Gu van Rhijn Supplying more products with the same number of people by making the primary process smarter and through a smarter product design: implementation of Lean and Flow Factory at Biddle, The Netherlands in several steps: demand flow and lay out in fabrication (puncing, bending, spot welding, coating parts), flexibel assembly flow lines and workinstructions, demand flow, pull, factory lay out, assembly cells Nein Biddle Kootstertille; www.biddle.nl The Netherlands Electronic And Other Electrical Equipment And Components, Except Computer Equipment <(Approx.)yearlyturnover>5.000.000€ - 25.000.000€ 50 - 100 0% - 5% Product types plus customer-specific variants Small batch production Cellular manufacturing Managing Director Flow, factory lay out and workstation design Partly True Reduction in lead time

Approach:

1. Preparation: overall awareness and introduction of demand flow and lean

Involvement of employees in working sessions, training and implementation

2. Groupsessions fabrication (operators from puncing, bending, spot welding, coating parts)

process map (value stream map)
current lay out and material flow
assessing examples of waste
from push to pull
improved lay out and workstation design
implementation (lay out, kanban, workstations, maximum buffer, carriers)

3. Groupsessions assembly (involvement of operators, engineering, proces engineering, management)

assembly process scheme for a number of products
improving product design (design for assembly)
definition of celluar assembly flows (based on product mix, expected numbers of products, demand )
design of each assembly cell (product carrier, material location, racks, handling of heavy parts, in process Kanban, testing)
design of workinstructions
implementation on the shop floor

Waiting Inventory Transport

Traditional structures and lay out (functional)
Very disorganized workspace
Too much (intermediate) material buffer stocks
No experience with Lean Management
Long lead times
Manufacturing by batches (push)
material handling (physical load);
searching for parts
unplanned overtime work (stress)

Increase of turnover by 40% (same amount of employees)
Reduction of change over time:
flexible production of small sized batches,
lower work in process
Production is less hectic, no need for overtime work during busy periods (saving up to € 15.000 per year).
2 FTEs fewer are needed during pre-processing
25% fewer assembly hours per machine
Reduction of WIP of around €100.000
ROI of one year
Reduction of physical load
Communication between engineering and production: Design for assembly and work instructions

Production Manager (Biddle): “The demand flow project has changed the organization of our production enormously, from a traditional production company to a demand-driven production environment. This has significantly increased the involvement of the production employees, because they have to consider their internal customer during the process – that is, the next stage in the process. The first step is to optimize supply for your internal customer, followed by optimizing your own work environment – that raises the interest of employees in the work processes, and therefore their motivation. Lean is not just for production, but actually for the entire order preparation trajectory, including the supply chain.”