Project Description

Operational field: One piece flow – Kanban – Linefeeding

Locations

The United Kingdom, 2017 and Poland, 2018Production: foam pads for automotive seating

Issues

Component stock levels at production lines are far too high causing space and health and safety issue

Requirements

Reduce stock levels at the production line to a maximum of one shift without causing line stops and a reduction of line feeding manpower.

Introduced actions:

• Calculation of maximum shift requirements per item based on tool availability and maximum
  line speed
• Reorganization of production line storage layout in accordance with the maximum number of
  pieces per component required
• Reorganization of warehouse lay-out and line-feeding trolleys in order to accommodate the
  smaller quantity requirements
• Negotiations with suppliers in order to optimize and reduce packaging quantities to come as
  close as possible to one shift requirements

Results:

• Clean and spacious production area with a place for introducing extra production cells,
• Reduction of one person per shift for line feeding at Wednesbury and two persons per shift at Zory,
• Reduction of scrap rates by 15-20%% because of cleaner shop floor,
• For Zory: introduction of line feeding train with the option of making it an AGV at a later stage.