Employee Profile Two
of the more important statistics are: Average employee age of
46.3 and an average seniority of 20.2 years. These are not the
statistics you really want when you are trying to change the
way you do business. Older, high-seniority employees tend to
be set in their ways and sceptical of any and all new-fangled
ideas. And that includes management personnel as well as those
who actually do the work. At least that is what we found at
WSP.
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How It Used To
Be In the beginning, prior to 1992, there was chaos.
20+% of the dies were sent to the repair areas after every die
set. Most were returned to line without attention. I worked
as a die troubleshooter during part of this time and came to
know the traveling welder better than anyone else. I knew him
and I knew all about his family. I cried with him when his son
died and celebrated with him when his daughter married. Just
the sort of relationship you develop with someone you see two
to three times a day.
Almost every
inch of trim edge was hot-sheared (that’s what we call turning
the press over after applying red-hot weld to a worn trim steel).
Screw holes were stripped, dowels were broken or loose and you
prayed that, today, you would be running a panel that allowed
a low threshold of quality. Every week featured a broken die
replete with boiler plate mounts and one or two "dutchmen"
to hold the pieces together. Plus, management expected sufficient
production to satisfy the assembly plants. This nightmare was
screaming for a dream. It wasn’t going to be possible overnight
or over several nights.
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It’s the Process Back
in 1992, when involved in a series of meetings conducted by
Harbour and Associates (Troy, MI) and while investigating and
discussing the possibility of preventive maintenance (PM) procedures
for tool and dies, representatives from Chrysler’s three (3)
main stamping facilities came to the conclusion that maintaining
tooling was not going to be effective until and unless the supporting
equipment was subject to a routine PM program. Conversely, the
maintenance departments insisted that their efforts were hampered
by the sorry state of the tooling that ran in their presses.
Come the Dawn, we realized that the tools, presses, automation,
etc. were part of a process - and the process was completely
out of control.
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Jim Clancy Fortunately,
General Plants Manager James Clancy recognized the benefits
of a radical restructuring of the maintenance function (I hesitate
to call it a process). His sponsorship of the Joint Die Maintenance
Committee was vital to its success and to the acceptance of
any and all changes to the die repair methods at all three stamping
plants. It is important to note that each Chrysler plant is
free to accept or reject the recommendations of such committees
as the Joint Die Maintenance Committee. Your proposal must be
proven and backed up with case histories or it’s dead in the
water - regardless of the number of man-hours already spent.
Sponsorship by someone of the stature of Mr. Clancy only guarantees
a serious look-see by the various plant management teams. The
program itself must perform.
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Warren Stamping Being
a thrifty plant in a thrifty company, the Warren Stamping Die
PM
PM Committee Committee
moved very cautiously and tested every theory and practice.
Tonnage monitors from Helm, Inc. (Detroit, MI) were installed
on specific presses; exact die location was established to ensure
repeatibility of set-up; common die shut heights were enforced
to reduce run-to-run times and eliminate variability; press
downtime was carefully recorded as a measure of effectiveness;
and Failure Mode Analysis sheets were designed that could be
used by tradespeople and their supervisors to identify and track
problems caused by the dies. All this was accomplished over
a period of time - a long period of time.
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What We Needed Working
together with our consultants and with the other stamping plants,
a plan of attack was formulated and scrapped and formulated
and scrapped and formulated again. Forms were designed, procedures
defined and standards were set - for a single set of dies. Slow
work bringing one set of tools under control. Critical to our
success was implementing a regular schedule of PMs for the stamping
presses in that press line. After press PM was initiated and
after gathering information for a few months, we had the basic
data to warrant expansion to include all the tools from that
same production line. As you can see, this was not a fast process
for us.
One major component
of the program had to be the collection, storage and analysis
of pertinent data. To accomplish this, we needed a CMMS system
that was designed to our specific criteria. The University of
Michigan Engineering Department proved to be very helpful in
this regard. For a donation of $50K, they sent a pair of PhDs
out to identify the requirements and develop the software.
Not only did
this solve our problems and analyse our data, it became the
model upon which we based the Total Maintenance System (TMS)
database which is shared by all Chrysler facilities.TMS now
allows us to track die repairs by production counts (output)
and to identify problem dies and presses in the system. For
the Purchasing people, it lists all the purchased parts for
every die and provides a total quantity needed. We are working
on a consumption rate. Just as with equipment, tooling PM needs
the services provided by a credible CMMS.
