Increased Productivity

Reduced Buffer Capacity

Project Duration

3 Months

BACKGROUND

· The Finishing Department was identified

  as the bottleneck at a medium-sized

  architectural millwork company

· A multi-event time study has shown that

  the contingency time is extremely high

  (41% of the available working time)

· Transport was 19% and organizational

  interruptions such as search times were

  12% and were identified as the main

  issues

MEASURES AND RESULTS

· Reduction of material transport in the department

· Introduction of a buffer system with fixed spaces allocated for each workstation

· Employees got an overview of the production volume at their workplace

· Reduction of the amount of product in the department, as only one defined input

  buffer is available - identifying bottlenecks sooner

· Easier part tracking in the department without complex software

· Issuing tickets for material carts and pallets

· Material can be controlled through production without further intervention by a

  supervisor

· Employees can quickly grasp the production process of individual parts and adapt

  their work independently if necessary