Published on 21/12/2011

Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) 
Case Study

Scottish Courage – SMED

Glen Electric Ltd. based in Newry, had embarked on a massive programme of implementing lean manufacturing techniques that would enable them to become as competitive on cost as their counterparts in China. This meant that they needed to massively reduce the led times from 4 weeks down to less than 1 week where possible.

Inventories carried at every stage of manufacture were a critical point of their focus and in particular at the press stage where several weeks of production requirement were traditionally batched. 

The case study below illustrates the impact that 2 days can have on a changeover of an 800T hydraulic press.

A small team of operators and support staff were assembled to carry out an actual changeover so that each element could be identified, quantified and SMED employed to reduce the changeover time.

The data collected from the study was then analysed using gantt charts before all possible improvement opportunities were discussed. The reallocation of tasks enabled each of the operators to work simultaneously and without unnecessary walking around the press. The revised allocation was then put to the test with a resultant drop in Changeover time from 75 minutes to 45 min's.

The impact of this S.M.E.D. activity will also have a significance in terms of the overall capacity of the press since the proposed introduction of a press supermarket will require the press to change over much more frequently that the current 2 changes per day.

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