Business Case
A leading engineering company supplying custom electronic systems to the railway and defence sectors had won a major tender requiring a 4× output ramp-up within 6 months. The client had already implemented Lean manufacturing across the value stream during the ramp-up from pilot to commercial production.
They operated the assembly-to-packing processes as manual single-piece-flow lines, which could be scaled quickly by adding more lines.
The goal was to identify bottleneck processes, eliminate MUDA, leverage IoT and digital enablement and reduce changeover times by 50%.
Current State Observations
A cross-functional team identified PCB assembly, particularly the SMT lines, as the bottleneck. Adding additional SMT lines would require significant investment and take months to procure and commission. The line delivered 250 PCBAs per day, falling short of the 300-unit daily target.
OEE data analysis of the SMT lines showed that:
-
The SMT lines operated at less than 50% OEE, driven by high mix and long changeovers.
-
Ten PCBA types were being manufactured, requiring 20 changeovers per month, with each changeover taking more than two hours.
-
Loss due to changeovers was approximately 25%.
Solution Synopsis
A CFT team brainstormed and came out with solutions that were then taken up for implementation.
- Identified ways to convert internal activities into external preparation and eliminate MUDA, such as QC verification.
- Collaborated with a leading technology provider to develop an IoT application incorporating these requirements.
- Provided the physical infrastructure needed to support external activities, including feeders and mobile feeder trolleys.
- Implemented 5S to enable search-free storage of component reels, with each rack slot assigned a unique address.
Outcomes
Small, focused Kaizens drive big results.
Before
- The SMT lines operated at less than 50% OEE, driven by high mix and long changeovers.
- 10 PCBA types being manufactured required 20 changeovers a month, and each changeover took more than two hours.
- Loss due to changeover was about 25%
After
- Met the production target of 300 PCBAs per day consistently
- Sustained the improvements through daily OEE monitoring in the application
- Strengthened performance through regular loss-report analysis
