A leading manufacture company asked us to improve one of their printing units. The company was struggling to deliver the orders within the desired customer deadlines, whilst maintaining a good production sequence, capable of carrying high machine throughput without constantly changing machine setups.
Printing processes usually lead to a high number of setups, reducing the Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE), thus requiring a highly synchronized operation. A first diagnosis suggested that not only the order scheduling needed to be improved, but it was also necessary to ensure a proper alignment between different functional areas, such as Production, Supply Chain, and Maintenance.
Alongside the client, we designed an interdepartmental process mapping that allowed a system-wide perspective. Based on this initial step, a set of initiatives was identified and put in motion.
For example, we reviewed the scheduling generator, aiming to include improvements suggested by the client team and other enhancements detected in the mapping phase.
This action guaranteed a comprehensive approach, focused on maximizing the overall efficiency of the factory, while simultaneously assuring the delivery date.
Other initiatives included a revision of the policy between Make-To-Stock (MTS) or Make-To-Order components (MTO) and a program development to pledge the execution of the schedule by production workers.
Our work was delivered in an ambitious time-frame, guaranteeing a fast pace of develop-and-test iterations.
Our set of initiatives estimated a delivery of a 12 p.p. increase in the printing unit’s OEE, concomitantly reducing the amount of dedicated workforce to generating production plans.
In addition, a better-coordinated strategy estimated to accomplish a 22 p.p. growth in plan fulfillment, a measure that projected the amount of work orders produced within the negotiated due date with the commercial area.