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CMMS While
it is apparent that a computerized system can help control the
maintenance process for equipment, experience will also prove
that tools need to be monitored and analyzed in much the same
way. Machinery is made of components that wear and fail at a
quasi-predictible rate. If a motor fails too soon, find the
root cause for the early failure and correct it. If a trim edge
deteriorates and throws a burr, why shouldn’t it? There is no
rate of deterioration that can be figured mathematically. At
least not yet.
The reason for
this is that each and every die is absolutely unique. This may
be why many feel a tool should be run to failure. I admit that
you can make a good case for that line of reasoning but, it’s
the easy way out. Just as motor bearing failure is predicted
and anticipated based on past history - many identical motors
running at prescribed rates in dozens of applications - so too
the tool can be anticipated to fail based on accummulated data.
The difference being that the data is only accummulated from
day 1 of the tool’s particular life. Thus, it is extremely important
that data collection, monitoring and analysis begin when the
tool is being built and during "try-out". Every repair
event for every die is recorded in a CMMS.
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Blueprint Books At
Warren Stamping, critical, wear-able components are recorded
in, what we call, a "blueprint book". Final sizes
of wear plates; nitro cylinder pressures; surface treatments
(i.e.: chrome plating); company ordering codes; major tooling
coordinates; hole locations; are all recorded for reference.
These recorded items provide a "as good as new" size
reference as well as give the skilled tradesperson a handy listing
when they have need to re-order any and all components. The
hole reference picture, which is attached to the "blueprint
booklet", gives a visual ID of the hole and lists the appropriate
punch and button used to produce that hole.
At 400K hit schedules
and at 800K hits , previous PM checklists and these books are
used to evaluate the die and its components relative to their
ability to perform at peak efficiency while providing world-class
parts. The booklet is the cheapest, most efficient way to put
pertinent information into the hands of those workers who need
it most.
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Implementation
Pre-Roll Out Now
that we have data collected on the CMMS; blueprint books; proven
PM checklists; a past history of tool improvement; and some
confidence in our program’s ability to save time and money:
WSP asked for our program needs. What do we need to roll out
the plan? Well. That’s easy. Just ask the tradespeople.
Needs To
get them to talk, we bribed them with new work benches that
had lots of drawers. They responded. We ordered, for every area:
die separators; Lamina drills; large, level set-up plates; drill
presses; cut-off saws; tool grinders; welders; and all appropriate
health and safety devices.
(Relief) We
eliminate: transportation problems by freeing up the cranes;
long waits for access to drilling equipment; and improperly
fit trim sections. We increase: the trades people’s ability
to modify details and improve die functionality. We keep: the
health and safety of our employees as a number one concern.
When this stuff comes in, we’ll be on our way.
Roll-Out Three
old blanking presses were removed to get us the floor space
we needed for the new PM Areas. A spot for each die was painted
on the floor (each die now had a "home") in close
proximity to its assigned PM Area. Die makers can retrieve their
own dies without waiting for delivery from some remote location.
In fact, most dies that are tagged for repair or listed for
a PM proceedure, are opened and set up in the work area prior
to being stored at their home site. Anything to expedite the
process.
Cleanliness is
next to godliness and, since god’s name was constantly being
invoked in some capacity in the press room, we installed a second
steam booth to clean dies. Cleaning is a basic PM function that
was constantly ignored because of lack of time and overcrowding
of the single booth. Today, that second booth is in constant
use and the dies have never run better. Dirty dies, as you may
suspect, are my pet peeve. I firmly believe that you can, literally,
wash most of your problems down the drain.
And, finally,
the "Roll-Out" included a fundamental change. Every
die maker became a PM die maker. There was no distinction between
PM and repair. If a die came into the area for PM and you found
something needing repair or replacement, you did it. If it came
in for repair, you looked for a PM checklist and, if it was
close to a cycle procedure, you did that. If a die was scheduled
for an engineering change, even though we still maintain a die
room for new construction, the PM die maker made the change.
I feel compelled
to add here, that, in my opinion, the trades people embraced
these major changes and guaranteed the success of the program
because they were included in making many decisions relative
to the change. They do appreciate the value of keeping tools
in working order.
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Our PM Program Before
I show you some of the forms and documents we use, let me summarize
the program itself:
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Forms
FMA Our
own version. We identify and locate any problems encountered
during a production run.
