Improve capacity

As you grow and demands increase, your capital structure such as equipment and people must accommodate new or changing demands. Dynamic growth pressure on your capital is a positive challenge to have. We can help you find more capacity and flexibility while avoiding new investments by using our capital waste diagnostics, and suggest ways about how to make strategic capital investments by increasing your internal OEE (overall equipment effectiveness).

Problems solved:

Bottleneck breakthrough to boost performance:
Asian manufacturer

Business challenge:

In order to significantly decrease manufacturing bottlenecks, how does an Asian wafer operation improve overall equipment effectiveness and demand responsiveness, and reduce cycle time and inventory?

Methodology

Supurna worked with plant leadership to:

  • Perform a 15-day floor diagnostic focused on the manufacturing constraint equipment sets
  • Develop a value stream map (VSM) using observations, interviews and systems data. From this VSM, four equipment sets were identified as the throughput constraints, and a 48-hour study was conducted on those bottleneck sets
  • Identify a number of recommendations for improvement
  • Facilitate the development of an action plan to implement recommended improvements in equipment utilization and process flow

Benefits realized

  • The operation was able to improve its delivery performance to such a degree that the plant was no longer a constraint in the overall drive supply chain
  • Speed = reduced customer wait times by increasing capacity on the CD SEM tool by 53%
  • Predictability = increased predictability of daily shipments by increasing capacity on the FIB tool by 48% and capacity on the KLA tool by 28%
  • Flexibility = shorter lead time provided flexibility to meet demand changes
  • Leverage = improved leverage of all capital equipment with a 30% increase in throughput

 

Eliminating capacity constraints to meet demand
High-tech manufacturing plant

Business challenge:

How does a high-tech slider manufacturing plant in the Philippines eliminate capacity constraints in order to meet growing demand, reduce factory work-in-progress and manufacturing lead time, and improve demand responsiveness?

Methodology

To help the plant meet production demand, Supurna:

  • Performed value stream maps (VSM) to identify flow issues and manufacturing wastes
  • Conducted 48-hour studies on bottleneck equipment to identify improvement actions
  • Worked with factory teams to develop metrics and implementation plans
  • Led as well as facilitated improvements in plant output, overall equipment effectiveness and closed lot cycle time (CLCT)

Benefits realized

The plant was able to meet production demand by realizing significant improvements, including:

  • Speed = increased the velocity of products through the plant, reducing the CLCT for three key products by 36, 42 and 62%
  • Predictability = significantly improved lead-time variance and on-time delivery
  • Flexibility = reduced set-up time on critical equipment
  • Leverage = allowed more products to get out the door by increasing slider  output by 68 percent and test capacity by 40%

Improve efficiency to meet double demand
Mid-size seasonal photo production business

Business challenge:

A seasonal photo production business faces twice the demand their capacity can currently handle.  How can they maximize their existing resources to improve productivity, quality and accuracy?

Methodology

  • Interviews of all key process stakeholders were conducted to understand current operations, historical efforts, and expected forecast needs for seasonal work.
  • Two week diagnostic performed to build value stream maps of future states.  Supurna identified bottlenecks, constraints, and gaps.
  • Cross functional management sessions held to identify gaps and align functional goals with corporate initiatives.
  • Supurna and company stakeholders worked together to implement process improvements, construction of scorecard reporting to track performance, and visual management.

Benefits realized

  • Production processes are standardized resulting in:
    1. Cycle time reduction from   2.5 days to 1 day.
    2. Process errors reduced by 72%.
    3. Expedited shipments cut 30%.
  • Customized utilization and capacity tools are developed to use in forecasting resource and equipment requirements.
  • Leadership alignment and cross-functional teams are developed to lead quick win and long-term projects.