BEST PRACTICES AS A TERM IS COMMONLY USED. BUT HOW DO COMPANIES DEFINE IT AND WHAT DO THEY MEAN?
By Jayashree Mendes
EFFICIENCY ISN’T JUST ABOUT REDUCING costs; other business objectives, including service quality, still have to be achieved in order to keep existing customers and revenue, and accrue new customers. Many organisations are too concerned with
costs and are not aware that the real business value can be destroyed if approached purely as a cost cutting exercise.
In this light, manufacturing today is not what it was twenty-five years ago. It’s not even what it was five years ago. Considering the massive changes that have impacted and are continuing to impact the manufacturing industry, how does one know if one’s method of operation is good enough to sustain the business? It’s for this reason that manufacturers are adopting or have adopted process improvement tools and techniques that improve operational effectiveness and productivity.
Ashwath Ram, manufacturing functional excellence for Cummins India, says, “We have a very structured function improvement process called “Operations Excellence (OE)” as part of our Cummins Operating System. In OE, we prescribe 31 key processes, such as Value Stream Mapping (VSM), Kaizen, Engineered Material Flow, 5S, TPM, etc. Every plant of Cummins is measured on a scale of one to five on how well these processes are implemented. A consolidate score gives us an indication of how well a plant is doing in comparison to the best in the world. Based on the gaps in individual processes improvement projects are taken by plants to reach the next level of OE.
Improving the productivity with optimum utilisation of resources and enhancing process efficiency remain a key focus area for operations. For instance, over the years, Eaton’s hydraulics plant in Pune has developed a continuous improvement
culture through Lean Six Sigma (LSS) deployment. Lean deployment follows annual PDCA cycle which starts with identifying opportunities through VSM, followed by goal setting for all the tiers and rigorous periodic reviews to improve the inputs. This is well supported by Kaizen and rapid improvement events (RIE) to eliminate waste. Several systematic problem
solving tools like FMEA, fishbone diagrams, 8D, 5 Whys, etc are used for identification and elimination of the root causes of the problems. “We follow a concept called ‘quality at each workstation’. Every workstation has process controls and process
charts to monitor performance. Process capability studies are conducted periodically to ensure highest quality. ‘Poka-yoke’ has been developed at various stages to ensure error proof manufacturing,” says Subhasis Chatterjee, MD, India, hydraulics
group, Eaton.
For Shiv Venkataramani, vice president, operations, Lapp India, besides VSM and 5S, safety tools and near miss reporting, shop floor management, Fast Response Tracking System for Customer Complaint, Shop floor Kanban for Copper WIP,
and total productive maintenance, are very important for achieving productivity. “We have eliminated separate SAP scheduling to the copper section and have introduced Supermarkets/Kanbans for drawn and bunched copper sections, where these
supermarkets with controlled inventory, calculated from historical demand and future forecasts are maintained using tracks and visual boards. Unless the Kanban (signal – in this case a magnetic card) is removed from the Bobbin when it is withdrawn
by insulation line, bunched copper is not produced and operators can monitor if the supermarkets are empty using their eye and not through the complex SAP system. This has improved machine loading and availability by 25% and decreased inventory requirements,” he adds.
Every manufacturing plant is not without its fair share of problems that keep cropping up at any stage of production. Each company brings with it and adopts the best practices from their global organisations and share it locally. Bappa Bandyopadhyay, director, operations & projects, Henkel Adhesive Technologies India, says, “Each site has a “Lean road map” which is monitored on a monthly basis, and works on the KPI of “gap closure”. This covers all aspects such as SHE (Safety, Health and Environment) and sustainability, 5S, quality, cost, workshops/training programmes, new initiatives/ ideas, etc. We believe that the gap is identified only by “Gemba”. We want our managers to be on the shop floor and talk to people and observe to identify gaps and close them. The entire concept is called the “Henkel Production System” or HPS.”
ANY IMPROVEMENT IN today’s age must segue into technology and automation without which any effort is pointless. Shrikant Savangikar, director, business excellence, quality & sustainability, SKF India, says that the machines deployed at his company’s manufacturing plants have in-process control. “The dimensions of each bearing are controlled
by machines. And the machines talk to each other. Besides that we have adopted CMS (channel monitoring system) to monitor the quality norms of the machines.” Globally, the company has a tradition of continuous improvement initiatives that are being
practices across its plants in India.
While the trend a few years ago was to adopt automation for its sake, today companies are wiser and thoughtful in taking decisions. There are hundreds of automation systems available in the market and return on investment (RoI) might be a factor
to decide on the type of automation, it is not all. “Automation is only used where it helps safety, cost, quality and productivity. We use different types of flow conveyers, machining lines, in-process verification, failsafing controls, test systems, etc. All of these are tied in to our central ERP system through the Cummins Manufacturing Enterprise Systems
which talk to all devices and PLC’s as the engines are built up and move along the lines,” says Ram.
Farrokh Cooper, CMD, Cooper Corporation, believes in careful selection of automation systems he requires at the plants. For instance conveyors, robots and gantry cranes are a common sight for pick & place, gauging, and packaging for machine
lines. However, their plants also use robots in foundry for removal of flange and castings from casting machines. The company recently upgraded its production process implementing three operations on one machine.
Bandyopadhyay of Henkel says, “We believe quality and productivity go hand in hand. We call it “Qualitivity”. Automation plays an important role in addressing this. We recently implemented a fully automated system that not only improved quality,
but enhanced capacity by 20%. At our upcoming green field plant at Kurkumbh near Pune, we are considering high levels of automation and also something called “Plant Execution System” which provides real time data at every stage of the manufacturing process including supply chain.” And those like Eaton that has assembly and testing as core to its operation, it has dedicated performance test stands on each product line. Heat-treatment is performed in-house with SCADA controlled furnace environment for meeting print specifications and delivering desired performance. Within the campus, it has
well-equipped metallurgy and metrology labs.