WGEP – Case Study Western Geophysical Exploration Products (WGEP) was barely seen by the customers, once they had a lot of problems, like marginal product quality, poor on-time delivery, long manufacturing lead times, inconsistent product reliability, and high product costs. With this presentation, the improvements will be elucidated showing what changes that they made and the way that they conducted the company to become lean and well seen by its customers. Albert Sykes Aline Jácome Anderson Lima Matheus Souza
Product Flow Scenario Effect/Result Process divided into departments; Poor communication between sections; Large amount of space dedicated to cable storage. Bay cable movement was reduced; Reported accidents and lose time accidents dropped; Communication and overall visibility increased. Improvement Step Designing cells with a product oriented flow; Required equipment only for each cell; Additional aisles added for safety. Jácome, Lima, Souza, Sykes - Spring 2015
Product Quality/Employee Skills Training Scenario Effect/Result Employees worked on any type of cable at any point in time: Did not discover quality problems from previous operations; Very little understanding of the entire manufacturing process; Did not inspect or check their own work; There was excessive WIP. Smaller WIP; Improved communication; Better problem solving; Everybody learned new techniques and taught each other; More teamwork; Employees more connected and involved. Improvement Step Redesign the shop floor into cells Jácome, Lima, Souza, Sykes - Spring 2015
Material Waste Reduction Scenario Effect/Result Since a short cable was useless, manufacturers produced extra length to be cut to size which cost more 4% reduction in cable cost; Annual savings of $320,000. Improvement Step Final cable length was reduced so there was less waste; Two elements of the cable were purchased in shorter lengths. Jácome, Lima, Souza, Sykes - Spring 2015
Visual Controls Scenario Poor layout of the plant; Effect/Result Workers felt disconnected from the product and the process; They had little understanding of the status of orders, product quality, product cost, or manufacturing lead time; Visual controls and communication were very limited. Effect/Result Material control became very visible; Employees could understand current conditions and take corrective actions. Improvement Step Use of Kanban cards Jácome, Lima, Souza, Sykes - Spring 2015
Materials Management Effect/Result Scenario Purchase price of material decreased; End of cycles of shortages followed by excess of inventory; Workload became predictable and repeatable. Frequent materials shortage coupled with high inventory; Erratic demand pattern; Quality problems. Improvement Step Creation of a master production schedule for requirements (MRP); Use of Kanban cards. Jácome, Lima, Souza, Sykes - Spring 2015
Performance Measurement Scenario Effect/Result Little information on plant performance; Poor communication/ reaction to information; Managers spent time researching/explaining negative variances on untrustworthy report; Material and labor costs moved around to hide problems. Kanban signal problems immediately; Management receives weekly reports; It is now easy to see if a cell is profitable or not for management and employees. Improvement Step New performance measurement system focusing on quality, on-time delivery, productivity, cost, and safety; Job cost tracking system simplified by reducing number of jobs from 75/cable to one per week. Jácome, Lima, Souza, Sykes - Spring 2015