Interim Production Manager Case Study
| Ref | C1853 |
|
| Position | Interim Production Manager | |
| Sector | Automotive / Plastics | |
| Location | Northern Ireland |
Interim Production Manager introduces Lean Manufacturing for Automotive Parts
Kent Plastics Ltd is renowned for production of injection moulded components, mostly for the UK automotive industry sector, including manufacturing of the well-known oval Ford badge.
The client's production manager defined the objective for this interim management assignment to identify and to implement improvements in manufacturing operations efficiency.
Our interim production manager was commissioned to investigate all production engineering and processes, and to advise on improvements.
Approach
Our production manager set up a simulation programme to reproduce a full year’s production. This work was handled by specifying process routes, set up times, run times and batch sizes, using Lanner's Witness software. The simulation programme was set to plot work-in-progress (WIP) build up at key machines, including plastic injection moulding, vacuum metallisation, heat treatment and paint conveyor.
From the simulation, recommendations were developed to reduce build up of WIP, to shorten supply chain flow routes and to improve moulding manufacturing techniques. Further recommendations were developed re: production engineering, including materials handling operations and automation of finishing processes.
Our interim production manager scoped the equipment required and obtained quotations for new manufacturing equipment and related engineering services. The client handled the equipment procurement programme.
