A well-designed workstation is one where manufacturing employees have free access to tools and equipment. It's one where operators aren't inhibited by a lack of space. Ultimately, it's an area free of obstructions and one where work flows easily from one stage to the next. The approach is simple: Adopt lean manufacturing principles by isolating the causes of downtime and eliminating them altogether. So, what are the steps to properly designing a workstation?
Step 1: Take Existing Cycle Times, Flaws and All
Like any good analysis you need a starting point, or better put, a reference point. Encountering high cycle times in a flawed station is a good thing. Don’t change anything with this first step. Capture all the times and track them accordingly. Take as many samples as you need. Remember, high times in this situation are welcomed. They identify issues of concern, ones you can document for future reference.
Step 2: Take Note of Lost Time
Don’t stop the process to account for the duration of the downtime. Let it run its course. Eventually, the issues will become more obvious and you'll have a greater understanding of the reasons work stoppages are occurring. The table below is an example of how you can capture multiple operations during the analysis.
The above table is taken from the article: Small Manufacturer’s Sample Excel Sheet for Cycle Time Analysis. The article includes two excel sheets. The one above is for short production runs, ones where set-up times play a role in the cycle times emerging from a given cell. The second sheet is for larger production runs, ones where set-up times aren't a concern due to the high volume within the batch quantities being manufactured.
Step 3: Track Incidence of Lost Time
If lost time is a serious issue. then you’ll begin to notice the cycle times increase. For instance, if it’s a machine related issue, it will likely occur over and over again. If it’s related to improper work instructions or work orders, you’ll notice that as well. It’s important to look for those continuous causes of downtime.
In a number of instances, it simply comes down to how the station is designed. If you properly design the work area, you'll likely find you'll immediately improve results. The video below provides some insight on how to properly lay out work areas on your shop floor.
The above video explains the importance of designing a functional and easy-to-use workstation. It is taken from the article: Manufacturing Work Cell Optimization: Design, Layout and Analysis. The article outlines three simple designs. It also shows how to determine the productivity rate and summarize the volumes emerging within a given work area.
Step 4: Backtrack Lost Time
You have two methods you can use to show the impact of work stoppages. One is to concentrate on why the lowest cycle times occurred, while the other is to focus on why downtime occurred. In this case, concentrate on removing the causes of the high cycle times. If you’ve documented the issues from step 2, then you now have a list of concerns to address. These become the basis for setting up the perfect manufacturing workstation. If you want to see what these times look like, then put them on a graph like the one below.
Tracking variances is essential when isolating the causes of work stoppages. The graph above depicts 20 operations, while accounting for both the mean (average) and mode times. If you want to graph your own operations, then please see: Cycle Time Tracking & Variance Analysis in Excel for Small Manufacturers
Step 5: The Perfect Manufacturing Workstation
All those issues that caused downtime need to be dealt with. You’ll now set up the ideal work area by removing all these issues. Removing them will immediately produce results. Take a new set of cycle times. You should see a dramatic improvement. However, this is never a one-time process. You must continually revisit the work area in order to improve results.
Within the realm of manufacturing capacity planning, setting up the ideal workstation is pretty straightforward. However, it does take time and the willingness to revisit the area time and again. The mindset you must take is that the area must be set up the same way a doctor’s operating table would be. In order for a doctor to perform a seamless, uninterrupted operation, all his or her tools have to be within reach.
The same principle applies to designing your shop floor. All of the employee’s tools must be within reach. They must have the ability to move freely from one task and one operation to the next. Create the ideal work are and your cycle times will not only decrease, but your costs will as well. Again, this is a continuous process, one where you analyze the work area, take a series of times, fix issues and then reassess the same area at a later date in order to make additional improvements.
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