Research And Application Of T Inc.'s Quick Changeover Based On Product Family Classification

The most important part of Lean Production is Quick Changeover(QCO),which is a prerequisite for companies to fully realize muti-varieties and small batch.At present,the Quick Changeover of domestic and international is based on the Single Minute Exchange of Die(SMED)theory.On the basis,derived using a tailored thought to achieve SMED or divide the Changeover into pre-changeover phase and changeover phase,etc.However,there is a Quick Changeover of research is carried out more for a single bottleneck equipment.For muti-varieties and small batch product line study is relatively small,and the process of implementation of the product characteristics to consider less.T Inc.has 10 Cells responsible for the production of nearly 100 kinds of products,belonged to the MIX Line,The Cells need to produce 3-5 kind of products,and the average time for each switch over 30 minutes.So with the low efficiency,the production efficiency has been affected.Because of the large time caused by a large number of products,T Inc.chooses one of the MIX LINE as the research object to study the influence and improvement of Quick Changeover based on the Product Family.(1)First of all,based on the mapping model,made the machines as universal product family key property.On this basis,used the fuzzy cluster analysis divided the number of products,like CABLE ASSEMBLY FLOW SENSOR and CABLE ASSEMBLY AC PANEL,into 10 product families.(2)Combined with method study and SMED,chose the whole production line as the research object and used the process analysis,ECRS,5W1H and other methods,analyze the MIX LINE by Fishbone diagram.Therefore,separate and convert the original changeover process by internal and external operations.So,the internal operation(Need to stop for changeover)time from 1544.5s shortened to 558s;(3)Based on the handling operations,analyzed the transport operations of internal process.Thereby,changed the operations which completed by leader independent to complete by operator assisted by leader.At the same time,designed the rapid fixture which could help the replacement of device.Thereby reduced the waste of actions and shorten the time to 356s;(4)As the external operations are more equipment switching and debugging,therefor,Furthe standardized the bottleneck machine changeover process of external operations,reduce the "habit" and "error" actions;Designed the special tools for machines,which can help for SMED,thereby reduced the waste of actions,shorten the equipment of external operations installation and adjustment time 287s;In the external job,another focus is on file control.Based on the 5S,managed the files by visual.(5)In the vicinity of the production line design changeover station,which could simplify the process of Quick Changeover and facilitate the implementation of external operations.The core elements of the transfer station include:designed the platform for easy to change;storage and management the need for line.(6)In order to ensure the effective implementation of the Quick changeover,according to the different skills of the production line staff,established the staff competency matrix,through the matrix to assess the skills of employees to improve the flexibility of the operator;Established the independent maintenance and professional maintenance to ensure the quality of the changeover.By improving the MIX lines,improved the equipment utilization,reduced the product cycle and shortened the changeover time to 296s ultimately.The company must try to shorten the switch time in order to respond the changes of customer demand quickly.So the Quick Changeover based on the products family,which made full use of the Fishbone diagram,convert the internal process to external,Parallel Task,built the changeover station,provided practical examples and useful enlightenment for the multi-variety and small batch enterprises to shorten the changeover time.