By Thomas R. Cutler
Onbelay Automotive Coatings Corp. is an industrial automotive supplier specializing in corrosion resistant coatings and suspension system sub-assemblies. Headquartered in Ontario, Canada, the company operates a 142,000 square foot facility and serves Tier One automotive industry leaders. Onbelay executives were looking for a performance management solution to support the company's lean initiatives and needed to find a means to improve production reporting accuracy, reliability, and frequency.
Onbelay sought a technology solution with lean tools to gain insight into the process flow as well as the decision-making flow. Canadian-based Shoplogix offered an Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) quantification metrics through Plantnode; the implementation helped Onbelay reduce waste relative to downtime, labor, energy and raw materials. The technology enabled real-time production reporting for more reliable and accurate data as well as significantly increasing visibility into day-to-day operations.
The primary challenge was to eliminate aspects of the manufacturing process that did not add value to customers. The application of lean principles, including continued process improvement, was central to the success of the project. Utilizing lean tools such as Value Stream Mapping accounted for the activity within production as well as the management and the information systems that supported basic processes. Value Stream Mapping is the process of observing and understanding the current condition and drawing a map that becomes a blueprint for Lean implementation.
Lean OEE:
Excessive waste resulting from unplanned downtime and over consumption of raw materials necessitated drastic changes at Onbelay. Based on historical data, annual unplanned downtime totaled two hundred hours for the aggregate of Onbelay's e-coating and powder coating lines. The two lines account for two thirds of the company's primary business. Taking the cost of labor, quality, and lost production time into account, the shortfall represented hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost opportunity.
Over and above the cost of downtime, waste due to over-processing translated to excess energy consumption and chemical usage. While parts on the line waited to move from one process to the next, energy was wasted due over exposure in the curing process. Onbelay also identified a .59 percent fall out rate on each line due to chemical overspray contributing to excess waste that was previously undetected.
At the end of every shift, employees physically counted the number of parts produced and entered the figures into a spreadsheet manually. Although it seemed to work for them in the past, the mandate to go lean shifted Onbelay’s perspective and the decision to automate was inevitable. According to Onbely President Aly Rahemtulla, "To stay competitive, we needed to invest in lean technology to provide customers with the best possible service. Since implementing Plantnode we have clearly identified the root causes associated with unplanned downtime and as a result we were able to reduce total downtime by 26.3%. We also improved our material flow by lowering the incidence of line stoppages and are better able to manage energy use and keep the costs of quality down to a minimum. The ROI on implementing a Shoplogix solution exceeded 210% with a payback of less than three months."
Although higher output and increased productivity were key factors in the justification to invest in a Shoplogix solution, the impact of installing Plantnode on the e-coating and powder lines filtered throughout the organization. With access to real-time feedback on overhead displays, operators have the information needed to understand where they are versus the expectation. As a result, Onbelay employees have gained a sense of ownership and pride in their work and are continuing to make a positive impact on the bottom line. Real-time reporting accuracy and reliability gave way to a number of other capabilities in Onbelay's Chatham facility. Automatic event detection and escalation allowed supervisors and managers to keep on top of issues as they arise rather than after the fact. Better product quality resulted from more efficient use of materials, and total operational visibility into production provided managers with access to decision support information from anywhere in the plant.
Not all OEE technologies are created equally. An intelligent performance management system designed to increase operational efficiency, improve quality, and drive higher levels of performance in manufacturing and other production operations. Lean manufacturing principles require that companies are able to leverage existing investments in equipment and business systems to enable operational visibility and real-time information flow that is fast enough to be actionable, with the accuracy and reliability to facilitate strategic planning and tactical execution.