Set Up Reduction

By streamlining their facility, Kembles/Yamaha Pianos have been able to reduce their stock by £450,000, having undertaken the renowned ukfirst Set Up Reduction Workshop.

Objectives
-  To reduce the overall level of finished goods in stock.
-  To reduce the batch sizes by 50%
-  To identify and eliminate the possibility of "bottlenecks" affecting process flow.

Approach
ukfirst Master Engineer, Bruce Lovell conducted a company diagnostic with a focus on reducing the level of finished products in stock. Kembles were using an external warehouse which held an estimated £800,000 in stock. To reduce the costs caused by overhead charges, the number of finished products needed to be cut drastically to increase flexibility and meet customers’ expectations.

Tools and techniques
To tackle the issues relating to stock levels, the Kembles team observed and recorded the set up processes on five of the main machines over a two month period. As a result, the following activities were completed;
-  A high level process map of the manufacturing process
-  A standard work combination table
-  Action plans were formulated based on the raw data

Results
The analysis of the raw data collected by the team indicated that set up time was the main cause of downtime for all five machines.
-  The batch sizes were reduced by 50% from 12 to 6.
-  By using the space in the main factory more efficiently, the cost of the overheads for the external warehouse were reduced.

As a result of the set up reduction workshop, Kembles achieved a 50% reduction of finished goods in stock, achieving the original objectives.

Client Feedback:

"Utilising the experience and expertise of the shop floor team to collect and analyse their processes and complete actions to reduce set up times has made a significant impact on the finished goods stock value."
Robert Brown, Kembles Manufacturing Director