LEAN MANUFACTURING CERTIFICATION

November - December 2018

In order to boost the profitability of manufacturing manufacturing companies, the Monterrey Competitiveness Monterrey Competitiveness Center (CCM) created the Transformación Esbelta (Tres) program, which offers consulting and offers consulting and training aimed at continuous improvement. continuous improvement.

The program consists of six modules, in which the participant gradually learns about the participant gradually learns about the principles, philosophy of Lean Manufacturing, its methods and tools in a sequential manner to implement them in their organization. The host companies of the program such as Metalsa, Carrier, Cuprum, Prolec GE and John Deere, allow you to visit their production facilities to learn from the successful implementation of the methodologies the methodologies being taught.

Lean manufacturing and Viakón

The effectiveness of this learning scheme led Andrea Gonzalez Cervantes to enter the program in the middle of the year. González Cervantes to join the program in mid-2017. 2017. At the time she was working as a continuous improvement engineer at Viakón -a brand of Viakable, the cable division of the Xignux of the Xignux consortium. Despite this, she says that she did not have the necessary skills to solve problems on the shop floor and meet the plant's annual targets.

One of Viakón's growing markets is the automotive sector. "There are more and more new customers setting up in Querétaro and Aguascalientes, who require the type of cable in Querétaro and Aguascalientes that require the type of cable produced on one of the plant's lines," he says. produced on one of the plant's lines," he says. If Although the traditional production method of the company - founded in 1956 - has in 1956 - has kept it in the market for more than 60 years, "it presents opportunities that 60 years, "it presents opportunities that challenge us as professionals," says González, says González.

This challenge was already presenting us with a major challenge with our customer. with our customer. "Fulfilling orders was becoming more and more complex, so we needed to make that line more efficient and productive. line to be more efficient and more productive in order to meet and satisfy to be able to meet and satisfy the needs of our customers," says Gonzalez. and meet the needs of our customers," Gonzalez says.

The pilot project for the certification

As a requirement for the MCC to grant the certification, participants must put into practice the tps processes learned during the processes learned during the implementation of a pilot project pilot project in an area of their company. And it was precisely this line chosen for this purpose.

Implementation began at the end of July 2017. From In parallel, Xignux launched a scheme called the Xignux Operating Model Xignux Operating Model, with which it also sought to integrate lean manufacturing tools in all its plants. lean manufacturing tools in all of its plants. This This paved the way for Gonzalez to align its purpose with the consortium's objectives and thus ensure that all efforts were focused on the success of the project. on the success of the project.

In those days, the line moved between 35 and 36 tons of product and was operated by nine employees. of product, and was operated by nine employees a day, that is, three employees per day, i.e., three operators per shift. Each product changeover took about 20 minutes, which, in addition to stoppages due to line failures, kept the machine at 60 percent availability. percent availability.

As project leader, Gonzalez faced the biggest challenge of all: resistance to change. with the biggest challenge of all: resistance to change. One of the most common mistakes is to operate with more time and resources than necessary. time and resources than necessary. "Sometimes the 'just in case' culture Sometimes the 'just in case' culture is what holds us back as a company. as a company... We have to change that," he says, he says. To achieve a successful transformation, the whole team needs to be aligned transformation, it is necessary for the whole team to be aligned with the philosophy. with the philosophy, which is why he considers certification to be fundamental not only for the certification is fundamental not only for a plant's continuous improvement area of a plant, but for the entire team. team.

"WE STARTED WITH VERY BASIC TOPICS, AS 5S: TIDYING UP THE AREA, ALIGNING THE INFORMATION OF THE INFORMATION, SEE WHAT STANDARDS WERE STANDARDS WERE UPDATED, WHICH ONES NEEDED TO BE UPDATED."

With the implementation of the pokayoke mechanism -technique in which, with the use of devices, it is possible to detect errors in a machine in order to eliminate them in they were able to analyze the repetitive faults on the line and eliminate them. line and eliminate them. Shift changes shift changes were reduced to just eight minutes, increasing the machine's availability to 72.5 minutes. machine increased its availability to 72.5 %, increased productivity %, increased productivity by 44 %, and moved up to 53 tons. up to 53 tons. "Month by month we were giving more availability; that meant more product moved, less downtime and more time focused on producing," says Gonzalez. on producing," says Gonzalez.

How to change philosophy

The first step was to inculcate the philosophy and its benefits through workshops with supervisors. through workshops with supervisors, operators, process operators, process engineers and the plant manager the plant manager, and then, together with the team, to analyze the the line's process, identify areas for improvement and implement the processes. then, together with the team, analyze the line's process, identify areas for improvement and implement the processes. "Once the foundations for improvement Once the foundations for improvement with 5S were laid, the team set about the task of the task of generating the standardized work to improve operator training improve operator training; reduce our set-up times through the Quick our setup times through Quick Changeover (qco) Changeover (qco); inventory control using Kanban cards and visual control; and Kanban cards and visual control, among other tools, Gonzalez points out.

By the end of November of the same year, the benefits were already tangible. the same year, the benefits were already tangible. The number of operators had been reduced to the number of operators to two per shift, reducing costs and costs were reduced and there was an operating profit benefit of 29 percent. operating profit of 29 percent.

With the implementation of the pokayoke mechanism -technique in which, with the use of devices, it is possible to detect errors in a machine in order to eliminate them in they were able to analyze the repetitive faults on the line and eliminate them. line and eliminate them. Shift changes shift changes were reduced to just eight minutes, increasing the machine's availability to 72.5 minutes. machine increased its availability to 72.5 %, increased productivity %, increased productivity by 44 %, and moved up to 53 tons. up to 53 tons. "Month by month we were giving more availability; that meant more product moved, less downtime and more time focused on producing," says Gonzalez. on producing," says Gonzalez.

The benefits of certification

Gonzalez obtained the certification in December 2017 and, with this, the ability to analyze problems and identify the right tools to solve them efficiently. efficiently. This not only led her to successfully implement her project successfully, but also to be considered for the Xignux Leadership Program (plx) (plx), with which the consortium seeks to develop future plant leaders. future plant leaders.

While the certification has a focus on production areas, it can production areas, it can easily be applied to any process and any process and company. González recalls the case of Cuprum, one of the host companies. "It invests a lot in certification and people from warehousing, purchasing, raw material people from warehousing, purchasing, raw materials, not just people on the floor. people who are on the shop floor. We still keep it in the plant, but I do still keep it in the plant, but I do think it should start to reach the administrative to the administrative areas," he says.

And while he acknowledges that the investment was high, he believes that for a company, the cost could be covered in just a couple of months in just a couple of months from operating profit and the benefits would be long-lasting. and the benefits would be long-lasting. "That's something we don't is something we don't visualize as Mexican companies," adds González, González adds.

The success of this line led Viakón to further develop it into a model of efficiency. to make it a model of efficiency and continue the process on the other lines. Today, the entire plant works with the 5S strategy, a tps tool focused on achieving lasting tps tool focused on achieving lasting improvements based on five Japanese based on five Japanese principles: seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu and seiketsu, seiso, seiketsu and shitsuke (classification, order, cleanliness, standardization and discipline), cleanliness, standardization and discipline).

As a corporate, Xignux considers the possibility of more candidates for this certification. For the time being, it is already working hand in hand with the CCM in the creation of an internal training program for to achieve the lean transformation of its plants. of its plants.