Interim Production Manager Case Study
| Ref | C1783 |
|
| Position | Interim Production Manager | |
| Sector | Automotive | |
| Location | Tabriz / Iran |
Interim Production Manager Troubleshoots Casting Moulding Lines
Within the Tractor Sazi grey iron foundry, Tabriz, in NW Iran, the two medium moulding lines were performing well below manufacturing capacity. Redmayne was asked to supply an interim production manager to investigate the line performance and to propose and implement a plan of action to get castings production back to full capacity.
Site Investigations
A comprehensive fact finding survey visit was organised for our interim production manager to evaluate and report on line performance to the Tractor Sazi manufacturing management. It was reported that the two moulding lines had been delivered to site by Stone Wallwork, under contract to Tractor Sazi, but the supplier had gone into liquidation and had been unable to install and commission the lines. The local production team had, to its great credit, been able to erect the lines and to commission these, but it was evident after investigation that there were a number of problems to be resolved, before full production capacity was achievable.
Production Issues
On each line, rated at 200 moulds per hour, barely 30-40 moulds per hour were being produced. The main cause for this was a mismatch in the sequencing of the cope and drag machines on each line, caused in the main, by incorrect programming of the plcs. This was further exacerbated by timing problems with cope and drag feed conveyors and casting box conveyors. It was also discovered that cope and drag machines were operating below design hydraulic pressure, caused by the lack of availability of correctly rated spare parts.
Equipment Re-commissioning
The re commissioning phase of the project was agreed with the end user and approval obtained for the procurement of the necessary spare parts in UK. A further extended site visit was then made to Tabriz by a mechanical engineer to strip down the cope and drag machines and recommission these with new hydraulics. All plcs were then re-programmed and the lines successfully put back into full production at the design rated manufacturing capacity.
