Optimisation of the Bending Production Process

In today's business world, companies are exposed to constant competition, which is why they strive for continuous improvements to increase their competitive advantage, with a certain amount of effort also devoted to optimising small internal processes. By monitoring and observing production and the requirements of individual processes, even small changes, such as replacing a single pallet, can achieve a noticeable economic effect. The company Palfinger attempts to achieve a clearly defined work process through lean manufacturing methodology, one that runs smoothly, with as few unnecessary activities performed as possible and without unnecessary losses. The assumption that the new pallet would reduce the time required for transferring workpieces was confirmed using the time study method, where the duration of transferring them with the existing pallet was determined.

Problem

In today's business world, companies are exposed to constant competition, which is why they strive for continuous improvements to increase their competitive advantage, with a certain amount of effort also devoted to optimising small internal processes. By monitoring and observing production and the requirements of individual processes, even small changes, such as replacing a single pallet, can achieve a noticeable economic effect.

Solution and Method

The company Palfinger attempts to achieve a clearly defined work process through lean manufacturing methodology, one that runs smoothly, with as few unnecessary activities performed as possible and without unnecessary losses. The company implements lean manufacturing by executing kaizen methodology, whereby employees have the opportunity to complete KVP forms, which also enable financial rewards for useful suggestions. KVP forms encourage employees to think about how they could further improve their work process and thus consequently introduce continuous improvements in the company.

At the same time, activities are carried out to maintain a tidy and clean workplace within the framework of the five pillars of 5S methodology and activities aimed at achieving total productive maintenance, through which the company strives to eliminate unnecessary errors and downtime. Together, these methodologies strive towards gradual optimisation of the work performed by individual workers, equipment operation, work processes and, at the final level, towards optimisation of all work processes carried out in the company. In the process of optimising an individual process, much effort is invested in simplifying, systematising processes and reducing each step to the level that should be the smallest possible.

This enables the most productive use of the worker's working time. The effect can be achieved even by replacing a single element in the production process that reduces the work the worker must perform. They can now perform the next step in the work process instead and will accomplish more in the same amount of time. Within the framework of his diploma thesis, he focused primarily on the areas of internal transport and warehousing. He wanted to optimise the bending production process through the construction and use of a new pallet that would replace the existing ones used for temporary storage of workpieces. He set himself the goal of eliminating the time the bending machine operator spends transferring workpieces that are loaded onto the existing pallet.

With the introduction of the new pallet, the operator can access all of them simultaneously, which also means that the goal they set at the beginning of writing was also achieved. Before beginning to write, he established four basic propositions.

Results

The assumption that the new pallet would reduce the time required for transferring workpieces was confirmed using the time study method, where the duration of transferring them with the existing pallet was determined. Because he designed the new pallet so that its shape enables access to all workpieces, the transfer time is thus eliminated, and he used this data to calculate the savings. Reducing the weight of the new pallet by approximately

50% compared to the existing one means that enough additional load can be placed on it to reach the capacity of the overhead crane. On each pallet, we can now load 315 kilograms more cargo than on the old one, which enables good management of intermediate warehouse space, as it has reduced the space required for maintaining intermediate stocks. After manufacturing the pallet, workpieces were loaded onto it up to its capacity and the operator's access to them was verified in practice.

The operator can access all of them simultaneously, thereby confirming the proposition about immediate access to all loaded workpieces. The company Palfinger proizvodnja d. o. o. uses the Creo programme for construction purposes, which was also used to manufacture the new pallet. By evaluating the savings, he determined that replacing the pallet means 10 minutes less work for the operator and his assistant for transferring.

If we consider the gross payment for an hour of their work, we determine savings of 5.8 EUR per hour or 40.6 EUR per eight-hour shift, if we consider that the productive working time of the worker comprises 7 hours during this period due to intermediate breaks and lunch. The savings achieved by replacing the pallet in one month amount to 324.8 EUR. The amounts of gross payments for the operator's work and the work of his assistant are not exact due to the protection of Palfinger's business secrets, but they are accurate enough for calculating and estimating the savings contributed by replacing the pallet.

The presented diploma thesis demonstrates an example of optimising a production process by replacing an individual element used within it. Through this, we primarily achieve an effect within the process itself, whilst also optimising the company's production as a whole.