One of the most important improvements required in multiple industries, quick setup renders big profits. Once we have taught your team it is quite simple, just as all these disciplines are. We will use an analogy to make it easy.
Although not frequent any more, changing a tire in our car is a choir that will take anywhere between seven and fifteen minutes. Just try to list the number of operations involved. Now, why is it that in the car races they can change the four tires in just a few seconds? Here we should list the differences:
They were prepared
Right tools
Only one bolt per tire
Continuous training
Cumulative experience, on and on...
Main reason for them to put all those advantages together: They are in a fierce competition! And so are all manufacturers today.
Whatever your setups or changeovers may be to: retool a machine; to change: model, color, flavor or size; SMED will cut down those time periods. By cutting them down, your readiness, productivity and profits will improve. This is one of our favorite tools of Lean Manufacturing. We have been able to bring those times down to unbelievable low proportions. Some in the range of five to ten percent of the original setup times... and improving. Can you imagine being able to change that fast your setup to comply with your customers' expectations and needs? All without compromising quality, safety or profit!
The benefits are many: Lower inventories, faster deliveries, more efficiency and above all: improved morale and attitude, high involvement and pride of your employees.
Our friendly and Hands-On SMED Implementation Process has produced high impact in the bottom line of many operations, never less than 50% savings due to downtime reduction. One international vitamin company achieved such an improvement that not only avoided acquiring additional packaging equipment, but could increase the yearly revenue in some tens of millions of dollars with a very small investment in our consulting and training in a one-week project.
