Finishing
Cells
In
everything we do, we try to increase efficiencies, improve processes, and
reduce waste. There are 7 forms of waste; the 2 main forms of waste that
most significantly affect our finishing department are over processing and
wasted motion. In theory, just by moving operations into a certain area, you’re
not really eliminating a lot of waste. Effective cells are designed to
eliminate those wastes. We want to take “families” of parts and run them
through a condensed work area designed for those castings.
The
introduction of finishing cells will also assist as we train new
employees. When we bring people onto the
work force, they are somewhat isolated. Being new, they wade into the
unknown. With finishing cells, you have teams. The newcomer not
only gets training but they become part of something. They’re part of a
team - part of something bigger than themselves. They experience camaraderie that allows an
outsider to become an insider very quickly.
As a job
shop, we have a wide variety of products that we process through the finishing
department that would need to be identified and classified. If we can
identify similarities – alloy, size range, processing steps, etc. We can process those in the same area and
have the same people working on them that know exactly what work content is
needed – no more and no less – to get that product out the door. This would greatly enhance workflow and
minimize waste.
At this
time, the reconfiguration of the finishing cells is underway and the first
iteration should be complete by mid-august.
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