1. Lantech Case Study Presented by: Ray Essig Natalie Lavergne Karine Lavoie-Tremblay

2. Background Information Lantech is a Kentucky based wrapping machine manufacturer saved from the brink of bankruptcy by multiple Kaizen events Kaizen’s have resulted in increased productivity and profitability: –went from 50 employees turning out 8 machines/day to 20 people turning out 14 machines/day –order processing time went from 5 wks to 14 hrs –sales increased by 3 1/2 times

3. Abstract

4. The Kaizen Process “Kaizen” means continuous, incremental improvement in an activity, to create more value with less waste. A “Kaizen Event” is a process that a company orchestrates to try to improve their specific manufacturing operations. Carried out in a real time enviroment Held towards end of improvement process

6. Team should include: –workers who work in current system –workers who will work in new system –experienced kaizen facilitators –management who can implement changes Steps –problem identification –gather information –analyze information –determine root cause –generate ideas to solve problems –utilize simulation software –implement agreed upon solutions –check results

7. Assumptions In order to be able to perform an analysis of the Lantech systems, some assumptions had to be made where actual data was not available the same assumptions were used in all 4 analysis techniques

8. Queuing Theory Utilized following equations to improve throughput time: –P(0) = Probability system is empty = 1-  –Wq = expected time in line =  /  (1-  ) –L = time in system =  /(1-  ) –W = Total time in system = 1/  (1-  ) –Where:  = /c , = average arrival rate, c = number of servers, and  = average service rate. Current Gear drive assembly takes 6 hours: – 1 machine, 6 hours, 1.5 machine, 9 hours. Current Demand is 1.5 / 8 hour day Using queuing theory, reduced throughput time to 1 machine, 5 hours

9. Queuing Theory Results, before Kaizen

10. Queuing Theory Results, after Kaizen

11. Flow shop sequencing Created a precedence structure and sequence the departments accordingly: 38% gain in efficiency from original case Multi-task resources in addition to the precedence structure: 69% gain in efficiency from original case

12. Facility Layout Built a REL chart TCR based on new layout: 33% savings on total flow cost

13. ProModel Analysis Several analyses were run using ProModel limiting factor on analysis was model size ProModel helped identify areas of bottleneck where re-allocation of resources could improve throughput - specifically areas with high cycle time

14. Discussion 4 different tools: “Queuing Theory”, “Flow shop sequencing”, “Facility Layout” and “Pro-Model”. Each tool improves a different element of the Lantech manufacturing system: –total flow cost –resources –throughput time –layout –sequencing –efficiency/profitability

15. Conclusion A company initially needs to identify which elements of their system they would like to optimize. The company should then proceed to use a combination of the different tools in order to maximize their respective strengths and provide an overall system benefit.