Hayssen - Ultima Flow Production (2014)
Company:
Hayssen Flexible Systems – A Barry-Wehmiller Company
Industry:
Design and manufacturing of Horizontal and Vertical Baggers and Wrappers, primarily for the food industry
Project:
Lead Time Reduction/ – Manufacturing & Assembly Operations
Size:
1,000 people on a global footprint involving 6 major divisions
Assignment:
A Value Stream Mapping (VSM) exercise highlighted long lead times through the manufacturing and assembly operations as detrimental to customer satisfaction, the perceived value of the Hayssen brand and competitiveness in the market. Traditional ERP based push style production scheduling and sequencing were identified as principal contributors to the long lead times. As is the case with most push style production systems, inventories were high and yet the right part never seemed to be available at the right place at the right time, keeping frustration levels high among scheduling and production personnel. Having facilitated the VSM, MainStream was contracted to facilitate the execution of a Kaizen event to increase the flow of material through production and reduce standard lead times.
Actions:
MainStream facilitated the chartering, preparation and execution of the event. A Stakeholder analysis was performed and an Oversight Team was assembled consisting of the Process Owner, Project Champion and the Kaizen Team Lead. Cross functional team members were identified and preliminary orientation and training was completed on the fundamentals of Flow production techniques and tools. A five day Kaizen was conducted with the cross functional team to redesign from a Push to a Pull system of production sequencing. Visual Workplace, Kanban, Andon, Heijunka, Supermarkets, Lean work cell, Standard Work and Single Piece Flow methods were introduced beginning with the receipt of raw material through final assembly and testing. The cross functional team assisted by maintenance and the fabrication shop, designed built and tested the proposed systems for proof of concept. Once validated after minor adjustments, Standard Work was constructed and associates were trained on the new process. The old processes were dismantled and new methods were deployed immediately, up and running on day 5 of the Kaizen.
Results:
Lead Time was reduced from >10 days to a repeatable 5 days
Inventory requirements were reduced by 30%
1500 sq ft of floor space was made available for an incoming product line
Customer and Employee satisfaction increased dramatically