Since the market and the desire of the customer are constantly changing, the company must adapt to this and consequently change the production processes. With smaller batches we can satisfy our customers and at the same time reduce inventory. The problem arises from the fact that those exchanges represent only waste. In our company, at the plastics department, we are dealing with the problem of too long changing of the plastic injection molding tool. In order to shorten these we have introduced the SMED method. We analyzed and documented the current state and, following the steps of the SMED method, improved the process. With that method, we managed to improve the process and shorten the exchange from 67 minutes to 31 minutes. By doing this, we made shorter batches more optimistic and made for greater productivity and flexibility of production.
|
