M’s Machine and Manufacturing, based in Monona, produces precision metal and plastic parts for the agricultural, asphalt, automotive, and electrical industries.
Keeping up with demand during peak production had become a challenge due to labor shortages and the time-consuming process of changeovers on intricate lathes. The company has nine lathes, each averaging 75 changeovers per year. When changeovers slow down, so does production.
M’s Machine has five people trained to perform changeovers. These can take two hours and involve various tools, lathe jaws, fixtures, bolts, and wrenches. The goal was to shorten changeover time, improve production, and better serve customers.
Automation was seriously considered. Steve Wilson, CIRAS strategic advisor, conducted an Industry 4.0 Assessment for potential grant funding from the Iowa Economic Development Authority. But vice president and co-owner Candace Drahn and the leadership team decided the equipment was costly and required extensive training. Drahn had seen companies invest in robotics and fail to realize the benefits.
M’s Machine has worked with CIRAS for more than 20 years on staff training and recruitment. Drahn once again turned to CIRAS for a more practical, cost-effective solution.
“They offer a lot of expertise and people from different backgrounds,” said Drahn. “They are also familiar with us and are able to visit, walk around, listen to our challenges, and help develop solutions.”
“Sometimes a client believes they have the solution, and we can come in and show them options that may be more cost-effective for their company,” said Tracy Schuster, operational excellence service director. “Automation isn’t always the best solution. You don’t want to automate a bad process. Sometimes you can improve a process by working with team members to understand it and provide training on Lean thinking and methods.”
CIRAS recommended engaging directly with the five individuals doing the work to identify improvements.
“M’s Machine looked at automation and ultimately put their focus on their people,” said Schuster. “They invested in their people—the ones closest to the work.”
Schuster brought in Lean consultant Bonnie Slykhuis, a third-party resource who works closely with CIRAS. She led a one-day setup reduction training that resulted in strategies to reduce downtime, raise productivity, and create a roadmap for continuous improvement.
As part of the training, Drahn videotaped three different setups, and Slykhuis analyzed them to find wasted movements and inefficiencies.
Staff proposed a variety of ideas. One key change was creating carts stocked with the necessary tools and parts for each changeover. Visual aids, using 5S protocols, ensured items were consistently stored and easily accessible.
These steps were expected to reduce setup times by at least 30 minutes.
“It was very telling how their process was lacking in certain places,” said Slykhuis. “In the video, we saw staff leaving to get tools and parts. Having a cart with these items more readily available seems like a simple thing, but when you’ve been doing a process the same way for a long time and have busy production schedules, it can be hard to step back and truly evaluate how you’re completing an important task. This exercise forced them to look at their processes and recognize the opportunities for improvement.”
M’s Machine continues to work on improvements, despite a slowdown easing production pressure. They’re also reviewing a key quality-check process that can cause delays.
“We still want to improve and will keep pushing to finish the tasks we learned from the training,” said Drahn. “I’m definitely glad we went through it. It was a busy time to take four people off the floor, but when the team completed the training, they all had good things to say about what they learned.”
“One of the guys had been doing this for years and didn’t see how we could make any changes. He wound up being one of the biggest proponents for making these changes,” noted Slykhuis.
Contact Steve Wilson at wilsons@iastate.edu to learn more.