Engineering Services | Crystal Lean Solutions

Key Business Challenges and Project Objectives:

Our SME client (less than 10 people) is a leading supplier of Engineering Goods and Services to the Marine and Industrial markets in Ireland and into Europe. Given the nature of the service provided, the company responds to address unplanned events at the clients’ facility. A key challenge for the business is to continuously reduce costs while simultaneously responding to unplanned customer requirements. Crystal Lean Solutions developed the following program objectives in collaboration with the team:

To provide employees with a foundation in Lean principles and its benefits.
To reduce the Change Over Time of the Purification Process by 50%.
To implement 5s at the Manufacturing Process.

CLS Approach and Changes Implemented:

With the cross functional team, the process was described at the actual workplace and then mapped. All sources of waste were identified and then prioritised by the team for elimination. Solutions to eliminate the “top 5” waste activities were then brainstormed and the following changes were implemented over 4-month period:

All tooling, equipment and consumables required for the Purification changeover are at point of use in the correct quantity.
Colour coding of critical connectors with a tag system to communicate status of use.
5s of the process (signage and labelling) was implemented to minimise search time.
Utilisation by the team of the A3 Report to manage the project.

Results / Outcomes:

Release of €40k Additional Capacity for the business
Annual cost savings of €40k
Reduced changeover time by 43%
Certified Lean Yellow Belts for Lean training and project execution.
“Improved the quality of the service provided to clients”

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On Time Delivery Improvement Project

Key Business Challenges and Project Objectives:

Our Engineering Services client has a functional structure and found it challenging to ship on time, consistently. From an analysis, a number of issues were identified preventing shipments on time. One area identified was a lack of communication across the functions, resulting in shipments not meeting delivery requirements. CLS were invited to mentor the team on Visual Management as a possible improvement to managing shipments. The key objectives of this project were:

Design and implement a Visual Management System to support On Time shipments to customer
Improve On Time Delivery from 60% to 75%

CLS Approach and Changes Implemented:

CLS worked with the Project Team, starting with identification of the customers of the Shipment process and understanding their requirements, using a SIPOC. A list of 65 requirements were identified initially. The 65 items were prioritised and reduced to 8 critical requirements. Next the key information required to meet customer requirements were identified and who can provide this data. The team communicated these requirements to the relevant people and confirmed how frequently the information was required and in what format. On completion on the SIPOC, the following actions were implemented over a two-month timeframe with minimal investment:

Designed a Shipment Board with the key elements of information identified on the Board
Identified colour coding to identify what elements were on target for shipment (green) and what elements were not on target (red)
Designed a process to implement actions for Red items
Completed training and Piloted the process
Updated board design from Pilot

Results / Outcomes:

Designed and Implemented a Visual Management System to manage shipments.
Engaged the functions to work effectively together and reducing stress associated with shipments for people involved.
Improved On Time Delivery from 60% to 80%.

Streamline Bottleneck Process to Deliver Capacity and Cost Savings

Key Business Challenges and Project Objectives:

CLS Approach and Changes Implemented:

Results / Outcomes: