Assembly Planbook - July 2008 - (Page 41)

Aspect Medical Systems continually improves the processes it uses to manufacture its BIS line of patient-monitoring devices. Photo courtesy Aspect Medical Systems allows anesthesiologists to more carefully monitor a patient under sedation by measuring actual brain activity via something called Bispectral Index Technology. In addition to meeting with tremendous success in the marketplace, both companies recently received the Shingo Prize for their efforts in lean manufacturing. Named for pioneering industrial engineer Dr. Shigeo Shingo, the Shingo Prize has been called the “Nobel Prize” of manufacturing, because of the worldclass caliber of its recipients. In the case of Aspect Medical, lean manufacturing allowed the company to reduce product cost by more than 50 percent, to improve inventory turns by 180 percent and to reduce manufacturing cycle times by 100 percent. In the case of DJO, getting lean increased employee productivity by 50 percent, doubled the rate of both inventory and finished goods inventory turns, and reduced order-to-shipment lead times by approximately 66 percent. In both cases, worker participation and initiative have been critical to the company’s success. “Even though we have automated and semiautomated equipment, it won’t run for very long without proper care and maintenance,” says DJO’s vice president of lean and enterprise excellence, Jerry M. Wright, P.E. “All of our products are made in workcells by self-directed work teams. [These] teams vary in size from two people to 30 people per shift on our large custom brace cell. Each cell monitors customer orders and builds what is needed for that hour or day. Each cell is able to switch from one model or product type to the next within seconds, or at most a few minutes…. We continually [kaizen] blitz our processes, and our work teams are involved each time on how their cell is designed, how it is replenished with raw materials and how it is operated. It is fair to say that they play a significant role.” In this same vein, Aspect Medical vice president of manufacturing John Coolidge says, “It’s all about the people. We have solid values associated with respect, ethics and teamwork. We have a solid track record of doing the right thing by all our employees. Our president and CEO, Nassib Chamoun, and all leaders in the company have a lot to do with this. It comes from the top. We get a lot of success from a balanced approach to blending softside human element needs with hardside operational execution and performance. People know what needs to be done and how we want it done. At the same time, they know we care and will do the right thing.” According to Coolidge, his company’s workforce has been especially effective at carrying out continuous improvement activities, which have served to solve problems and production bottlenecks both large and small. In one instance, a test technician substantially reduced the number of stations in one of the company’s functional test areas, thereby cutting overall testing times in half. In another, a kaizen team figured out how to save $57,000 annually by extending the life of a critical consumable item used in a die-cutting process for disposable electrodes. “Ninety percent of [continuous improvement] is little things,” Coolidge says. “With workcells, for Medical device manufacturers need to be especially flexible to accommodate the particular needs of their customers. In this cell, operators are assembling custom knee braces. Photo courtesy DJO Inc. www.assemblymag.com July 2008 / ASSE M B LY 41 http://www.assemblymag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Assembly Planbook - July 2008

Assembly Planbook - July 2008 Contents Editorial Quality in Assembly Station to Station Assembly Lines Assembly in Action Surviving the Roller Coaster The Human Side of Manufacturing Do Your Fasteners Need a Preapplied Thread-Locker? Manufacturing Innovation A Century of Progress Trendsetting Plants Pulse Tools Get Smart Plastics: Design for X Product Reviews Products Advertisers Index Classified Leading Lean

Assembly Planbook - July 2008

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