Circuits Assembly - December 2008 - (Page 25) Cover Story Figure 4. Vertical storage units adjacent to SMT lines support full lineside stocking for Lean manufacturing. machines. Assessments are conducted every three years on where Plexus’ key markets are headed and the types of equipment needed to stay in step. Keeping with the site model, each factory develops its own value stream fashioned by data from on-time deliveries, labor contribution, cycle time, overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), and defects per million opportunities (DPMO). Plexus manages its own raw material inventory, with each factory determining what’s ideal for its flow. To shorten cycle time, 85% of parts are kept line-side (Figure 4), with 80 to 90% of all parts stocked dock-to-stock. Parts are bar coded and set up offline. The factory averages five to six changeovers per line per day, taking less than 60 minutes per line on average. “Nearly all of what we build, we also configure and test before we ship,” says Debenack. Building 5’s on-time delivery on several DOF product lines: 99.8%. Customer visibility into the factory is linked to demand and flow. Customers can view inventories and processes, and can get data, as desired. Lean plays heavily into the Plexus model. According to Debenack, Building 5 performs a minimum of 32 Kaizen events per year, with teams crossing operational and functional lines. Bulletin boards showing the status of active programs are placed on the factory floor and in the corporate buildings. All associates are trained in Lean techniques, and all salaried employees are Yellow belts. “We want everyone to understand the tools,” says di Loreto. “And we get everyone focused on the business, not just what they are building that day.” Failure analysis is conducted in two locales: Neenah and Penang, Malaysia, where the Plexus campus houses its largest building, at some 400,000 sq. ft. Future developments may include micro-engineering (“microE,” in Plexus parlance), or packaging. Says di Loreto: “We see some potential for micro-E. Bumped die is becoming more mainstream, and I think engineers will glom onto that.” He says better understanding of miniature solder structures of tiny chips, including 01005s, is needed to mainstream new micro technologies like 01005s and system-in-package solutions. Over the past three years, Plexus has done a superb job at forging its own path for success. For its sustained performance, financircuitsassembly.com Figure 5. Workstations adhere to "5S" protocols and have online documentation. cially and operationally, and its forward-looking strategy, Plexus is Circuits Assembly’s first EMS Company of the Year. n Mike Buetow is editor in chief of Circuits Assembly; mbuetow@upmediagroup.com. Mission Possible. Versatility that beats complexity. It’s not just a promise, it’s a fact! assembleon.com/facts Circuits Assembly DECEMBER 2008 25 http://www.assembleon.com/facts http://www.assembleon.com/facts http://www.circuitsassembly.com
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