Case Study Introduction
FeitComponents is a first tier supplier to the automotive industry and also produces several components for the aftermarket sector. The company started to fully manufacture in 1980, and currently employ 300 people.
Over the last two years Feit Components have lost two of their major orders to overseas competitors. In an attempt to improve the manufacturing performance to be able to continue ina competitive environment, the company has employed you, as an expert in Lean principles, to turn around their manufacturing performance.
Task
Analyse the following data and prepare a report to be presented to the Board of Directors, assessing the current state of the manufacturing system and demonstrating a vision for the future.
Production Processes
An initial analysis of the production data identified that the Tubular manufacturing area is one of the more profitable areas of the company, in particular the product family that contains the three parts, TB115, TB116 and TB201, which are high value, high volume, and runner products.
Tubes TB115 and TB116 consist of an outer tube and an inner tube, which are called carrier and inner tube, respectively. Therefore, two separate production lines are designed, one for carriers and other for inner tubes. At the end of the tubular manufacturing process, the inner tube is manually inserted into the carrier, before passing to the final assembly. It is then packed and sent out to the customer.
Tube TB201 is sold to the aftermarket sector and consists of just a carrier tube. Therefore it does not require passing through the first assembly process, and passes direct to the final assembly and packing processes.
Feit Components is currently producing to mass production principles. The machines have a functional layout (Figure 1) and produce parts in large batches. The key manufacturing processes for the carriers include sawing, turning (lathe work), milling, painting through to assembly and packing. The sequence for the inner tube is from laser cutting, manual turn and welding.
Because of the short cycle time and high set up time the batch size is high, 2000 (almost every product every month). The painting process is a fully automated and works with a twin pallet system which holds 6 products in each pallet. This enables the operator to load pallet A with 6 components whilst the 6 components in pallet B are within the paint booth and are automatically sprayed. At the end of the cycle the pallets are switched and the process starts again with pallet B being loaded and pallet A in the booth.
The products are packed onto partitioned trays with 20 tubes per tray and 10 trays per pallet. The customer orders in multiples of trays.
• All moves within the same section are done manually , using trolleys.
• All moves between sections are done by fork lift truck (a very scarce shared resource!)
• Midlands Steels Ltd supplies bar stock to Feit Components on Mondays.
Figure 1. Current facility layout plan
Customer Requirements
• 16,800 tubes per month
o 4,000 TB115
o 6,600 TB116
o 6,200 TB201
• Products are delivered every day to the customer by lorry.
Work Time
• 20 working days in a month
• Operating a 3 shift system in all production operations
• 6am-2pm, 2pm-10pm, 10pm-6am
• 30 mins lunch and two 15 min breaks per shift
FeitComponentsControl Department
• The Logistics department is responsible for receiving customer’s 30 day forecasts and enters them to the MRP system.
• A daily firm order is received from the customer.
• A 3-week forecast is issued by logistics to Midlands Steelsvia MRP.
• Logistics ensure raw materials are available and secured by weekly faxed orders released to Midlands Steels ltd.
In addition, the department:
• Generates MRP-based weekly departmental requirements based upon customer order, WIP
Inventory levels, F/G inventory levels, and anticipated scrap and downtime
• Issues weekly build schedules to laser cut, manual turn, welding ,assembly processes and the inner processes.
PROCESS INFORMATION
The processes to produce a carrier tube occur in the following order:
Processes Cycle Time (secs) Change Over time (mins) Availability Quality Pass rate
Saw (shared resource )
EPE 2 weeks 55 1.5 97% 99%
Lathe 1 250 3 90% 95%
Lathe 2 160 2 84% 85%
Mill 85 1.1 93% 95%
Painting (in a separate building) 1200 (20 mins) 15 90% 90%
Assy Carrier &Inner 75 None 100% 95%
Final Assembly 175 None 100% 98%
Packing 80 None 100% 98%
The processes to produce an Inner tube occur in the following order:
Processes Cycle Time (secs) Change Over time (mins) Availability Quality Pass rate
Laser cutting 45 None 95% 98%
Manual Turn 170 120 95% 98%
Welding 80 10 100% 100%
WIP (Inventory)
• The raw material before the first processes in both flow lines (Saw and laser cutting) it is estimated to stay 5 days each before passing to their respective processes.
• The observed WIP inventory after each carrierprocessare:
Processes WIP
Saw 1,500 TB115
1,100 TB116
950 TB201
Lathe 1 600 TB115
750 TB116
800 TB201
Lathe 2 400 TB115
850 TB116
300 TB201
Mill 1200 TB115
1350 TB116
850 TB201
Painting (in a separate building) 790 TB115
640 TB116
530 TB201
Assy Carrier &Inner 360 TB115
370 TB116
450 TB201
Final Assembly 590 TB115
450 TB116
370 TB201
Packing 820 TB115
630 TB116
560 TB201
• The observed WIP inventory after each innerprocessare:
Processes WIP
Laser cutting 680 TB115
400 TB116
Manual Turn 450 TB115
320 TB116
Welding 510 TB115
360 TB116
• Due to the transportation required before and after the painting process there are two extra WIP inventories: One before the painting process and another one before the Assembly of the carrier and inner as follows:
o Before Painting: 900 TB115
1,200 TB116
530 TB201
o Before Assembly Carrier and Inner : 940 TB115
750 TB116
Despatch Department
The observed inventory of finish goods observed ready to be sent to customers is:
4,200 TB115
3,800 TB116
2,600 TB201
The products are pack onto partitioned trays with 20 tubes per tray and 10 trays per pallet. The customer orders in multiples of trays.
Assignment
1. Asses the current manufacturing facility using Value Stream mapping, 7 waste and other Lean techniques and audit tools.
2. Using the above information, critically appraise the current state.
The report should be presented as a formal technical report to include a summary, introduction, main body of your report, a discussion and conclusions.
As a postgraduate-level students, you are required to support your discussion and arguments with relevant academic references using Coventry University Harvard Reference System.
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OUR PROMOTIONAL DISCOUNT DISPLAYED ON THE WEBSITE AND GET A DISCOUNT FOR YOUR PAPER NOW!