Pythia Industries

Sample Plant

Implementation plan

1. Weigh one shift of bins at three jobs

The weights show which jobs make enough leftover plastic to grind.

Action	Pick three jobs that allow regrind and run all shift. Put an empty bin at each press, for runners and rejected parts only. At the end of the shift, weigh each bin on the floor scale, less the empty bin. Write down the job, the plastic and the pounds.
Owner	Shift supervisor, with a material handler
Purchases	None
Decision	Do the three bins together weigh about 25 pounds or more?
Fallback	If the bins are light, weigh three other jobs first. A mold with heated feed channels makes no runner.

2. Run one grinder at the heaviest bin

The first grinder shows its pounds and its handling before the others are bought.

Action	Read the job's limit on regrind from its customer's specification, and set the share within it. Stand a small, slow-turning grinder on a cart beside the press, where the operator drops runners and rejected parts into it. A material handler weighs the flakes into each box of new resin at that share. Where the plastic is dried before molding, the flakes are dried with it. Clean the grinder out before it moves to another plastic or color.
Owner	Process technician, with the quality manager and the material handlers
Purchases	One grinder on a cart, about $7,500
Decision	Does the job mold about 125 pounds of regrind per week, with no more rejected parts than before?
Fallback	If parts show specks or streaks, lower the share and check that only one plastic went in.

3. Add grinders at the next heaviest bins

Each further grinder goes where a shift of weighing shows it pays.

Action	Weigh a shift of bins at the next jobs that allow regrind. Order a grinder for each job whose bin is heavy enough. Keep each grinder with one plastic, and label its flakes. Track the pounds of regrind molded again each week.
Owner	Plant manager
Purchases	Five more grinders, about $37,500
Decision	Do the grinders together mold about 750 pounds of regrind per week?
Fallback	If the bins at the smaller jobs are light, sort their plastic and sell it to a recycler.

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