productivity improvement through ECRS METHODOLOGY

PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVEMENT THROUGH ECRS METHODOLOGY

M.Laxman^[1], Prabumanirathinam^[2]

and Dr. B. Vijaya Ramnath ^[3],c,*

^{[1],[ 2]} P.G. students, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sri Sairam Engineering College, West Tambaram, Chennai-44.

^[3]Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sri Sairam Engineering College, West Tambaram, Chennai-44.

manirathinamsrm@yahoo.com,laxmanmm4@gmail.com ^cvijayaramnathb@gmail.com

^*Corresponding Author

ABSTRACT

Present day’s industries are focusing on improving productivity by reducing wastages associated to system and manufacturing activity .This paper aimed to Reduce set up Time, Increase Production in Company and increase the Profit through mass production. Some techniques are used to reduce setup time and increase productivity by converting the internal set up activities to external set up by carrying out number of iterations.

Keywords: Productivity improvement, ECRS methodology, Conversion of activities

INTRODUCTION

            The productivity of industry can be improved by reducing the wastages associated with manufacturing activity manufacturing activity, processing activity and some non value added activities . This paper proposes ECRS concept through which more number of operations can be combined or eliminated by performing more number of iterations . The result shows that the final number of operations is reduced by 76 percentage as compared with the existing stage of assembly process .

LITERATURE SURVEY

SHINGO, 1985

Single-Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) , a technique used to reduce the equipment setup time. SMED had an objective to accomplish setup times in less than ten minutes, the number of minutes are expressed by a single digit. Not all setups could be literally reduced to this time, between one and nine minutes and this is the goal of the SMED methodology (Shingo, 1985). SMED, also known as Quick Change over of Tools

R.P.ORTICIO Published Dec 15, 2010
5S and Good Housekeeping

Managing efficiency in work area is important to business in more ways than one. The management, care, and servicing of facilities and equipment needs careful attention and thorough implementation to achieve desired results. Delays due to downtime, readjustment, and setup are common occurrences during machine failures and breakdowns.

WALTER SHEWHART

The pioneering statistician who developed statistical process control in the 1930’s ,referred to as the Shewhart cycle. PDCA (Plan-do-check-act) is an iterative four – step problem-solving process typically used in business process improvement. It is also known as the Deming cycle, Shewhart cycle, Deming wheel, or plan-do-check-act.

MANIKANDAN T AND SENTHIL KUMARAN S

Manikandan and Senthil Kumaran focused on reducing the Manufacturing Lead Time in a production layout of an engine valve manufacturing company. The layout experienced problems like high inventory, higher setup time and more part travel, etc. A six sigma tool, DMAIC was used to approach the problem. Details with regard to Product mix, Volume of production, Work – In – Progress(WIP), and Sequence of operations were collected. And a simple heuristic technique was proposed to decrease the Manufacturing Lead Time and the approach was validated using WITNESS, a simulation software. The simulation of the proposed heuristic technique in WITNESS software showed considerable reduction in Work – In – Progress (WIP) and thereby resulted in monetary benefits. When this proposed heuristic technique was implemented, the situation demanded a lean tool, Eliminate – Combine – Rearrange – Simplify (ECRS). In total, the setup time for a particular process step reduced from the existing 20 hours per month to 6 hours per month

PROBLEM  IDENTIFICATION

Problem Definition

After recession the Export schedule came down drastically to nearly 33% .In order to fulfill the new customer requirement, new flow line was set to meet the current schedule as the original flow line machines were spared to other new products. The new flow line was set considering the optimum usage of man, machine etc. But, with this flow line the following disadvantages were noticed.

·        Cell efficiency is low – 76% due to various losses like set up loss, tool change loss, start up loss etc.

·        Additional wages paid for extra working hours to meet the customer schedule

·        No adequate time for proper Preventive  Maintenance hence leads to more equipment failure

·        Operator Morale is reduced due to extra working hours.

·        More scrap and rework during setting change over, extra working hours etc.

The problematic area was the Vertical Machining Centre (VMC), Chiron, where the setting changeover was taken once in a week for machining two different part numbers as per customer schedule. Due to this frequent setting change the losses were more .The losses includes the setting change over time loss, jigs and fixture search time loss, adjustment loss, inspection loss, rejection loss etc.

These losses led to low cell efficiency, and this led to the following problems

·         Extra working hours were planned.

·         Delivery delay and sometimes failure.

·         High machining defects.

·         Low operator morale.

PROPOSED METHODOLOGY

5S

PDCA

SMED

ECRS

5S

1.SEIRI : CLEARING :

SEIRI denotes action to identify and sort out all items into necessary and unnecessary items and discard all unnecessary items.

How to practice SEIRI

1.      Separate the wanted and unwanted; classify everything by frequency of use.

2.      Always repair the repairable items immediately. don’t let them lie around

3.      Throw away unwanted items .do not keep them with a vague idea they may me needed. Defectives especially must be identified clearly at fixed intervals.

4.      Develop a clear and well –understood policy of disposal of broken, unrepeatable or unwanted items .Don’t let things accumulate for want of policy.

2.SEITON:ARRANGING

SEITON means to arrange everything in proper order so it can be easily picked up for use .place for everything and everything in its place.

Consequences of  not practicing SEITON on the shop floor.

1. Things are seldom available when needed .search squards are all the time.

2. Items are’ lost’ in stores.

3. Items –defectives and good ones ,or similar looking materials-get mixed up.

4.Accidents or near-accidents occur due to cluster.

3.SEISO: SWEEPING

SEISO  means to sweep the workplace thoroughly so that there is no dust ,oil soot ,etc, anywhere.

