Chute, belt and box counter

A chute and a belt carry the parts of two neighboring presses to one table, and a counter stops the belt at a full box.

Cost	About $15,000
Payback	About 3 months
Limitation	It works only where the hand work of two presses fits inside one cycle, and the two presses run the same hours.

What changes

A chute under each press catches the parts, and a short belt carries them to one table between two presses.

One person at that table trims and packs for both presses, and a counter stops the belt at each full box.

First, a supervisor times the hand work at one press, to check that one person can keep up with two.

What it costs and could save

For three presses the chutes, belts and counters cost about $15,000, and about $900 per year to keep up.
After that upkeep they could save about $55,400 per year, a payback of about 3 months.
The $55,400 is operator time, and it is cash only if overtime falls or a hire is not made.

Why it works

Mechanism	On a long job the hand work is the same every cycle, and the time left in the cycle is waiting. With the parts of two presses at one table, the wait at one press is filled with the hand work of the other. The counter does the counting, so the person does not have to watch a box fill.
Math	One person at each of three presses for about 2,500 hours per year is 7,500 operator hours. If one person tended two presses and nothing else got in the way, half of those hours would be freed. We count 25 percent, which is 1,875 hours, about $56,300 per year at $30 per hour. Upkeep of about $900 per year leaves about $55,400. The chutes, belts and counters cost about $15,000, a payback of about 3 months. Each press is worth about $18,500 per year, so the figure follows the count of presses.
Industry evidence	Makers of part conveyors sell belts with a counter that stops the belt at each full box. Mold design guides from resin suppliers describe a gate that cuts the part from its leftover plastic as the mold opens. In this plant, payroll lists about 15 operators and material handlers per shift for 26 presses. So on most presses one person already covers more than one. We found no published figure for the hours a shared table frees, so that share is our estimate.
Limitations	This is operator time, and it is cash only if overtime falls or a hire is not made. Payroll shows about 180 overtime hours per week, about 9,000 per year, and the 1,875 hours counted here are 21 percent of that. The shared table works only where the hand work of two presses fits inside one cycle, which the first check shows. It also needs two presses on long jobs side by side, running the same hours. One person then looks at the parts of two presses, so each part gets a shorter look.

Implementation plan	3 steps
Risks	3