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(+)+(+)
(+)+(+) S.M.I.L.E(sm)
(+)+(+)
(+)+(+) Setup Minimization Improves Line Efficiency
(+)+(+)
(+)+(+) The Quick Changeover e-letter
(+)+(+)
(+)+(+) Published monthly by Changeover.com
(+)+(+)
(+)+(+) Written by John R Henry, CPP
(+)+(+)
(+)+(+)
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### MAY 2004
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SOME THOUGHTS ON...
ABILITIES

Is your equipment able?

In selecting production machinery of any type, there are five "abilities"
that should be insisted upon. These are:

Adaptability
Flexibility
Reliability
Maintainability
Upgradeability

Adaptability
Adaptability refers to the ability of the machine to run new products. New
products are introduced. Existing products are redesigned, modified or
tweaked. When this occurs, what happens to the existing machinery? If
attention was not paid initially to a machines ability to adapt to new
products, it may need to be replaced. Machine design philosophy will be
influenced by the potential for product changes. If a product is locked in
and is expected to never change, machines can be designed around that
product. Instead of adjustments to change from one product to another,
non-adjustable changeparts can be used for changeover. Changeparts have the
benefit that, properly designed, they tend to speed changeover. It is
easier and more repeatable to change components than it is to adjust them.
Where changeparts are lift-off/drop-in, anyone can replace them accurately.
When adjustments need to be made, a more highly skilled worker eg; mechanic
rather than operator, may be required.
If new products are to be run, it is generally possible to purchase new
change parts for them but this involves expense, and more importantly,
time. A further drawback to changeparts is that if the product or component
to be run is out of spec, it is usually difficult to compensate for this.
It is difficult to say whether change or adjustable parts are better. It is
easy to say that that each has advantages and disadvantages that need to be
taken into consideration in the machine specification, design and selection
stage. If using adjustable components, remember to make sure that they are
made in a way that measurable, repeatable, settings can be obtained on a
daily basis.

Flrxibility
Flexibility refers to the ease with which a machine can be changed over
between different products. As more manufacturers trend towards mass
customization of their products, changeovers become more and more common.
Many lines will do 5-10 changeovers a week and some will do as many as 3-4
per shift. The ease and accuracy of changeover becomes key to a line's
success or failure. A company changing over once per shift can gain more
than 6 percentage points of capacity (from 87.5 to 93.75%) simply by
reducing changeover from 60 to 30 minutes. What is that additional,
basically free, capacity worth? It will differ from plant to plant but it
is safe to say that it is a lot. A few extra dollars spent making a machine
changeover friendly is going to have major returns in operation. Some of
the things to look for include elimination of tools in changeover, visibly
identified parts (Color codes are great), programmed rather than physical
adjustments (eg; multiple sensors with selector switches rather than
adjustable sensors), general overall simplicity of the changeover and, and
this is EXTREMELY important, good documentation.

Reliability
Reliability or dependability refer to the assurance that a machine will run
efficiently in operation. A machine that runs 150CPM but only does it 50%
of the time is nowhere near as useful as a practical matter, as a machine
that runs 90CPM but does so consistently, day after day. Not long ago I was
in a plant that had cappiing machinery built in the 1950's that they were
using on a daily basis. The original machine design was extremely robust
with many cast or forged components. This is the kind of machinery to look
for. One engineer of my acquaintance buys machinery by weight. That is, if
everything else is relatively equal, he will buy the heavier machine on the
theory that more mass equals more robustness. In some ways this is probably
true. A more massive machine will be less subject to vibration. It will
also be less likely to have components deform in the event of a jam.

Maintainability
Not that many years ago, one of the major American auto manufacturers
produced a car in which the spark plugs could not be changed without
removing the engine. All machines will wear and will need to have
components replaced periodically. How hard will it be to replace things
like bearings, shafts, electrical controls? In looking at maintainability,
consider not just the physical replacement of parts, consider the
availability of the parts. Does the machine builder use standard,
commercially available components or do they use custom parts? If you find
this out when you need to replace a motor and find that it is 3 weeks
delivery, you are too late.

Upgradeability
Technology is changing at an incredible rate. Can a machine built yesterday
be modified to take advantage of tomorrow's technologies? Can updated
software be uploaded to the machine or ar hardware changes required? While
it is impossible to predict what technologies will be available 5 years
from now, try to be sure that machines are open designs that stand a good
chance of being upgradeable.

In short, when considering new machinery, try to ensure that it is as
"able" as possible. . In a world of perfect planning, no flexibility would
be needed. With perfect flexibility, planning becomes unnecessary. In the
real world, there will always be a trade-off between planning and
flexibility but the more flexibility, the better. Flexibility combined with
the other abilities mentioned above will allow for maximum plant
effectiveness.



TIP OF THE MONTH
GUIDELINES

As mentioned above, machine documentation is critically important to all
phases of operation. The Packaging Machinery Manufacturer's Institute
(PMMI) have an excellent guideline to writing machinery manuals titled "The
PMMI Technical Documentation Content & Style Guide"

This was developed in part to help machine builders standardize manuals as
well as to make sure that all critical information got into each manual. If
manuals can follow a standard format across equipment manufacturers, it
will make them much easier to use in the field. I have used the guidelines
in writing manuals and can personally attest to their usefulness. I would
urge machine builders to use the guidelines and machine users to insist on
them.

For more info or to purchase a copy, visit
http://store.yahoo.com/pmmi/pmmitecdocco.html

While at the bookstore, check out the other training materials as well.


Best,

John R Henry CPP

Visit the Quick Changeover website at http://www.changeover.com

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