Hi-Tech Plastics Ltd
Hi-Tech is a plastic injection moulding company specialising in contract manufacturing for pharmaceutical, automotive, DIY, conservatory, office furniture, security, cleaning equipment and defence organisations. The business provides a one-stop shop from conception to tool design, mould tool manufacture and the moulding of high speed, precision made components.
Hi-Tech Plastics
Manufacturing Concern
Hi-Tech Plastics began its lean transformation following its first MAS performance review visit. The review identified inefficiencies within factory layout and organisation, which were inhibiting production process flow. MAS proposed using 5S as a lean solution.
A second funded MAS support visit set out the next steps in Hi-Tech’s lean manufacturing journey. This provided a blueprint to improve process productivity by a further 10%, drive out waste and maximize the productivity of machinery.
Recommendations included:
- Further application of 5S across the entire factory
- Identification and reduction of the seven wastes to reduce non-value added activities and improve value added per employee
- Implementation of OEE
Activities Undertaken
During the first visit to Hi-Tech, MAS helped the company to lay the foundations for lean manufacturing by introducing a 5S workplace organisation within the mainstream production areas. Over a 12 month period this created visible improvements in layout and production process flow – translating into improved business performance. The team then set about creating a lean culture within the factory – a strategy which has made an impressive pay-off in terms of productivity and cost savings.
Twelve months later Hi-Tech took advantage of the free annual MAS support visit to embark on the second phase of its business improvement programme.
‘MAS helped get us into a lean mindset by giving our people a good insight into the importance of 5S and motivating all those who participated in reorganising the workplace. Their practical advice and support was invaluable.’
Dennis Lang – Managing Director
The first priority identified was to advance the 5S roll-out beyond the mainstream production areas – implementing housekeeping standards across the entire factory including ancillary support areas such as maintenance and tool setting. MAS Practitioner Jim Dowell estimated that this would further improve productivity by 10%. The implementation of 5S audits was proposed to help sustain the improvements.
As part of the 5S roll-out, it was recommended that more employees should be trained to identify and reduce the seven wastes (transport, inventory, motion, waiting, overproduction, over-processing, and defects) which would help create lean awareness and improve
employee involvement and motivation in readiness for further lean improvements.
The next step was to involve cross-functional teams in a process mapping exercise to identify which activities are adding value to business performance and which are not, with a view to eliminating all wasteful activity, improving work flow and raising the value added contribution of each employee.
The final recommendation was to raise equipment productivity. The implementation of OEE was proposed, starting with an audit to assess the effectiveness of all machines and analyse the reasons for any productivity losses caused by equipment. The introduction of measurement processes to monitor and display progress was seen as crucial to increasing machine capacity.
Results
The initial MAS visit gave rise to Hi-Tech’s lean manufacturing drive which, over a 12 month period, has delivered impressive results. This includes a 20% productivity increase, 50% scrap reduction, 25% improvement in space utilisation, 10% increase in equipment productivity, £500,000 increase in turnover, £6,000 saving on transport costs and a 69% improvement in on-time delivery from 30% to 99%.
Hi-Tech are now beginning to take forward the recommendations made by MAS during the second support visit and are determined to accelerate its lean improvement programme and reap further bottom line benefits.
