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Project Profiles

Please see the below Project Profiles representing Design Group Lean Manufacturing Consulting.

  • Forklift Manufacturer

    Manufacturing Level Lean for Forklift Manufacturer

    Challenges:
    A forklift manufacturer required flexibility in common layout to cover about 6,000 stock keeping units (SKUs). Their main goal was to facilitate effective utilization of manufacturing space and manpower. This was a challenge due to complex process routing across multiple material handling stages - assembly, painting and shipping and, line imbalance caused by significant cycle time variation. Result of which, inventory was high and there were quality issues.

    Solution:
    The Design Group team proposed manufacturing excellence through Lean principles.

     Discover Plan 
    • Current state mapping - Mapped the process, identified improvements and updated current state
    • Future state mapping - Mapped the future state, prepared conceptual layout
    • Proposed new shop-floor layout






    Results:
    • Value and non-value added activity ratio reduced by 79%
    • Material flow length cut down by 27%
    • Throughput time reduced by 85%
    • Revenue per person increased by 15%
    • Production capacity increased by 36%

  • shutterstock_786891406

    Organization Level Lean for Mattress Manufacturer

    Challenges:
    A mattress manufacturer needed optimization of 52,000 stock keeping units (SKUs) across 17 manufacturing facilities to meet market demand. Due to manual handling of mattresses, they faced multiple challenges like manual production scheduling, longer lead time, and issues with product traceability, quality and ergonomics.

    Solution:
    The Design Group team proposed organizational excellence through Lean principles.


    Discover Plan  Execute  Sustain 
    • Current state mapping - Mapped the process from receipt of orders to shipping goods and receipt of payment
    • Conducted Value Stream Mapping for Current/Future states and helped define action plan for next steps
    • Developed future state document set
    • Facilitated optimization using Process Simulation
    • Provided specifications for Advanced Planning Scheduling (APS) software, Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), Material Tracking Systems
    • Designed new automation for mattress handling
    • Supported implementation of APS  and MES  solutions
    • Implemented advanced automation including RFID tracking
    • Incorporated Automated Guided Vehicles and Robotic cells
    • Providing Level 1 and 2 help desk support for MES implementation
    • Supporting Continuous Improvement programs through automation
     















    Results:     
    • Customer order lead time reduced from 36 to 24 hours
    • Revenue per square foot space increased by 34%
    • Revenue per person increased by 30%
    • New business accommodated within same space   

  • Ready to Eat Meals

    Implementing Lean across Manufacturing for an MRE Producer

    Challenges:
    A meal packaging company faced the challenge of high order to cash duration. The inventory value was high and inventory turns were low. Their production scheduling and material procurement process was a mix of manual operations and ERP usage, which led to errors, reporting issues, high throughput time and rework.

    Solution:
    The Design Group team proposed organizational excellence through Lean principles.


    Discover Plan 
    • Performed current state mapping - Mapped the process from receipt of orders to shipping goods and receipt of payment
    • Identified improvements and updated current state
    • Mapped the future state - Suggested ERP functional study and solutions, prepared conceptual layout
    • Proposed new shop floor layout
    • Held Kaizen events to generate ideas for reducing line side inventory, minimize forklift movement, and automate the proposed sealing operation
    • Defined benefits and Return on Investment









    Results:
    • Increased inventory turns from 5 to 15
    • Physical inventory reduced by 65%
    • Forklift movement reduced by 50%
    • Rework reduced by 75%

  • Walk-in Van

    Kaizen events for Walk-in Van Manufacturer

     Requirement Challenges Results 
    • Fixture for consistent step welding
    • Inconsistent welding leading to poor product quality
    • New fixture design enabled consistent welding and improved quality
    • Fixture for combining multiple operations
    • High changeover time
    • Changeover time eliminated 
    • Parallelism gauge for inspection
    • Unreliable parallelism measurement
    •  Accurate parallelism measurement
    • Densification of warehouse
    • High inventory, material searching time, and material travel distance, obsolete material in warehouse
    • Inventory reduced by 40%, obsolete material eliminated, material travel distance reduced by 60%

  • Food and Beverage Manufacturer

    Kaizen events for Meal Packaging Company

     Requirement Challenges Results 
    • Efficient layout that allows Work in Progress (WIP) to be closer to the line
    • Implement cart usage with unique identification for supply materials that enables quick changeover
    • High WIP inventory   
    • Inventory reduced by 65% 
    • Fully automatic bagging operation to reduce manual operations
    • Semi-automatic sealing operation, high labor requirement, poor sealing quality 
    • Fully automatic sealing with excellent sealing quality
    • Labor savings by 50%