Analyze

Analyse:


Companion Line OEE Improvement


As part of the Analyse phase the project team looked into the data from the Measure phase, the data collected in on the hour-by-hour boards and also the data integrated from our in process monitoring system. This data showed up a number of interesting finds. We noted that short stops & raw commodity in house supply, rather than prolonged periods of equipment downtime were the main causes of the poor line performance.

In order for our process to move closer to the desired OEE target of 70%, the machine requires an improved takt time, as can be seen from the diagram below this takt time value needed to reduce from 3.10 seconds to 2.62 seconds, this is a reduction of 0.48 seconds in the current takt time value.

The Companion Line is validated to run at 30 units per minute, taking into account 40 minutes for scheduled breaks during an 8 hour shift, there is an overall potential for a Companion Line takt time of 2 seconds, but that would be in an ideal world!!!

Looking at the data from both our on the line hour-by-hour boards and the production monitoring system, the following data was became available:

Companion Line in process shift data table sample:

Breakdown of the top 5 short stop hitters on the Companion Line taken from the on line hour-by-hour boards, in week one of the Companion Line OEE improvement project:














From our analysis of the data gathered during the Measure phase of the Companion Line improvement project it became clear that the issues affecting the line performance were not solely machine related, operator reaction time to machine short stops/faults, the duration of the operator clearing those simple machine short stops/faults and also the replenishment of raw material to the Line affected the overall performance of the line.

With those factors in mind, the project team set about looking at the different aspect of the individual problems by trying to get to the root cause of the problems that were holding back the line performance.

As can be seen from the bar chart above, one of the big hitters relating to Line stops was the Paper Banding issue on our assembly machine, in order to get to the route cause of the multiple number of short stops generated by this station, an Route Cause Analysis (RCA) of the station was carried out:

Picture illustrating a Companion finished & paper banded set:

As part of the RCA into the Paper Banding issue an on the line RCA meeting was held, at this meeting the project team and in house Paper Band subject matter experts gathered to tease out the problem at hand around a company RCA board as can be seen below:

An RCA study of the Paper Band adhesive peal torque was carried out, the in house peal torque spec is 0.4 to 0.8 lb/sf, see below histogram of results

As can be seen from the Histogram analysis of the paper banding issue on the Companion line, the peal torque values are not evenly distributed form the sample of 118 taken. This leads us into the next phase of the DMAIC project, "Improve" where we looked at measures to improve our paper banding process, operator training / engagement and line commodity replenishment.

Measure

Measure:                                                                                 

 

Companion Line OEE Improvement
As part of the Measure Phase of DMAIC the project team used some of the following tools to look at the Companion Line it's current state.

• Data Collection (hour by hour board)
• Fishbone Diagram / Ishakawa Diagram
• OEE (historical data based on factory process monitoring system)

Data collection (hour by hour board): As part of the project, the project team decided to introduce an hour-by-hour board to the line to capture any new or any on-going issues during the 8 hour shift, as part of the introduction of this board the project team carried out a series of workshops with Line Operators and Maintenance Craft members to ensure optimum engagement with the improvement process.

Example of shift hour-by-hour board:

Information Captured on hour-by-hour board:

- Shift (1st or 2nd)
- Hourly Target (@ 70 % OEE 1260 units)
- Actual # Produced
- Delta from hourly target
- Delta from shift target hour to date
- OEE by hour
- OEE shift to date
- Line issues during the hour

Issues taken from the hour-by-hour board above were transferred to the problem and counter-measure template on the left.

Twice per shift on the line meetings with leadership took place to determine the status and progress of issues assigned to project team members on the problem and countermeasure template.










Fishbone diagram / Ishakawa Diagram: during the project, frequently occurring issues that arose from the hour-by-hour board and then transferred to the problem and countermeasure board were investigated as part of a sub project to the overall project by members of the project team. One method that we used was the Fishbone diagram, to tease out a problem by engaging the subject matter experts from the various processes across the site, please see below one such example for an issue which continued to cause frequent short stops on the line, Set Paper Banding:



 To the left an on line RCA board can be seen, this board is portable on wheels allowing us to move it from area to area for stand up meetings and also to troubleshoot machine downtime issues. As can be seen we investigated the Paper Banding issues under the topics of Man, Material, Machine, Method, Mother Nature and Measurement.





Opposite is a picture of the paper band station on the Companion assembly machine. The Paper Banding is applied to fully assembled sets at the end of the process to keep the set neat and tidy for the next stsge of the process, Flowrapping. The process is a 2 station process where by paper is pulled under the set at the first station, then wrapped and pressed around the set at the second station.


OEE histicorical data analysis: on site we have an in process monitoring system (Pragma) which feeds into a computer database giving Engineers and Team Managers an overview of how the line is performing on an ongoing basis. Information such as machine alarm frequency and machine stops are are graphically shown. However the route cause behind the machine stops may not always be apparent from the Pragma data give, that is why we decided to go down the route of an hour-by-hour board as a means of data collection to compare Pragma data versus what actually happens on the line.

Define

Define:   

 Companion Line OEE Improvement

Objective:
Inconsistent equipment performance (output) is leading to the plant not being able to meet its external demands on the Companion line. Our affiliates have increased our output requirements on the Companion product line by 160,000 units from 07 Oct 13. An additional 1,500 units per shift, based on a 5 day 2 shift cycle between 07 Oct 13 and 20 Dec 13.

Metric	Baseline	Goal	Blue Sky
Line OEE improvement	59%	70%	75%
Unit Output Equivalent	8,496	10,080	10,800

In order to avoid the costly option of Over Time to meet with this demand, the decision was taken to take a look at the line performance from start to finish, this involves the buy-in and commitment of all stakeholders involved - Suppliers, Planning, Manufacturing, Engineering and QA.

A target OEE improvement of 11% (1,500 units)

At €1.11 per set this is an increased financial gain of €1,665 per shift or €16,650 per week, or €183,150 between 07 Oct 13 and 20 Dec 13.

Also the savings achieved over the 11 week period due to the removal of the need to run O.T. at the rate of €8,000 per shiftis a potential saving of €88,000 over the life of this project.

Companion Line CTQ Tree:                        

 













Proposed Project Timelines of DMAIC Phases:

2013

October

November

December

W41

W42

W43

W44

W45

W46

W47

W48

W49

W50

W51

W52

Define

Measure

Analyse

Improve

Control