Esse Engineering
Stove Manufacturing

To assess the current process and apply appropriate Lean Manufacturing tools and techniques to enable more efficient manufacturing on their stove assembly line.

Project Description:
All stove products were manufactured on an assembly line which had a team of five assembly operatives permanently assigned to it.  Outputs were variable and a working structure existed in which some assembly operatives had free time in between products, depending upon the product mix.
 
An initial data analysis exercise concluded that, on average for most of the year, the company was selling around 120 stoves per week.  From this information, a takt time was determined which would act as the drumbeat for output from the assembly line.  The data analysis also found that the product range could be grouped into four categories, based on assembly times, and that 80% of Sales were of the category containing the lowest assembly time products.
 
The weekly plan was re-organised such that the products were manufactured in category order from the easiest to the most complex.  Further analysis of the work content involved in the easiest categories indicated that two assemblers with an equal amount of work should be able to produce a product to match the takt time previously calculated.  An additional assembler was added later in the week for the penultimate category and a fourth added for the most complex products at the end of the week.  All sub-assembly work was moved off-line and matched to the takt time.  Thus, for 80% of products sold, only three people (two assemblers and one sub-assembler) were required instead of the five previously used for all products.  The layout of the assembly line was altered accordingly reducing the footprint of the line significantly.
 
A performance monitoring system was introduced so that output could be monitored hourly to ensure the takt time was being adhered to and a structured workplace management system defined hourly tasks for the area Supervisor to ensure that all aspects of the operation were where they needed to be, including pre-planning activities for the following week’s production.

"Ian's first visit to our factory was a catalyst for change. He is insightful to an almost embarrassing degree. Intelligent, good humoured but resolute, which means that action has to be taken when he casts his eye over a facility.

I cannot recommend him highly enough!"

MARTIN ASHBY - MANAGING DIRECTOR AT ESSE ENGINEERING 

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