Bridwey Precision Engineering Ltd
The company specialises in the production of high quality (ISO:9001:2000) and precision engineered components for the aerospace and defence industries. A speciality is prototypes and small batch production offering customers full support from conception of an idea through to the final assembly of the product.
As a company we found the whole process to be very enlightening. It is often necessary for an independent to come into your organisation to help point out, or to make you aware, of what is right under your nose. The potential gains in productivity, profitability and reduced lead times that we identified in the process was, to say the least, somewhat alarming.
Steve Ward – Managing Director, Bridway Precision Engineering.
Background
The company specialises in the production of high quality (ISO:9001:2000) and precision engineered components for the aerospace and defence industries. A speciality is prototypes and small batch production offering customers full support from conception of an idea through to the final assembly of the product.
Scope
The business is a SC21 signatory company and is looking to implement SC21 and Lean principles into its operations to support its continued growth and reduce process waste.
The introduction of these principles will provide a solid foundation on which to grow the business.
Method
Following the SC21 Manufacturing Excellence assessment carried out by MAS-SW, a 5-day workshop was developed which addressed the areas identified from the assessment.
The topics covered included process mapping, identification and elimination of the 7 manufacturing wastes, 5S and Workplace Organisation, Kanban, Visual Management and Set-Up Reduction.
With the management and supervision team at Bridwey the process was mapped from quotation through to shipment of the product. The team then identified both the 7W’s and the information waste within this process. The team then produced a Future State map with the aim of eliminating the wastes identified within the process.
The SC21 assessment also identified Set-up Reduction and Workplace Organisation as a requirement and so a typical set-up was captured on video. This was broken down into internal and external activities before the team identified ways of reducing the overall set-up time itself. The new process reduced set-up times by 42% taking O.E.E from 56% to 67% and freeing up machine capacity.
A 5S/Workplace Organisation activity was also undertaken with the aim of reducing the time spent finding tools and equipment. This activity resulted in finding of a significant amount of consumable tooling on just two tool benches.
Options & Recommendations
The recommendations and savings identified mainly came from reducing the amount of time spent walking parts across to inspection along with time waiting for inspection. The Future State map identified that by putting the onus of responsibility for inspection back into the workshop, rather than in a separate quality department, quality and productivity would be improved and lead-times reduced.
The majority of investment came from purchasing duplicate inspection equipment to be located within the workshop so reducing the distance travelled and time spent walking across to quality department.
A tool trolley and preparation bench was prepared in order reduce set-up times by having the tools ready to go into the machine as soon as possible.
The principles of Workplace Organisation were to be carried through the whole workshop with the floors and walls being painted in the process.
A Problem Resolution board has been mounted in the workshop so that any member of staff can log problems on the board. A weekly meeting on Friday reviews these problems and the team agrees the best way to resolve them.
The improvement activities will also be tracked in the Key Performance Indicators to ensure they are having the desired sustainable impact.
Results
- 20% reduction in time spent walking and carrying out inspection
- 18% reduction in lead-times
- 78% reduction in distance travelled
- A 42% reduction in set-up times, improving OEE from 56% to 67%.
- Delivery performance improvement of 49%.
Further Action
The management plan to hold monthly meetings to review progress of the action plan and hold 3 monthly meetings with representatives from MAS-SW being present.
Feedback From Client
Having created an initial action plan with MAS-SW we were able to see positive steps for the future and improve key areas in the business with relatively small investment. Initially there was a certain amount of resistance/scepticism from certain members of staff, however, a number of these concerns have been allayed after holding a shop floor meeting to explain the processes and gains to be made. Most people are now on board and have an open and willing mind, but there are still a couple of people who want more proof.
Obviously, with ongoing measured changes over the coming months, we have every faith that these sceptics will see the beneficial results and will also want to take an active role.
The whole crux of this is proof that ‘Small changes can make a big difference”.
As a company we will continue to measure the performance of the business, and we are now aware of how to extract information to target improvement. We are now making sense of the KPIs we produce, rather than producing KPI’s, as before, without really understanding the information they contain.
Steve Ward – Managing Director, Bridway Precision Engineering.