See attachments
A & B
Common Checklist Every
new tool that enters the program is assigned a generic checklist
depending on the "type" of die it is. (i.e.: trim;
form; draw). This was drawn up in Excel© spreadsheet software.
See attachments
C, D & E
Unique Checklist At
400,000 hits, each die is reviewed and assigned a cycle of 50,000
or 100,000 hits based on performance measured by previous checklists,
repair incidents and empirical evidence. As a result, a unique
checklist is produced by the TMS and used thereafter for each
cycle procedure.
See attachment
F
Blueprint Book This
booklet has undegone many revisions - each time we find a new
use or need. It contains basic information like punch and button
sizes and order numbers for wear plates, guide pins and bushings,
nitro cylinder pressures, etc. This booklet is also referred
to at the 400,000 hit level to reference size (to determine
wear) and quantity of components. It has a sheet to record the
master tooling coordinates of each major detail - facilitating
the production of cutter paths for machining the detail to original
specs. It also has a hole reference guide to facilitate punch
replacement.
See attachments
G, H & I
Repair Summary Produced
by the TMS to assist in the evaluation process. Pick a time
span and every repair incident for any particular tool will
be displayed/printed for handy reference. An indispensible tool.
See attachment
J
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So What? WSP
has a fine PM program that is supported by management as well
as by the trades. There is a CMMS in place to administer the
process. WSP can demonstrate compliance with one of the four
major components of the new Chrysler Operating System as well
as with a major portion of the QS9000 standards of operation.
So What?
Rewards There
is, really, only two reasons for a company to operate: money;
and more money. Our PM program fills both of these needs.
$$ Since
inception in 1992, the PM program has helped provide cost avoidance
money to the tune of $30,997,440.00. That’s 485 average monthly
hours of die downtime (1996) compared to 1379 average monthly
hours of die downtime (1992). Figured at an average cost of
$1128.00 per hour of production downtime.
See attachment
K
$$$$$ What
we get to add to our benefits is this: Reliability. Because
of the dramatic increase in tool reliability; the resultant
improvement in productivity; coupled with a decline in rework:
WSP management has been able to add more than enough sub-assembly
lines to absorb the reduction in bodies needed to populate the
production process.
See attachment
L
Pudding There
are some qualifications to all this. I don’t want to mis-lead
anyone. During this same time span, WSP has replaced 12 (of
26) old press lines with 6 new lines - 4 transfer presses and
2 tandem lines. We have "grown out" of most dies that
pre-dated the PM program. We have, indeed, benefitted from modernization
and from the new product introductions that are typical of the
auto industry.
However, I do
have a "control group" to prove our process: In late
1993, Chrysler introduced the popular "Grand Cherokee©"
(ZJ) model of our Jeep© line of SUVs. The ZJ dies completely
populated two new transfer presses and these two lines became
completely autonomous from our normal production process. They
resisted the PM process, opting to repair and maintain on their
own. Like it or not, I had a "control group".
In January of
1996, ZJ die performance (for dies assigned to the transfer
lines) was so poor compared to their ZJ brethren that ran in
other, older lines that we were instructed to begin the process
of inluding these ZJ dies in our PM program. This chart should
indicate that every die should be part of a PM program from
day one of its existence. These dies consistently perform above
the plant average of die-related production downtime.
See attachment
M.
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Conclusion I
believe that the evidence is irrefutable. Tooling must receive
the same treatment as equipment. Maintain, maintain, maintain.
Any PM process that centers on tooling must, by nature, provide
for the uniqueness of the tool while considering the common
wear-able elements shared by many such tools. Each tool has
elemental functions that must be considered for maintenance:
Alignment; Guidance; and Basic Activity. Maintain the components
of each function and you maintain the tool.
Persistence One
word of encouragement and the road to success: Persistence.
Never, ever give up. If you do, you fail. If you don’t, you
win. I don’t have the time to tell you all the war stories related
to our campaign. There are many.
Mandatory I
will tell you what you must have. You must have top management
Elements support.
You must have an advocate who presses the benefits and celebrates
the successes on a daily basis with supervisory and management
personnel. You must have capable, dedicated staff - taken from
the ranks so they know the need and can recognize improvement.
You must include your tradespeople in some part of the planning
process so they can take ownership of the PM program. You must
buy whatever tools the workforce needs to facilitate the maintenance
process. You must buy a bigger wheelbarrow to cart the savings
to the bank.
Persistence That’s
right. With a capital P.
