A SMED workshop at CASAR took
place in mid-January. The aim
of the 11-member cross-sectoral
team was to deal with the
long setup time caused by the machine’s
construction type on the longest tubular
strander. The team had the task of reducing
the setup time through the use of suitable
organisational and personnel measures.
Generally, 25-strand filler braids and 26 to
31-strand Warrington-seale braids are produced
on this tubular strander. The machine
is frequently prepared and many spools are
also prepared again and again during production.
In order to define a target, a statistical evaluation
was first carried out over the last 12
months in order to record the current situation.
On the basis of this analysis, the setup
processes carried out most frequently were
selected.
The following targets were agreed:
- Reduction of machine downtime by 30%
- Reduction of spool change time by 50%
After clarification of the general condition for
opening the workshop by Mr Heims and Mr
Tudela, a complete setup process was carried
out according to the procedure which
applied up to this point in time. This was
attended by the entire team and additionally
recorded on video. In this the machine
operator’s procedure took place in the foreground,
each movement and journey was
precisely followed and recorded. All journeys
made by the machine operator were recorded
with a spaghetti diagram. The entirety of
the setup process was determined and each
one of the 72 process steps was documented.
Subsequently, the team classified each
individual step into the categories “internal”
and “external”. Process steps which were
considered avoidable by the team were eliminated.