Our Process Optimization Team was engaged as a partner and extension to our client’s team to identify process issues and improve material flow of site and entire facility to reduce the headcount, improve material handling efficiencies as well as improve site safety. The team optimized the facility layout to support business growth for the next 5 years with additional production and storage capacity.
PROJECT WINS
Optimized facility layout and flow to increase capacity and meet future sales growth.
Redesigned the internal warehouse to optimize storage space and increase pallet storage capacity by 50%.
Redesigned the 200K+ Sq. Ft. yard to improve storage and material flow, reduce congestion as well as increase safety.
Improved picking and material handling efficiencies.
Identified aged (potentially obsolete) materials.
Worked with the IT system providers to ensure the system supported the new material flow processes.
BOTTOM-LINE RESULTS:
50% improvement on pallet storage
30% improvement on manufacturing capacity
One way traffic flow to improve safety and reduce truck turnaround time
Don’t be Caught Off Guard and Risk Unplanned Downtime
Health Assessments of your manufacturing systems including conveyors, process tooling and other equipment can be one of the best investments you make to minimize lost production and the costs associated with catastrophic failures. It can literally pay for itself many times over by allowing you to anticipate failures and plan remediation rather than react to it. Design Systems teams of trained engineering specialists can quickly assess your plant equipment for potential failures with no disruption to your production.
Real-World Applications
Assists shifting from reactive maintenance to predictive maintenance.
Decreased unplanned downtime and risk of unplanned maintenance.
Reduce repair costs.
Assessments are the first step in establishing a preventative maintenance program or optimizing an existing maintenance program.
The DSI Advantage
We have a specialized team that have conducted numerous health assessments on process equipment in different manufacturing and production facilities. Our equipment health assessments are completely unbiased, objective and independent. Since we do not sell any equipment, parts or maintenance our customers can have confidence in our findings. The final report we provide to you is easy to use by facility maintenance, engineering and management.
Delivering Projects On Budget, On Target, On Time….Every Time!
Controlling The Triple Constraint Triangle
“I want it Good, Fast and Cheap.” In response you likely have also heard “I can give you any two of those.”
Helping the customer understand and find the balance between these seemingly diametrically opposed constraints is the responsibility of Program Management. Checks and balances of these variables is constantly monitored and opportunities for improvement are identified.
Strategic Resources Team – Tailored To Your Project Strategy
Our Program Managers understand manufacturing and have broad knowledge and diverse skills. We identify needs to ensure that every area of the plan is covered and avoid unexpected complications and cost over-runs. Project success requires having the right subject matter experts and engineers. Our large staff allows us to draw from a pool of well qualified individuals.
Concept Through Commission
Program Management Services has been at our core since DSI’s inception in 1983. Through this time very robust tools and procedures have been developed for each program phase. Project phases may require more / less resources with differing skill sets. Having qualified personnel assures the transition from phase to phase continues seamlessly.
Industries Served
Program Management has been provided for Aerospace, Appliances, Defense, E-Commerce, Food & Beverage, Foundry, Heavy Equipment, Motor Vehicles, Paper, Parcel Handling, Pharmaceutical, Textile, Tire & Rubber and many others.
We Have Been Providing Our Cumulative & Progressive Application of Program Management Control Techniques For Decades With Proven Track Record.
The ability to visualize the dynamics of workstations and assess their efficiency in terms of cycle time and layout design is a critical component of Process Simulation and engineering. Integrating 2D and 3D Resources as well as human models in a virtual environment and simulating work assignments provides a unique advantage to visualize non-value added activities and man-machine interaction. Process Simulation also allows for the virtual verification and assessment of product assembly sequences and product-plant interferences, leading to accurate and timely virtual evaluations of manufacturing and assembly facility design and production.
Real-World Applications
Transfer Systems, Conveyor Systems, Assembly Sequence, Fixtures, Pallets, Robots
Static Work Stations, Kit Cells, Machine Load Stations
Dynamic Assembly Lines with Conveyors, Carriers, AGVs
Operator’s Point of View Analysis and Station Buy-offs Using VR/AR Application
The DSI Advantage
Determine if modifications to manual and automated stations will affect cycle time
Animated representation of your system to detect any interferences
Ability to test “what if?” scenarios
Design station platform heights to suit your environment requirements
MODAPTS IE time integration and man-machine interaction
2D/3D layout / BIM integration and exporting capabilities
Point cloud integration
Line optimization by simulation to determine bottlenecks
Ergonomics and golden zone analysis for population anthropometry
Virtual safety risk assessment utilizing virtual / augmented reality technology and 3D station buy-offs prior to capital expenditures
The future of manufacturing is Industry 4.0. Many companies are struggling to define what that means to their specific operations. Design Systems, Inc. can leverage our decades of experience in manufacturing and supply chain engineering to create a technology and operational roadmap to achieve desired goals for the Manufacturing Digital Twin.
Logistics / Supply Chain Management Company – Redford, MI
OVERVIEW
A Logistics / Supply chain management company had a problem and turned to Design Systems, Inc. for help. They needed assistance with creating an optimized facility that included optimal storage locations based on daily usage and delivery frequencies and also maintain their current manpower counts. They also needed help with determining areas of congestion and seeking opportunities for LEAN processes to increase throughput and minimize operator walk time in the facility.
