Operational Improvement
Avalon Plastics Ltd
Avalon Plastics have been plastic injection moulders for 65 years, operating out of the site in Glastonbury, Somerset. SMED and 5S methodology were used to help enhance employees skills on the shop floor in order to reduce changeovers and increase through-put.
William Haley Engineering
Established manufacturing business designing, manufacturing and erecting bespoke steel framed buildings. Although the manufacturing processes are very slick and lean, the manufacturing process was deemed as the weak area of the company. Results :- Output increased by 27% Tonnes per employee increased by 10 % Non conformances reduced by 42 % Major reduction in absenteeism
Q C Engineering
Quality Component Engineering Limited is a sub-contract engineering manufacturing company, producing high quality machined components to a broad customer base within petrochemical, defence, marine, telecommunications and automotive sectors.
Hellermann Tyton
Hellermann Tyton, Plymouth, manufactures a wide range of network products and cable accessories. Through the use of Lean manufacturing techniques and specifically working with the extrusions staff, the challenge was to dramatically improve capacity and speed of extrusions, coping with the additional demands on downstream operations.
Avon Rubber
Manufacturers of Rubber, which is supplied throughout Europe as Raw material. MAS to deliver tools & techniques to Shop floor staff to aid the kick starting of CI initiative,
Atlantic Inertial Systems
Atlantic Inertial Systems came into existence in September 2007, when BAE SYSTEMS divested the Inertial Products section of its business to J.F. Lehman & Company. The company is based in both the United States and in the UK. The UK site is based at Plymouth, Devon. The company selected three members of staff to commence on a Six Sigma Greenbelt Training course organised by South West MAS in May 2007, along with five other manufacturers from Devon and Cornwall.
Advanced Metals International
Advanced Metals International, are members of the Cornwall Aerospace Defence Initiative collaboration, known as CADI. Formed in 2005, the group consists of a variety of Cornish companies (approx fifteen), whose aim is, to access new markets and improve competitiveness within the aerospace and defence industries of the South West and beyond.
RAM Gaskets
RAM Gaskets is a member of the Cornwall Aerospace Defence Initiative Collaboration, known as CADI. Formed in 2005, the group consists of a variety of Cornish companies whose aim, via a cluster of approx fifteen, is to access new markets and improve competitiveness within the aerospace and defence industries of the South West and beyond.
Pall Europe (Newquay) Ltd
Pall Newquay are based in St Columb, Cornwall and are a subsidiary of the Pall Corporation providing total fluid management products and systems to meet the demanding needs of customers in biotechnology, pharmaceutical, transfusion medicine, energy, electronics, municipal and industrial water purification, aerospace, transportation and broad industrial markets. The company has selected to carry out a value stream mapping exercise organised by SWMAS in June 2008. The area chosen was the 20SXXM manufacturing process. This was to be undertaken in the form of one five day event culminating in a presentation to the management on the fifth day.
City Engineering Bristol Ltd.
A Bristol stainless steel and aluminium company is on track to save £50,000 in just a few months thanks to the South West Manufacturing Advisory Service's Advanced Engineering Skills Programme.
Corin Group Plc
Hip/Knee replacement and surgical instrumentation products. Key Achievements * Implemented new cellualr layout reducing leadtime by 22 weeks * 80% delivery on time. * Increased productivity flow * Increased shop floor communcation. * Use of PDCA as continuous improvemnt process * Increased confidence to lead CI and implementation.
Francis & Lewis International
Francis and Lewis International (FLI) fabricate telecoms, radar and meteorology towers in a variety of innovative and attractive designs for the major mobile phone companies, Networkrail and other customers. Key Achievements: * The value stream mapping exercise helped the local area management to review their operations with fresh insight from the lean perspective. In the first area alone the exercise saved 15% of the cost. * The OEE measurement exercise showed that the lost time due to stoppages twice what the management had originally thought, and prompted a saving of 40 hours per week. * Customer service levels have improved markedly since the programme began. * The 5 S/Workplace organisation initiative helped change behaviours within the workforce, improved discipline to the new reduced stock levels implemented during the Lean initiative and has helped improve visibility of work-in-progress in all areas.
Optima Group
Optima is the UK's market leading partitioning specialist. They offer a service which combines the design, development and installation of a wide range of partitioning systems, including silicone,dry jointed glazing, demountable system partitions, advanced system drywall, doors and frames. Andy McKeown selected the South West MAS Operational Leadership Programme (OLP) to aid his development in management & leadership skills.
T M Safety Signs
Family-owned T M Safety Signs has been manufacturing innovative, energy-efficient and practical safety products for the traffic management industry for the past 12 years. In particular, it has become recognised for its remote controlled, temporary road signs which eliminate the need for workers to cross live carriageways.
Halstock Cabinet Makers
Halstock specialises in the design and manufacture of high quality timber furniture, kitchens, bathrooms, libraries and other bespoke pieces. A team of six people from the workshop were taken through a series of improvement workshops.
Griffin Nuu Med
Family business started approximately 15 years ago manufacturing fabric equestrian products, 80% of which are numnahs, the woollen undercoat that is placed underneath a horse's saddle. An initial diagnostic was carried out to identify the constraints within the business. Potential suppliers of computer controlled fabric cutting machines were identified, and following trials assistance was provided with selection, negotiations and acceptance criteria.
Biotrack
All radio tags are customised for individual projects with over 25 years experience of radio tag manufacture and research to rely on. The company had already identified an opportunity to introduce lean manufacturing principles into the production area and had planned to improve layout. Prior to making the layout changes they wanted to review the processes that they were using to ensure the maximum benefit from the layout changes.
Testlink
TestLink was established in 1989 and is still managed by its founding directors. TestLink provide a wide range of ATM support services such as parts repair, spare part sales and used ATM sales to the banks, independent ATM deployers and the leading ATM manufacturers around the world. Additionally Testlink carry out after sales support primarily around the high volume repair of laptops for the leading OEM's such as Toshiba and Fujitsu Siemens.
Groveley Engineering Precision Ltd
Groveley Engineering Precision Ltd is a sub-contract engineering company based in Christchurch, Dorset. Faced with increasing customer pressure to cut costs and improve delivery performance, the sub-contract engineering firm looked to the Manufacturing Advisory Service in the South West (MAS-SW) for support and help to implement lean manufacturing processes.
Gleason Cutting Tools
Gleason Cutting Tools is a limited company based in Plymouth, Devon, part of the Gleason Corporation. Gleason has recently invested in new technology equipment and processes to move away from batch processing and toward single order flow. The new equipment had been in place for over six months and the need was recognized to transform not only the equipment but the area and people toward a new lean way of thinking.
