Make-To-Order Manufacturing: Redesigning the Precision Stamping Press Room and Tool & Die Area
$60mm Precision Aerospace Fastener Manufacturer
A leading manufacturer of engineered fasteners, fastening systems, metal components and assemblies produced high quality specialty fasteners, assemblies and precision components for critical applications throughout the world. The company’s product offering focused on technically sophisticated components and materials that were necessary and vital to key end user markets such as aerospace, transportation, power generation, racing, farm and construction equipment, and industrial machinery and equipment. The facility produced aerospace sheet metal nuts and components utilizing 16 stamping presses with progressive die methodology.
The aerospace sheet metal nuts and components product area at the plant is primarily a make-to-order stamping operation, consisting of 16 stamping presses performing progressive die operations. The production area encompassed 6400 ft2 of production space.
Order characteristics were primarily low volume/high mix make-to-order with long changeover times, with some changeovers extending out to a week’s time, an unconscionable duration in this day and age. The presses were old, slow and antiquated, and in need of upgrading. Sales had doubled and the plant was in need of quickly increasing its capacity two-fold to service the backlog of orders.
Company management had recognized that as a result of the doubling of aerospace sheet metal nuts and components’ sales, the capacity of the Press Room had to be increased two-fold to service the backlog of orders. Our initial rationalization of the Press Room and Tool & Die area revealed substantial hidden capacity due to sequential processing of orders, and WWII vintage stamping presses that should not be refurbished, or retrofitted because they are not quick change capable.
The primary causes for lost capacity were threefold:
- The way the Press Room is organized
- The way the Press Room operates, and
- The age/technology of the stamping presses and dies
We recommended that the Press Room be redesigned and upgraded for concurrent processing and quick change capability in order to double the capacity. We recommended the following:
- Redesign Press Room/Tool & Die Area in detail for Cells/Quickchange capability
- Redesign Press Room in detail
- Develop capacity requirements
- Refine Capital Plan
- Rationalize/Streamline tool/die processes
- Develop Tool/Die set-up/check-out cell
- Rationalize/Streamline inspection processes
- Develop “1st Article Inspection” cell, and
- Define/Develop/Implement 1st Press Cell