APPROACH
Our team took a phase based approach that was planned out and agreed upon before arriving onsite. The objective was to create a baseline assessment of current dock and storage capacity levels and verify manpower requirements. Using the data provided by the customer, the DSI team was able to create the baseline requirements and a PFEP to drive the future state improvements for efficiency. Phase two took the findings from phase one and worked with the customer to develop the future state layout that optimized floor space and the business units footprint while increasing throughput without increasing manpower.
Our Process Optimization Team was engaged as a partner and extension to the customer team to identify and improve efficiencies through facility consolidations, manufacturing process and material flow improvements.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Redesigned production layouts to optimize space utilization.
Perform dock analysis to determine optimal receiving dock locations.
Instrumental in centralization of production and consolidation of three facilities.
Incorporated sub-assembly cells for insourced work.
Optimized production using lean principles to increase throughput.
A large Detroit, Michigan based automotive parts supplier was tasked with relocating line side sequencing cells to an offline area in order to reduce the amount of material displayed next to the production line.
After establishing the sequencing cell locations, a fork lift free material delivery plan was to be developed to transport the racks of sequenced parts from the sequencing cells to line side. Design Systems, Inc. developed a facility layout that supports the relocation of the sequencing cells with a dock, material flow, and storage analysis.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Conduct circle of work assessment of new process to understand material flow within the facility.
Perform dock analysis to determine optimal receiving dock locations.
Analyze storage space to identify alternative layouts for racking locations.
Develop block and detailed layouts of the facility including offline sequencing cells, storage, and docks.
Perform labor utilization analysis based on material flow findings.
Make high level organizational structure recommendations.
BOTTOM-LINE RESULTS:
Three layout proposals of the facility with varying forklift methods
10% reduction of operators per shift
$750,000 saved in head count annually
$300,000 saved per year from elimination of different sequencing operations while maintaining or improving efficiency
Improved overall morale and productivity through identification of organizational concerns
Material Flow Engineering is the process of engineering, analyzing, optimizing, and defining the Physical Part Routing for every unique part. We see it as the movement of materials or parts within the manufacturing facility. We can handle the flow of the product or process from dockside to lineside.
Real-World Applications
Plan for Every Part (PFEP)
Visibility into disparate parts data, bringing it together in one place.
Containerization
Tailor package, container, rack design to meet your budget and functionality requirements
Material Delivery
Ensure materials and parts delivered to the worker use the most efficient route and reduce congestion.
Optimize delivery routes
Ensure your facility has the right ‘vehicle’ to transport material from receiving at dockside to placement its final destination.
The DSI Advantage
We work with our clients to determine which of our material flow services are best suited to your facilities needs. We give you the results that are required for your facility. We tailor our real-world applications to your facility.
DSI has performed a yearly health assessment at this automotive manufacturer for the past few years. This year presented a new challenge as the client’s facility now produces a vehicle that is heavier than their systems are rated for. The client’s main concern is the additional wear and strain this vehicle is causing. The inspection teams still performed a typical mechanical assessment while placing more focus on observing and documenting abnormal conditions that their maintenance personnel may not be finding.
APPROACH / GOALS / OBJECTIVES
The inspection teams documented a total of 440 reportable issues with the client’s conveyors. 41% of the items reported in the inspection report required immediate or near-term remediation. Nineteen critical issues were found during the inspections that required immediate notification and attention of the client’s maintenance department.
Some of these critical issues were known by the client which validated their observations. The other critical issues were unknown to the client, so they were appreciative to learn of these issues as soon as they were discovered. The Health Assessment Planning Detail Report assisted the client with addressing and closing approximately 60% of the immediate concern items within the first two weeks of receiving the inspection report.
The inspection teams encountered a few conveyors with inaccurate paths on the customer-supplied layout. While not part of the scope of work, the inspection teams did perform a brief field check and update of the affected layout and provided that information to the client as a courtesy.
BOTTOM-LINE RESULTS:
25 IP&F Conveyors Assessed
4 VDLs Assessed
440 Issues classified as reportable discovered
181 Issues classified as requiring immediate or near-term repair or replacement
19 Issues classified as critical
Over 100 Issues resolved within the first two weeks of receiving our inspection report
Provide engineering and Project Management support to relocate existing manufacturing operations from the existing facility in Livonia, MI to the new facility in Canton, MI.
CUSTOMER
Lyon Manufacturing
Objectives
Relocate manufacturing equipment to brand new facility.
Formulate efficient transfer plan without disruption of sales or productivity.
Analyze current layouts and design warehouse material storage for increased capacity and efficiency.
Develop the detailed facility requirements to support manufacturing process in the new building.
Provide dedicated field support to manage the various sub-contractors to ensure the project schedule and scope of work is maintained.
Description
Provide field support to coordinate all installation and equipment relocation tasks with team to ensure a smooth transition, provide daily progress updates, and verify the functionality of the equipment after installation.
“Bottom Line” Results
Successful relocation of required equipment from old facility to new facility.
Bid packages for Lyon for the successful completion of office relocation in the new facility.
All construction and installation coordination completed on time.
All facility, timing and budget criteria successfully met.
