Rethinking Facility Space, Manufacturers Increase Efficiency

Better facility layouts help companies improve production

Someone who hadn't visited the production area at Air Quality Engineering's facility in Brooklyn Park for a year might be amazed at the transformation.

"This place didn't have any room," says Enterprise Minnesota consultant Richard Crummy. "It was so crowded with overflow inventory that they were building products under racks."

But that is not the case anymore. Air Quality Engineering (AQE), a manufacturer and world-wide distributor of air filtration systems, is one of several Minnesota companies that have redesigned or refurbished their facility layout to improve efficiency and better use their space.  

AQE president Heidi Oas had noticed that the production area for the company's MistBuster® had become cluttered, with employees "tripping over each other." That is when she asked Crummy to help with a redesign. The MistBuster®, a compact air cleaner for metalworking applications used primarily in manufacturing facilities, represents nearly a fifth of the company's total annual sales.

Since prototyping the product more than ten years ago, AQE had built each unit on a cart-assembly. Yet, as customers ordered higher volumes of the MistBuster®, AQE's assembly formed a bottleneck of activity in production because their assembly could not match demand efficiently enough.

Crummy worked with AQE to facilitate a process for employees to provide input on improving efficiency.  Their ideas included configuring the line to accommodate variations and options in the MistBuster® product and improving ergonomic concerns regarding lifting the units onto the line for assembly and off the line for packaging.  Using this employee input, AQE identified a suitable existing space within the plant and went to work redesigning a better process. The company recycled old tables and carts, laid out new steps for production, added a lift table at the beginning, and a jib crane at the end of the assembly.

Now, after going through a redesign, the company produces units more quickly, with greater variety, and in higher volume. The previous method used one worker to produce five units in an eight hour day, but now two employees can produce 12 to 14 units per day. Overall, AQE estimates increasing production on the line 20 to 40 percent.

By rethinking its production area, AQE is able to build more models in the same space, more efficiently, with lower physical lifting requirements, and less inventory. It is also safer and looks much neater, says Oas.

"We knew that there was a solution for us - better way to be building this product in our space - and we now have a really improved line," Oas said.

In 2007, Engineered Products Co. (EPCO) recognized that it needed to completely move into a newly redesigned facility to match its goal for increased manufacturing. Driven by customer demand for new product lines, the company, which supplies electrical distributors with specialty lighting, lighting accessories, and wiring solutions, was running out of space for continued growth says marketing manager Allen Guidry.

"There was not enough room to encompass the company mission and product offering" Guidry said.

EPCO moved into a redesigned facility in Minnetonka. In the short term, Guidry says the move allowed EPCO to add product lines, improve efficiency, and increase manufacturing capacity to meet demand. With extra room in the new facility, the company expects to be able to continue future expansion and growth.

"We now have the space to serve customers even more efficiently, bringing more product manufacturing in house and meeting customers' just-it-time inventory needs and custom extrusion requests," says EPCO president Jack Schuster. 

The Next Generation of Lean

When: July 22, 2009, 8:00am - 11:00am
Where: Gorecki Center, College of St. Benedict, St. Joseph
Cost: $110, Group Rate 4 for $237
Continental breakfast provided.



Who should attend:
CEOs, General Managers, CFOs, CIOs, VPs, Mid Level Managers, & Supervisors

What to expect:
Competing and winning today in business requires foresight that includes Green (environmental sustainability) and Lean (reduced costs and increased efficiency) to create strategies that deliver clear, measurable, and rapid returns. Come learn how today's successful organizations are combining Lean and Green practices to improve productivity, competitiveness and opportunities for growth.

Presenters:

Register online today!

For questions or more information email events@enterpriseminnesota.org or call our events line at 612.455.4239.