
hours
$0
costs
5%
throughput increase