Ideal Industries leaders engaged IMEC to help fast-track construction and optimization of a 130,000 square foot start-up operation to build hand tools for the automotive maintenance and industrial sectors. The entire process, from building construction to acquisition of technology and the placement of equipment and production cells and the first order shipment, was completed in 8 months. The $16 million project created 40 jobs.
Excited about lean manufacturing methodologies, an engineer forms an internal team to map the value stream of her company’s key product line or processes, revealing cost and time saving opportunities. Feeding on the enthusiasm of her team, recommendations are made to management about the path to move forward.
Management encourages the engineer to focus on eliminating traditional wastes such as time spent waiting, inventory, and excess material or component transportation. Meanwhile, some obvious environmental wastes are ignored, and along with them, the opportunities for significant savings.
SPRINGFIELD Dan Schueller, recently elected Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Illinois Manufacturing Extension Center (IMEC), was appointed by Governor Pat Quinn to a panel that will work with the Governor and other state leaders to increase exports from Illinois. Schueller is President of Brad Foote Gear Works, a Cicero-based manufacturer large gearing systems for renewable energy, steel mills, transportation, and pulp/paper markets.
“Illinois is home to world-class goods and services, and we should utilize all of our assets in order to market them around the world,” Governor Quinn said. “Expanding trade opportunities in growth markets like China, Australia, Brazil and India puts Illinois products in the international marketplace and creates jobs here at home.”
Alliance for American Manufacturing Executive Director Scott Paul sat down with CNN's Ali Velshi and commentator Will Cain to debate the future of U.S. manufacturing jobs.
Illini Wire Works is the inaugural Made in Illinois Featured Manufacturer. IWW is located in its own 35,000 sq. ft. plant in Olney, Illinois. The plant houses high-tech equipment ready to create a diverse line of products.
An east-coast manufacturer saw an opportunity to increase revenues significantly by gaining additional capacity in a key machining center. The company produces high-strength engineered plastic parts which are used in products for the electronic, medical, agriculture, and energy sectors.
The challenge: As plastic was machined, the excess material did not chip off like metal, but instead formed a continuous ribbon that often snarled the part, got tangled in the chuck and tooling, and risked significant damage to both the machine and the part. CNC lathes were shut down every two-to-three minutes to clear the plastic ribbons from the work area and a high volume of cleaning fluid was used to ensure that the operator had enough time to stop the machine before damage would occur. The costs of machine downtime, lost productivity and cooling expenses were significant, and the company needed help finding a solution quickly.
Many manufacturing companies are starting to experience the consequences of not formally including safety practices into their continuous improvement efforts. As a result, the term "lean safety" is emerging in some larger manufacturing circles.
What does it mean? Let’s take a simple example like the re-design of a work cell. As a machining center is organized to place tools closer to operator and get material into the cell more quickly, we need to consider how those changes will affect operator productivity and safety. Where should the tools be located in relation to the height of the employee? How high should the work desk be? As we feed material into the cell, what repetitive motions are required that could affect the worker’s productivity and safety over the course of a shift?
