jump to navigation

Product Family Turnover Rate, Every Product Every October 27, 2007

Posted by Lawrence Loucka in : Definitions, Lean , 1 comment so far

In mixed model fixed repeating scheduling we want to balance run time and changeover time, that is we want to determine how much to run and the time interval between successive runs.  Some refer to this a Every Product Every Interval (EPEI).  Here’s the math:

A = Available Time (*% Uptime)

L = Production Load = sum run time for all members of the product family ( average demand for product i * cycle time for product i).  Note that this doesn’t include changeover time.

C = Total Changeover Time = sum of changeover times needed to accomplish one changeover for each product in the family

PFTR = (A - L) / C

 

Example:

Available time is 2 shifts of 8 hours and 10% unplanned downtime

We have 4 products in the family with average daily demand of 14 A’s, 6 B’s, 4 C’s and 2 D

Cycle time for a unit is the same for all products, and is 30 minutes per piece

Changeover time between each product is 60 minutes

So:

A = 2 shifts/ day * 8 hrs/shift * 0.90 = 960 minutes * 0.90 = 864 minutes/day of effective available time

L = (14 + 6 + 4 + 2) * 30 minutes per piece = 780 minutes/day of production load or run time

C = 4 products * 1 hour changeover = 4 hours  = 240 minutes/family

PFTR then is (864 - 780) / 240 =  0.35 or a EPE Interval of 2.85 days.

 

Our run sizes would be 40 A’s, 17 B’s, 12 C’s and 6 D’s.

 

Here’s another example:

Number of different parts running through an injection molding center = 20

Setups take 1 hour between each mold change

20 days in a month, 16 hours in a day

 

Available Time = 20 day/month * 16 hours /day = 320 hr/month

Load or run time = sum or all cycle times to produce a month of demand = 280 hrs/ month

Time available to do change overs = 320-280 = 40 hours a month

Number of cycles per month = 40/20 = 20

Repeat Interval = 10 days, so make 10 days worth of each part every 10 days.

Muda in the Warehouse September 25, 2007

Posted by Lawrence Loucka in : Consulting, Definitions, Lean, Lean Sigma, Logistics, Supply Chain , add a comment

wasteAlthough created in the manufacturing environment of Toyota by Taiichi Ohno, the Seven Wastes can be found almost everywhere, if you learn how to see them.  Here’s some lean thinking for the warehouse:

Overproduction - Think about the consequences when consumers, retailers, wholesalers, distributors, and manufacturers justify "just in case" or Murphy stock as a hedge against unplanned demand.  Money, time, people, physical assets, the environment have all been tied up for something that isn’t needed.

Waiting - the ‘hurry up and wait’ of trucks sitting idle or drivers killing time awaiting their turn at the dock, or DC workers or lifts standing by waiting for tools, instructions, materials to arrive or to be taken away.  Waiting comes from poor layout, lumpy demand, system batching.  Then once the blockage is cleared we hustle.

Defective Product or Service - from picking errors, incorrect order quantities, misplaced stock to shipping on the wrong carrier or the wrong mode these errors consume resources of time, people and materials to no useful end.  Worse yet, additional resources, often 2 or 3 times the original, are usually needed to correct the error.

Overprocessing - how about dock audits, redundant approvals, pick/pack/ship audits, cycle counting?  Another example of overprocessing the the warehouse is the failure to rationalize the supply base and concentrate relationship management on a few top-tier suppliers.  What about rationalizing the carriers?  Both result in inefficient duplication of resources, decisions, and communications.

Moving Product - like overproduction, the unnecessary movement of product can occure both within the warehouse and throughout the entire supply chain.  Too many steps, too many stops, unnecessary movement from suppliers though master DC’s to regional DC’s for further deployment to customers can be deadly drivers of cost and time, labor, and space.

Moving People - in the warehouse an enormous percentage of people’s time is devoted to movement, such as picking, put-away, and replenishment.  If a facility isn’t well laidout with easy access to "A" items an enormous amount of time can be wasted in traveling empty.  When good aren’t where they’re supposed to be the movement to the wrong location is both a defect and a waste of human motion.

Ineffective Inventory Control - creates waste a several levels.  Excess inventory based on bad inventory data diverts limited capital into creation and maintenance of waste.  Excess inventory results in consuming valuable storage space to hold unnecessary goods.  A scarcity of items, on the other hand, results in stock outs, expediting, or lost orders.

 

 

Bow Wave July 29, 2007

Posted by Lawrence Loucka in : Definitions, Lean, Lean Sigma, Logistics, Supply Chain , add a comment

Keeping due dates straight in an MRP environment is a fundamental prerequisite.  Plot a time series for the number of work orders, labor or machine hours, or dollars any you may find a significant amount of past due, due soon, and a short tail out into the future: you’ve got a demand bow wave.

John Scott Russell grew up in Glasgow where he was so fascinated by the great creak and roar of the first Newcomen steam engines at the Carntyne mines, that he abandoned his career in the church to become an engineer. In 1834 Russell accepted an invitation from the Union Canal Company to beat off the challenge from the new steam carriages and railways by designing better, faster canal boats. While testing his boats on the Union Canal near Edinburgh, he decided that it was the great bow wave the boats made that was slowing them down. As he rode along the canal in August 1834, he watched a rapidly drawn boat as it suddenly came to a halt in front of him. And something extraordinary happened: The great hump of water built up in front of the boat kept on moving as a single, huge wave, apparently without losing speed. Russell set off on horseback to follow this wave, and chased it for over a mile along the canal before it started to weaken.

Bow waves sap energy from the boat and reduce fuel economy; as well, large bow waves can damage shore facilities such as docks if a large boat sails past at high speed.

So too for a build up of work in front of an organization.

Reducing the size of the bow wave is a major goal of maritime architecture. Demand Smoothing, Master Scheduling, and Heijunka are supply chain tools for doing the same to manage the build up of work.

Where to start? The 5 Rules of Lean DNA July 7, 2007

Posted by Lawrence Loucka in : Definitions, Lean , add a comment

  1. Standardize process and standardize work
  2. Zero ambiguity
  3. Flow the process
  4. Speak with data
  5. Develop leaders who are teachers

Hoshin X-Matrix July 5, 2007

Posted by Lawrence Loucka in : Definitions, Lean, Lean Sigma , add a comment

Over a few days or weeks we build the strategic deployment message by documenting our priorities and plans.  This document is known as the X-Matrix.  Start by listing the business strategies on the left side of the X.  Next comes deciding on the tactics to achieve these strategies and recording them in the Tactics block above the X.

There aught to be correlation between the tactics and the strategies, some stronger than others.  A tactic may even address more than one strategy.  The correlation table in the top left corner is meant to test the linkage between strategy and tactics.  Have a strategy without a tactic?

Tactics imply process change and improvement.  These are recorded in the Process block to the right of the X. Again correlation is tested between tactics and the targeted process changes in the correlation matrix above the process block to the north east of the X.

We record the process improvement metrics in the Results block located below the X.  Again we have to look at the correlations between processes and improvement metrics.  Metrics are tied back to strategy to close the loop in the correlation matrix in the bottom left.

To the right of the process block we list the people or teams involved and make another accountability correlation in the top right corner of the X-Matrix.

Now print the X-Matrix out on A3 or 11×17 paper and start shopping it around with the associates and leadership.  Keep the plan up to date and in full public view.