Pythia Industries

Sample Plant

Implementation plan

1. Time one mold change in four parts

The timing shows how much of a change is waiting.

Action	One person with a stopwatch watches the next mold change on any press, from the last good part to the first. Note four times: the wait for the mold, hoses and tools, the swap of the molds, the water hoses, and the run to the first good part. Note each trip away from the press, and what it was for. Do the same on one change on another shift.
Owner	Shift supervisor
Purchases	None
Decision	Does the press wait more than about 8 minutes for the mold, hoses or tools?
Fallback	If the mold, hoses and tools are already at the press when it stops, there is nothing here to fix.

2. Write a checklist for each mold

What each mold needs at a change is written down once.

Action	At a mold's next change, list what was used: each hose and its length, the fittings, the bolts and the tools. Keep the list with the mold on its rack. Correct it the day something on the mold changes.
Owner	Process technician on shift, with the mold shop
Purchases	None: about ten minutes for each mold, about $1,200 of a technician's time in all
Decision	Does a cart loaded from the list hold everything the change needs?
Fallback	If something is still missing, it is added to the list at that change.

3. Load a cart before the press stops

The fetching moves from after the stop to before it.

Action	Buy six carts, each with a set of water hoses, fittings and hand tools. At the start of each shift, name the mold changes due in that shift. While the old job still runs, load a cart from the next mold's checklist and bring the mold to the press. A mold too heavy for the cart waits on its pallet beside the press.
Owner	Shift supervisor, with the mold shop
Purchases	Six carts with hoses and tools, about $9,000
Decision	Is the next timed change shorter by about the minutes the first timing found in waiting?
Fallback	If carts are still loaded after the stop, one person loads them at the start of each shift.

4. Read the change times each week

The job log shows whether the minutes stay off.

Action	Read the week's mold changes from the ERP job log, by press and by shift. Compare the median with the 63 minutes before the carts. Where a shift is back at the old time, check whether its cart was loaded before the stop.
Owner	Plant manager
Purchases	None
Decision	Is the median mold change down to about 48 minutes?
Fallback	If it is not, time one change again in four parts to see where the minutes went.

Illustrative sample. The plant, the walk and the footage are synthetic.