How to Reduce Machine Changeover Times
SMED projects are so much fun and extremely beneficial in so many ways!
Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) also goes by the names Rapid Changeover (RCO), Quick Changeover and Set-up Reduction. Although it changes its name often, it’s still easy to recognize it in a dark factory parking lot.
This entry is the first of a series of teachings on SMED and the steps needed to implement it. Here we will focus on the first two steps.
Why use SMED in your factory? Everyone benefits!
The operator benefits by having less fatigue during the changeover process and a faster more robust ramp-up after the changeover means less stress. Also, they benefit from the improved and coordinated teamwork that SMED offers.
The company benefits because faster changeovers can mean more changeovers and thus lower inventory levels. Faster changeovers also result in lower labor costs.
The customer benefits by having a more flexible supplier who can better meet their service requirements. From a customer perspective, the ideal MOQ is one piece and the closer a manufacturer can get to one piece without increasing the price, the better it is for the customer.
Finally, the team benefits by having a rewarding experience.
So let's get started!
Step 1: Collecting Your Baseline Data
Collect your baseline data by tracking your set-up times.
Ideally you get at least five data points before you launch the project, more is always better and three is the minimum. If you already have a data base of set-up times, feel free to use that. It will provide you with more data points which is always helpful. If you have different types of set-ups that vary extensively, then separate out that data and track the different types of set-ups on separate Excel graphs.
You then want to study one particular changeover in extreme detail. A video recording is a great tool to use. You can review the video and pause it to capture each step. You will want to have the timer visible in the video so you can time each step of the changeover individually. When you review that video, it’s good to have a Subject-Matter-Expert (SME) with you to help explain the steps. The whole team doesn’t need to review the entire video, but the video is a good resource to have on hand at meetings for review on a case-by-case basis.
If your changeovers are excessively long, you’ll want to just tackle two-hour sections of it at one time. When you cut the two-hour changeover segment down to one hour, then move on to the next two-hour segment.
Next, you will want to use Excel to create a detailed log of each step. The log should include these columns: Step Number, Step Description, Step Time (minutes), Cumulative Time & Internal or External (I will explain more about Internal and External changeover steps in Step 3).
This Excel document will have anywhere from twenty steps to hundreds - it depends on the complexity of the changeover. So take your time as you are going to need to go over each step with your team.
Which leads me to step 2: Form Your SMED Team
Once you have some baseline results and one detailed study, form your SMED team. The team should consist of cross-functional team membership, including your process SME, Operators, Technicians, a Planner, an Engineer and maybe a quality rep too. Six to eight team members is perfect.
SMED is all about brainstorming so as the team leader, you’ll want to bring your A-Game to the meetings. You want to get people really thinking outside of the box. Write down everyone’s ideas as they say them - the more ideas the better - and during this brainstorming activity, the ideas don’t even need to be good ones. Because next, after a good bit of brainstorming, you’ll want to refine these ideas and bring them back into reality by forming concrete actionable plans. This is called Diverging and Converging. It's like a funnel – get all the ideas you can then refine them down to a few really solid ones.
Take notes and make assignments at all team meetings. Keep track of who’s doing what action and by when they are doing it (i.e., names and dates on a punch list of action items). Publish these action items every week along with your trend chart and rally your team around the favorable results. Positive recognition is always appreciated!
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