Initiating continuing improvement within Greenfield sites: A federal remanufacturing facility case study

摘要

The setting for this study was a federal government remanufacturing depot, responsible for the replacement and overhaul of large wheeled vehicles. These vehicles include 2.5 and 5 ton trucks and their major subordinate component items such as engines, axles, and transmissions. At the time of the case study the depot was involved in the design and construction of a 400,000 square foot hard metal subordinate items remanufacturing facility. The purpose of the facility was to consolidate all existing subordinate item remanufacturing under one roof. Commodity items to be remanufactured within the facility included engines, transmissions, transfer cases, axles, differentials, power generators, and other components. From the onset, the concept of consolidating existing processes under one roof had posed a significant material handling problem. Digital simulation was used to analyze material flow patterns within the new facility. As a result it was determined that, without changing the existing flow of material between processes, significant choke points would form in the areas of shared-capacity resources such as cleaning and painting. It was estimated that these choke points, representing piles of work-in-process (WIP) inventory, would clog aisles and prevent forklifts from making essential deliveries. Thus, a strategy was needed for controlling the buildup of WIP inventory within the new facility. To accomplish this objective, a program was begun to certify the WIP inventory levels of each subordinate item commodity line within existing facilities prior to the move into the new facility. This program focused on training workers in new methods of inventory control, production control, and quality control needed to minimize the WIP levels required within the new facility.