How many times does this happen to you? You need to changeover the tooling in a machine and you hear:
“This is going to take forever!” or “Why can’t we just run it all together?”
Machine operators are pros when it comes to complaining about changeovers – and for good reason! Change-overs can be one of the most frustrating parts of a machine operator’s day. They are often time-consuming and disrupt throughput. Unfortunately, changeovers are commonplace in today’s industry as things have changed drastically in recent years. In manufacturing, many companies have been forced to go from producing orders in batches to producing orders in one piece flows. Because of this, many companies are looking to find new ways to complete orders in a timely manner while having to changeover tooling in the process.
Ways to Improve Changeovers
1) Make sure each machine has the tools it needs
By making sure each machine has the tools it needs at all times in order to perform a change, changeovers can run a lot smoother. Having to track tools down at the very moment you realize you need them can be a real pain. Save time by preventing yourself from running all over the shop and just have them handy at all times.
2) Find different types of die transportation that do not require a forklift
By not having to transport dies using a forklift, you save time and effort that could be spent doing other things.
3) Take into account total changeover time
Total changeover time isn’t just the time it takes to take tools in and out of a machine. A changeover starts from the moment you run your last good piece before changing tooling to the first good piece you run with the new tooling. By planning around this, you can plan ahead of time to get other things done, such as cleaning your workstation on helping out on other parts of the floor.
By improving the time it takes to complete a changeover, your organization can not only increase throughput each and every day, but you can also increase the number of different products that you can produce within a given amount of time. Implementing these tips to your business can help make changeovers far less of a burden.
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