DEFECT RATE / 3^RD PARTY CONTAINMENT COSTS

Company Profile: Tier one Automotive Supplier, facility >500 Employees

Problem: $1.4 Million in annual 3^rd party containment costs.

Solution: While leading the Quality Engineering group for 9 months, I focused Supplier, Internal quality efforts in close partnership with Manufacturing groups on top issues per Pareto analysis, and drove effective RCA and CAPA activities internally and with suppliers.

Result:  Containment costs reduced from a rate of $117K / month to less than $10k, for annual savings in excess of $1,200,000 per year.

 

DEFECTS TO CUSTOMER, INTERNAL SCRAP COST

Company Profile: Tier one Automotive Supplier, facility >500 Employees

Problem: Excessive Radio Scrap (> $1,000,000 / YR) due to Defective Materials and Install Workmanship

Solution: After creating a Pareto chart for two months worth of data, I led a small team to tackle the top 80% drivers. Drove an internal focus on handling methods for scratches, brought in vendor reps to test every functional failure in-car, and held manufacturing and vendors accountable .

Result:  Total defects delivered to the customer were reduced by ~90% in 6 months, internal scrap was reduced by 75% despite increased scrutiny for cosmetic defects for a $750,000 / year cost savings. RMA turnaround time also reduced by over 50%.

 

SHEET METAL CNC WORKFLOW AND OEE

Company Profile: Midwestern HVAC OEM, facility ~190 Employees

Problem: Primary Equipment unable to keep up with demand even with excessive Overtime. Despite lacking floorspace and budget, Production requesting more Capital Investment.

Solution: Set up OEE metrics and led cross-functional team to examine components of OEE loss. Found that KanBan execution, material handling delays and the inability to route work effectively were causing excessive and delayed setups. Improved KanBan workflow, FIFO of workorders and  CNC nesting. Also reduced raw stock SKU’s and improved batching / kitting process.

Result:  OEE went from ~50% to ~75% in 6 months, parts delays to fabrication and assembly areas almost eliminated, overtime eliminated.

 

CAPTIAL EQUIPMENT / KAIZEN EVENT

Company Profile: Industrial Enclosure Manufacturer, Facility 250-300 employees

Problem: Critical Value Stream operating with excessive Backlog, WIP and Cost.

Solution: Upgraded an unusable semi-automated seam welder with more intelligent programming and improved workholding to break a critical constraint by running a cover-welding line in parallel to the manual box welding line. Also created SMED tooling an improved stud welder. 

Result:  Single Piece Flow was achieved eliminating in-process queues, reduced welding set-ups. On the first full day of production after the event throughput increased 150%, with sustained capability of 100-150% over past state. Potential revenue l increase of >$1M / Year.

 

ELECTRICAL / MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AND DATA WORKFLOW

Company Profile: Leading Midwestern Locomotive OEM, >500 Employees

Problem: Engineering Workflow and Data Management not keeping up with explosive growth, increasing confusion, multiple, unofficial BOM's in use and poor revision control.

Solution: Taking the newly created position of Mechanical Engineering Project Manager, I created a new engineering workflow from standardizing the Engineering Product Structure/BOM, created an Engineering Change Order Process with Single Source Document Control, and a BOM management process that utilized the Company's MAS200 ERP system as never before, and initiated and co-Championed the new company-wide Project Management Process for all new and repowered locomotives. 

Result:  Combined with instituting 100% Drawing checking and Best Practices CAD usage, the result was improved engineering efficiency (Manhours/Project), throughput and accuracy, reduced rework and greater product uniformity and improved AAR and customer audit results.

 

ENGINEERING AND CNC PROGRAMMING WORKFLOW / INTERNAL QUALITY CRISIS

Company Profile: Sheet Metal Job Shop / OEM Fab, 25-50 Employees

Problem: CNC Programming Department required 120-150 man-hours per week to generate layouts and programs that were often incorrect or out-of-revision causing over 20% of all shop orders to have rework in programming and shop time.

Solution: Taking control of the department, I implemented a document control regimen  that maintained part number and revision control throughout all processes from sales order through shop floor program use, trained the department to take CAD data directly from engineering or the customer and convert it into CAM  data for program generation.

Result: Reduction in programming manpower requirement by 75-80% with ± 3σ accuracy (management was ecstatic) in output.  One Sr. Draftsman was cross-trained to use the new system and post-process part time, and the department was folded into the existing OEM Engineering group.

 

MECHANICAL / TOOLING ENGINEERING AND PLM/ERP WORKFLOW

Company Profile: Leading Western Locomotive OEM, >500 Employees

Problem: In a fast paced and change intensive environment, designing tooling and complex assemblies simultaneously caused excessive rework, wasted effort and undue delays.

