Six sigma has been championed by major corporations since its inception two decades ago, but its record in recent years has been mixed. Anne Harris talks to global manufacturers about what the process has done for them.
Fabbing has become synonymous with home manufacturing, but will its growing popularity challenge traditional large-scale production?
Industry has long been grappling with lean, but has it forgotten to get agile? Bob Cervi looks at what the experts make of this neglected big idea.
A recent spat between Eastern and Western car makers has highlighted allegations that Chinese firms are 'copying' European designs But, is there fault on both sides? Whatever the cultural and legal differences between East and West, it is clear that a resolution will need to be reached, as China becomes a larger player in European and US car markets.
Emerging markets are providing a wealth of opportunities for Western firms, but are these properly assessing the hazards involved in moving Eastwards? By Keri Allan.
Manufacturers face a continuing flow of new envionmental regulations aimed at making products environmentally safe and ensuring they are recycled. Keri Allan assesses the impact on industry.
Manufacturers claim they are becoming more green but new research shows that many are only scratching the surface of sustainability and are failing to reap the business benefits of it. Everyone is talking about sustainability, climate change, renewable energy, recycling, the depletion of natural resources - so it was no surprise when a recent survey revealed that the vast majority of manufacturing companies in the UK are taking steps to become more sustainable.
Auto makers are forging ahead with the use of high-strength steels that are light enough to use as body parts. Sean Davies finds out how new innovations are enabling designers to meet the demands of safety, efficiency and customer satisfaction.
The development of lean thinking in the past has often been labelled the tool age, but to make lean deliver its full benefits, companies must move beyond that into the age of lean management. Some general observations about organisation and management are discussed. Then simple elements of lean management worthy of experimentation are given. A clear vision of organisational objectives and better management methods are required before lean tools are picked up.
This article deals with the Japanese electronics manufacturer Sharp that is building the world's most ambitious plant for making a new generation of liquid-crystal displays. With the plant, Sharp expects to improve the efficiency of large-screen LCD TV production.
The prime strategic drivers of factory automation are increased productivity, greater visibility and enhanced control. Gilead Sciences, an international biopharmaceutical company, assures consistent product quality and maximises batch yields, by improving manufacturing process efficiency with reactive, real-time pH measurements using the Foxboro 871PH Series sensor. On the other hand, for the complex task of a litho plate packaging, Klikok-Woodman built a packaging machine around the Rockwell Automation Integrated Architecture concept using Allen-Bradley control systems. Its ControlLogix controller is fitted with a DeviceNet module which receives the size information of an arriving plate and then adjusts the production system to automatically cope with the arriving plate, elegantly solving the problem of dealing with varying product sizes.
As manufacturing enterprises become increasingly globalised, the supply chain is becoming more fragmented, with multiple players engaged in key aspects of the value chain. This has seen the emergence of suppliers offering specialised operations (research, design, production, service) which are capable of serving widely dispersed markets. It is generally assumed that managing these increasingly complex international supply chains requires sophisticated management techniques. Many companies have installed advanced planning systems for just this reason - systems that require skilled staff to implement the complex processes involved.
BOC Edwards is a world leader in vacuum technology for industrial, scientific, processing and semiconductor applications. The company uses CATIA V5 and ENOVIA SmartTeam to design and build vacuum pumps capable of achieving high vacuums down to 10-10 mbar. At BOC Edwards, product development and operational and manufacturing processes are crucial to maintain its pre-eminent market position. Concurrent working with several engineering disciplines enable the company to develop pumps and the technologies that they incorporate at the highest possible standards.
Building cars to customer order could provide the key to releasing billions of euros currently tied up in stock. Glenn Parry outlines a scheme to move the industry in this direction.
The BMW group has been utilising a dynamic truck control system (DLSS) for all transport movements - with a high degree of success. The BMW group allocates binding time slots to transport shippers. These time slots optimally control traffic sequences and prevent long waiting queues. The time slots can be varied dynamically so that they follow the needs of production. If the production line is running faster or slower than usual the time slots will be moved forwards or backwards to maintain the right product flow to the line. This only applies to JIS (just-in-sequence) material. The installation of SynchroSupply system from Germany-based INFORM is behind the optimisation tool. Complete documentation, shipper integration, truck identification, and reliability planning are all facilitated with the system.
Ford can now claim to be one of Europe's most efficient car makers as a result of a spate of efficiency improvements driven by highly efficient production facilities, supplier parks, advanced logistic systems and revised in-plant work arrangements. One of the company's key goals was to improve asset utilisation by bringing capacity in line with demand. Another was to increase production flexibility - adjusting the daily build schedule between models - in order to fulfil customer orders more quickly and respond to changes in consumer demand. Significantly, the manufacturing equipment that allows this flexibility also can be re-programmed to accommodate new models, substantially reducing the investment required when models change. Such flexibility also applies between plants. If demand for a particular vehicle is beyond the capacity of the model's main plant, additional units can be sourced to one of the other flexible plants. Another significant competitive advantage is the provision of a supplier park for each of the company's major assembly plants to deliver major components when and where they are needed for assembly in the vehicle.
The article describes how next-generation wireless networks could impact the production process. To some extent, next-generation wireless (Wi-NG) is simply a natural progression of existing technology - including RFID, Wi-Fi and WLAN - and a move to interconnect systems using common protocols. It will make use of wireless switching to manage this data and access ports which can create wireless mesh networks. Production process control and depth will be enhanced. Improved fixed/mobile convergence (FMC) will also occur. Additionally in the not-so-distant future, RF switching will extend the convergence of Wi-Fi and RFID to include WiMax, ZigBee, meshed and other wireless technologies. The benefits of such developments are clear. Companies will gain cost savings from unifying their networks, as well as improved efficiency, and easier and more powerful control over the network. Interconnecting systems allows companies to know exactly what they have and where it is, in real time, and with no delay at the junctions between systems.
Modern manufacturing means greater reliance on the supply chain but also increased risk of breakdown. So how can the process be made more resilient?
LG's high-tech screen facility in South Korea is to play a key part in the group's growth plans, which include relocating some work to China. Kris Sangani visited the site.
