Delft University of Technology
Faculty Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering Transport Technology
N.S. Ramkhelawan Lean tooling
Masters thesis, Report 2006.PEL.7108, Transport Engineering and Logistics.
This thesis gives an outline of the study of implementing Lean Manufacturing at the Tooling department at Stork Fokker AESP Papendrecht. Fokkers customers demand more flexibility, faster deliveries and lower prices. To be able to compete with competitors Fokker decided to implement the principles of Lean Manufacturing. Lean Manufacturing focuses on reducing lead time and eliminating waste and starts with creating value for the customer. The Tooling department at Fokker has a supportive function towards Production and takes care of the maintenance, repair en outsourcing of tooling. Lean Manufacturing has to be implemented at the Tooling department so that support can be given with short lead time at low costs and high quality. The method which is used to execute the research is called the "Bikker's analysis" [Bikker (1993)]. This method consists of an analysis of the goals and policies and an examination of the organization of the processes. Regarding the analysis of the goals and policies of the future situation the first three principles of Lean Manufacturing are applied. The first principle, specify value for the customer, is applied by specifying the demands of Production. These demands relate to need for feedback of the completion date of orders, a clearer transparency of the department. More communication in the design phase of tooling and a faster lead time for the outsourcing phase of tooling where good quality and reliable deliveries are required.
The second principle of Lean, identify the value stream and eliminate waste, is executed by means of value stream mapping. The third principle of Lean, let value flow, focuses on making value-creating steps flow without interruption.
After analyzing the goals and policies the examination of the organization of processes was executed. Hereby an analysis was made of the input,
transformation and output regarding the processes of the Tooling department. Resulting from this analysis and the Lean-principles is diverted that there are problems with the input coming from Production. The transparency of the Tooling department is not clear. There is a lack of a capacity planning and priority classification, bad intern communication within the processes of the Tooling department and extern with the Purchase department and Production. By means of the problems in the current situation solutions are developed within the framework of the Lean principles and these will now be described in short.
For feedback of the completion date of orders a feedback regulation is drawn up which has the purpose to inform Production when orders will be completed at a later date than was planned. A feedback regulation is also drawn up for the selection of suppliers and for measuring the performance of the supplier. This is a solution to reduce the bad quality of outsourced tooling which is caused by the supplier. A solution for reducing bad quality caused by poorly written specifications by Fokker is to organize consultation meetings which are attended by people from the Tooling Department, the Purchase department, Production and the Supplier.
The external transparency of department Tooling can be improved by describing for which tasks the input documents are used and which processes are responsible for carrying these out. The internal transparency, particularly with respect to outsourcing, is improved by documenting which processes are responsible for the tasks to that have to be carried out regarding the outsourcing of tooling. The tasks and the responsible processes are placed in a matrix. The value stream mapping session shows the waste in the processes which must be eliminated. The process "Ontvangst" where outsourced tooling comes in takes place not only at Expedition, but also at "Inspection". The process where the tooling is received at Expedition is a waste and must therefore be removed from the toolingprocess. Another process that can be removed is "Inspection" which takes place after the tooling has been installed. For this the "Mallenbouwers" (who install the tooling) must follow a quality training, so that they are qualified to inspect the installed tooling themselves.
By implementing the above mentioned solutions, the principles of Lean Manufacturing can be introduced at the Tooling department. Reports on Production Engineering and Logistics (in Dutch)