Solution: By evaluating Design and Tooling Engineering workflows and then presenting and guiding the implementation of a robust future state, Tooling BOMs and ECOs were modified and the tooled items were shown on the Tooling BOM (with qty=0) in the PLM system and in the ERP system. By adding a “where used” query as part of design due diligence concurrent engineering was fully enabled.

Result: With a redundant set of checks and balances, and semi-automated notification to tooling owners, the Design to Production lead time was reduced in some cases by 50%, with reductions in rework and expedited change orders for tooling.

 

CAPITAL EQUIPMENT PROJECT MANAGEMENT / COST SAVINGS / SAFETY

Company Profile: Major Locomotive Rebuilder, facility >200 employees.

Problem: Locomotive Engine Block Washer constantly eating pump seals, temperatures not hot enough, bottleneck. OSHA required hoist installation due to confined space rules.

Solution: Removed two horizontal 60HP pumps and replaced them with a 75 hp vertical pump in a new catchment with new, washable filter screens. Separated the heating and spraying functions eliminating a pump and dozens of feet of piping, focus nozzles at the product, and installed OSHA compliant stairway (that allowed the retractable cover to operate as normal) to eliminate confined space classification and rules.

Result: By spending less than 5% of the initial purchase price of the used washer on these upgrades, heat-up time was improved from 4 hours to less than two hours and optimal temperature was maintained. Throughput was increased by 400%, manpower reduced (no spotter required) quality improved, and MTBF improved by >9,000% (no critical failures as of 1 year later).

 

CAPITAL EQUIPMENT PROJECT MANAGEMENT / COST SAVINGS / ENVIRONMENTAL

Company Profile: Major Locomotive Rebuilder, facility >200 employees.

Problem: Various Parts Washers requiring routine clean out, often at hazardous materials rates. Parts not getting clean.

Solution: Partnering with a regional chemical company, I upgraded the cleaning processes to more suitable chemistry. Then we installed a wash chemical recycling system which kept the pH in a more suitable range and extended cleanout periods while maintaining part cleanliness.

Result: The chemistry change saved the company 15% in chemical costs as a baseline, then the recycling system, which cost less than a 5 month supply of process chemicals in the initial state, paid for itself in less than 10 months by extending the life of the chemical baths, by reducing the haulage costs when that did happen, and by reducing parts cleaning cycle time. There are also always intangible PR advantages to “Green” technologies as well.

 

CAPITAL EQUIPMENT PROJECT MANAGEMENT / COST SAVINGS

Company Profile: Major Locomotive Rebuilder, facility >200 employees.

Problem: Legacy Centrifugal Air Compressors, continuously running on Maximum Bypass, and while in-warranty, still having high non-warranty expenses.

Solution: Rather than continuing to throw good money after bad (legacy systems were paid for), I justified a new screw compressor matching the size and type used for the existing Paint Shop for reduced maintenance cost and direct cost savings. The air system was re-piped (minor) to allow the Paint Air Compressor to support the plant when demand was heavy.

Result: While the new compressor would have paid for itself in 3 months with an annual paypack of over $200k/ year in electrical and maintenance costs, we were able to find a used small unit that was undersized for another company facility and acquired it, resulting in immediate monthly return.

 

CAPITAL EQUIPMENT PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Company Profile: Industrial Enclosure Manufacturer, Facility 250-300 employees

Problem: Blanking Shear Breakdown on Amada FMS system, Management not convinced that the repairs  ($70k) were justified.

Solution: After fully exploring all in-house options, full Engineering Economics analysis was performed to demonstrate payback in terms of improved throughput, material utilization and reduced manpower using a combination of study data, CNC Programming records and SAP reports.

Result: The first year benefit/cost ratio of the repair was conclusively shown to be 2.87, and the repairs were expedited.

 

CUSTOMER SERVICE CRISIS MANAGEMENT / ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS

Company Profile: Leading Locomotive OEM, >500 employees

Problem: Warranty Process issues, trouble items causing Customer Dissatisfaction.

Solution: Taking control of the department and Customer Service Project Calls, warranty processes were defined and aggressively enforced. Working with IT/IS, the ERP system inputs and reports were changed to better support accountability. Top items were attacked and eliminated.

Result: Overall, the claim items constituting the top 80% by count were reduced by over 70% in a systematic fashion.

 

CUSTOMER SERVICE CRISIS MANAGEMENT / ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS

Company Profile: Leading Midwest Locomotive OEM, >500 employees

Problem: Chronic Engine Coolant Management System failures occurring for well over a year, compounded by poor service practices.

Solution: By carefully comparing failure reports to master fleet configuration data, and then by performing controlled experiments followed by a field trial, it was discovered that the mounting arrangement of a particular sensor in particular configurations was causing both false positive and false negative signals, resulting in seemingly random equipment shutdowns.

Result: The final solution was implemented within 3 months, at a cost of less than $10 per locomotive. This eliminated 2-5 days of lost availability per month out of the fleet of approximately 60 locomotives affected.