Teledyne Geophysical Instruments

Background

The Teledyne name in the geophysical industry dates back to the 1960s, when some of the earliest designs for streamer cables, energy sources, and recording systems were put to use aboard seismic research vessels around the world.
Geophysical Instruments carries on this tradition, and has earned a strong reputation in the industry for designing, building, and delivering high-quality, reliable, and durable marine seismic exploration products. Teledyne products are used aboard more than one-third of all commercial seismic research vessels.
At the Gloucester site the team specialise in the repair and upgrading of seismic arrays.

Scope

After meeting with the team at Teledyne Instruments it was agreed that an opportunity for improvement for the business would be in the area of process flow and workplace organisation

Method

Working with a multi-disciplined team comprising members from the shop floor, purchasing, quality, order entry and management over a period of 8 days the South West MAS helped to identify opportunities for improvement using the following tools and techniques:

• Value Stream Mapping and spaghetti diagram of the repair process allowed the team to view the whole process. For some members of the team this was the first time they had seen the process from receipt of customer order to dispatch and invoicing
• 5S and Visual Management. The aim was to introduce the team to a method of workplace organisation and the use of checklists to help them keep improvements in place
• Material flow. The team worked on the basics of kanban and material at point of use

Options and Recommendations

Using VSM the team identified process bottlenecks, and were able to develop improvement plans to reduce the impact on the process. The high visibility of the value stream mapping gave the team an opportunity to question each process step, the sequence of checks and inspections and the impact as the product moved from one workstation to another.

Using 5S and visual management the team identified that the location of tooling, information and parts were major issues. With each work bench 100 metres in length walking added to the waste.
Improvements were made to product information boards, showing information on the next product in the process. Shadow boards for tooling and gauges were introduced at workstations.

As part of the team's drive to improve product flow and reduce the amount of work in progress on the shop floor they introduced a kanban system using product trolleys and reels as signals. The optimum level of WIP at each stage of the process was calculated and product locations were clearly defined. Members of the team took on the task of training colleagues in the new process. As part of the kanban colour coded folders were introduced for each product family containing all documentation and quality checks for the product.

Results

Product travel reduced by 35%
WIP reduced by 60%
Searching for tools, parts and information reduced
Reduction of 10% in unit cost
Improved efficiency through team working

Further Actions

Customer Feedback

"It is often perceived to those on the periphery that 5S yields soft results. The programme carried out by the South West MAS has shown significant financial savings that has dropped straight to the bottom line. We have been able to invest in staff and equipment, gain more work by being more competitive and, at the same time, make a dramatic improvement in IBT. Lean manufacturing changes the way staff think and behave  both in work and outside. We shall continue to use the South West MAS to ensure we stay focussed and to help educate new staff. The Lean message is viewed by some as an evangelical fad. To us it is a way of surviving in an increasingly competitive market".