Manufacturing design and process planning begins with fully understanding the process, its’ output requirements and budget for selecting equipment. Process flow charts, value-stream mapping, material flow charts and simulation modeling are a few design tools used to document and identify efficiency improvements before investing capital.
Many industrial engineering tools are available for designing and improving processes. Value stream mapping is one tool used for benchmarking and identifying potential Manufacturing Process Design Improvement.
By analyzing the current manufacturing process through value stream mapping, we can identify areas of improvement and inefficiencies. This allows us to implement Lean Manufacturing practices, such as reducing waste and streamlining production flow. Companies can introduce Just-In-Time replenishment systems to minimize inventory holding costs and improve overall efficiency.
Process and material flow charts are two other design tools used to streamline operations and minimize manufacturing costs. Process simulation modeling is another tool we use to validate new processes before investing lots of capital.
Productivity Solutions can save you money. We have been utilizing these process design tools for decades to reduce manufacturing operating costs for multiple companies.
Process Design Capabilities
- Lean Manufacturing
- Process Flow Charting
- Material Flow Charting
- Just-In-Time (JIT) Scheduling
- Kanban Inventory Replenishment
- Cellular Manufacturing design
- Material Handling Design
- Takt Time / Line Balancing
- Equipment Justification Calculations
- Discrete capacity modeling using spreadsheets identifies bottlenecks to properly select the amount of equipment.
- Simulation Modeling is used for complex and dynamic process design and evaluation.
Architectural Millwork and Installation Company – Manufacturing Process Design Improvement
Builds and installs architectural millwork to high end clients.
- Reduced Rework 30% in 3 months by implementing a tracking and feedback process.
- Created Indirect and Direct labor reports to track and improve key evaluation matrices.
- Reduced processing time 6% by implementing a kitting material handling system.
Liquid Crystal Display Glass (LCD) Fabrication Company
Flat screen display glass melting and finishing operations.
- Performed material handling calculations and storage requirements for two multimillion-dollar expansions.
- Identified capital cost reductions of $25 million and annual operating cost reductions of $750,000.
- Created equipment and lift truck capacity models to assist expansion decisions.
- Created a digital simulation model with ProModel® software of a new fabrication line to identify equipment MTBF, MTTR requirements and help identify bottleneck operations.
- Created a worldwide manufacturing capacity model to determine manufacturing constraints for different market demands.
Pet Food Manufacturer
Mixes, blends, extrudes, dries and bags several flavors of dog food.
- Designed new bagging operations and equipment requirements to eliminate the need for $6 million of work-in-process silos and conveyors.
- Performed capacity and scheduling calculations using digital simulation and ExcelÒ software.
- Identified proper buffer storage queue sizes for 5 automated bagging and palletizing lines.
Projection TV Lens Manufacturer
Extrudes, polishes, assembles, tests and packages several million projection TV lens assemblies annually.
- Performed a complete material workflow study with a 60,000-sq. ft. warehouse layout design to minimize floor space requirements, material handling costs and inventory carrying costs.
- Reduced annual inventory carrying costs $140,000 and annual operating costs $90,000 by performing a comprehensive workflow study.
- Provided spreadsheet models for re-calculating reorder-point levels and inventory turns to minimize inventory-carrying costs of different product forecasts.
- Generated six (6) equipment cost justifications that supported recommendations.
Compressed Gas Equipment Manufacturer
Machines, assembles, tests and packages medical, welding, manifold and compressed gas fitting assemblies.
- Implemented leveled scheduling with new assembly cell layouts for continuous flow processing utilizing Kanban cards to improve production efficiency 15%.
- Reduced Work-In-Process (WIP) inventory 10% for several product lines.
- Installed bar coding for finished product inventory tracking.