Consequences of not practicing SEISO are

1.Mist machines are affected by dust and dirt . Their performance may go down, they may wear out faster. The cost can be huge.

2.Dust and dirt on products ,material, packing boxes will almost certainly affect either their performance quality or at least their aesthetic quality.

3.A Dust and dirty place is unpleasant to work in .

4.SEIKETSU : CLEANLINESS

SEIKETSU means maintaining a high standard of workplace organization and house keeping at all times .

Consequences of not practicing SEIKETSU :

1.      Good health and safety the practice of Seiketsu .

2.      Hazardous chemicals, dusty chemicals, fumes, etc, can make it a dangerous place to work in unless controlled.

3.      Working thoroughly cleans a place and makes the workplace pleasant. So an unwashed workplace can become unpleasant.

4.      Personal hygiene is also essential for a healthy workforce.

 5.SHITSUKE : DISCIPLINE

       SHITSUKE denotes Self-discipline especially with regard to safety rules and punctuality.      5s      means everything in its place, people must also be in their place at the right time , in the right attire . It is management’s responsibility to train people to practice 5s with discipline.

How to practice SHITSUKE :

1.      All employees must be trained in all aspects of 4s . This must be done through class room actual practice and also by well illustrated instruction and display .

2.      Supervisors must correct wrong practices every day on the spot .

3.      If all the members of an office or workshop are not present when they are supposed to be  it is poor 5s , Punctuality is the backbone of 5s .

4.      Timelines also applies to preparation of reports filling out the charts , etc .

PDCA CYCLE (OR DEMING WHEEL)

          The basic plan -Do-study- Act cycle was originally developed by Walter A.shewart,.but it was popularized by Edward Deming and that’s why it’s called the Deming cycle  or Deming wheel .It’s an effective continues improvement technique .

PLAN

Define the problem:

Analyse the causes and draft an action plan for solving the problem

Determine the quality objectives and the critical factor s

Collect and analyses the necessary process data          

Generate the process data

Select the most feasible solution: and work it out

Do

First implement the plan on a limited scale or conduct an experiment to test the proposed improvement. Collection data here by essential.

Train all involved employees in the use of quality improvement methods and technique

Describe the process which is considered for improvement and form projects team to lead the process

Check

Evaluate the trail project with the performance indicators.

Verify whether the improvement has been successful or not 

Act

Act to implement proven improvements .the choices are introduce the adjust or reject it

The improvement are documented in standard procedure so all employees are well –informed on how to handle in future

Usually, the cycle will be repeated under the different circumstances and condition to test how consistent the results are.

ECRS technique:

ECRS Techniques

This tool can be used for

·                    Set up change loss reduction

·                    Tool change loss reduction and Mean time to repair reduction

It is also used in

·                     Layout optimization study

·                     Operator work load analysis

·                      Process de-bottle necking

·                      Assembly line – time reduction

·                      Office TPM (Process time reduction)

After activity mapping for set up change/tool change / Mean Time to Repair

·                    Use Internal & External analysis tool

·                    After the external / internal analysis, the time for setup will come down

·                    Internal time is considered as new setup time.

·                    This setup time contains many unwanted activity which can be considered for time reduction.

·                    ECRS technique is used for further time reduction

ECRS is unique approach towards process activity optimization with following core principle

Elimination
                 Elimination of activity is the best
                 One shot setup is ideal
                  No change over is the ultimate

Combination
                 If elimination is not possible
                 Combine the activity

Reduction
                 If combination is not possible
                 Reduce the activity time

Simplification
                 If activity time cannot be reduced
                 Do kaizens to simplify the activities

RESULT AND DISCUSSION:

 The following charts show’s the results of

No of Internal and External Activity details

Result of iteration -1

Chart  –  No. of Internal and External activity  after Iteration 1

Internal Vs External time details after Iteration 1

Iteration were done to reduce the total number of internal and externals activates.

Result of iteration -2

No. of Internal and External activity  after Iteration 2

Internal Vs External time details after Iteration 2

Result of iteration -3

            No. of Internal and External activity  after Iteration - 3

Internal Vs External time details after Iteration – 3

Result of iteration -4

No. of Internal and External activity  after Iteration - 4

Internal Vs External time details after Iteration – 4

Cell Efficiency

Total Available Time  (16 hours x 25 days )                               =   400     hrs.

Total Losses                                                                                 =   96.5    hrs.

Set up loss alone                                                                           =   32       hrs.

Actual machining time (400-96.5)                                               =  303.5    hrs.

Cell Efficiency      =     Actual machining time / Total Available time

                              =    (303.5 / 400)*100  =    76 %

Loss Cost Calculation

S.No	Description	Quantity	Units
1	Cycle time / Component	60	sec.
2	Output / hour	60	nos.
3	Total output loss /setting(8*60)	480	no’s
4	Total output loss / month(480*4)	1920	no’s
5	Total output loss / year(480*4*12)	23040	no’s
6	Cost/component (in Rs.)	153.50	INR
7	Total loss cost / year in lakhs            (23040*153.5)	35.37	Lakhs

Target time:-

Set up time reduction – Target

Result:-          

Set up time reduction – Result

After improvement the set up time was brought down from 498 minutes to 113 minutes.

Conclusion:-

The set up time was brought down to 113 minutes from 498minutes.This was possible by applying the SMED techniques.Still there is scope for further reduction by fine tuning the process .In the above case the major share of time was consumed for removing the fixture and again mounting the required one.By doing so time consumed for that activity was more compared to other activities. Hence this was taken up and was brought down to minimum possible. But still we find some scope to reduce further and that will be for inspection time.Hence by applying the SMED technique by a systematic way we can reduce the set up time.