Maintenance Products

EMS Case Study - Lean Manufacturing

Lean Focused MaintenanceTrader Media Print division is part of the Guardian Media Group and produce well-known magazine publications such asAutoTrader. These publications are dated and therefore must be on the shelves at an exact time or the business loses revenue. Managing Director, Alan Turner came to EMS recognising that they were lagging behind in manufacturing practice.

The Audits identified the sites’ strengths and weaknesses with common themes of: Little operator involvement in measurement, improvement & asset care A distinct lack of visual controls or visual management used on the production floor Opportunities for improving workplace organisation

The site was experiencing unreliable equipment, waste and other performance issues Following the diagnostic phase, EMS has delivered an extensive programme of Lean practice using techniques focused on; reliability, 5S, OEE measurement & Root Cause Analysis,

Visual Management techniques & organisational re-design 2 years on, the majority of the workforce has been involved in the programme.

Unsurprisingly, there is improved operating performance. The manufacturing teams have been re-structured with significantly more resource dedicated to continuous improvement One of the goals of the programmer was sustainability and internal ownership. Alan Turner recently wrote to thank EMS for Achieving just that: “All managers agreed………the input and advice received from E.M.S on key projects (CIL being a prime example) had been in valuable” He went on to explain that “The managers wish now to take full ownership … and to be self sufficient in as many areas as possible… It is encouraging that management wish to take ownership and drive a number of the projects to a conclusion”

EMS conducted master classes at each site on Lean Focused Maintenance. One particular programme was on a binding line at Wiltshire Print. The programmer involved a team of 8 operators& 1 maintainer. The first session was a management ownership workshop to ensure that the site’s management team
Fully understood the programme, its objectives and defined the boundaries for the team to work within.

The team then attended a 5-day workshop where they learned about measurement and data analysis, workplace organisation and the fundamentals of operator equipment asset care.

Following this the team developed theirown equipment asset care system whichuses visual management techniques extensivelyto make implementation easy and asfoolproof as possible. Neil Harris, Production planning managercommented on the programme:Little operator involvement in measurement,improvement & asset careA distinct lack of visual controls or visualmanagement used on the productionfloorOpportunities for improving workplaceorganisationThe site was experiencing unreliableequipment, waste and other performanceissuesA Typical Workshop- Masterclass“Printer Trades Old Traditions For Lean Techniques”“LFM is a very visual and easy to usemaintenance system….. the process really pulledus together as a team. We haveclearly noticed a difference in reliability and are looking forwardto using the same process toincrease reliability throughout thefactory”“….I can hazard a guess atthis stage that ourunplanned downtime has ecreased by 20% which isvery significant”

Pin It

This website is owned and operated by: MSL Media Limited

msl logo
www.mslmedialtd.com

Co. Number: 05359182

© 2022 MSL Media Ltd. All rights reserved. E&OE

ems logo mobile