Bonded leather processing industry
Many of those involved in this industry are suffering from growing pricing pressure due to competitors from China and Eastern Europe. As OEM suppliers, the companies’ order situation is closely linked to the state of the market in retail and in the automotive sector, which have been hit hard by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The problem:
The situation is causing the cost structure in companies to be reassessed. Personnel costs in production must be reduced by at least 10% in many cases in order to allow companies to survive on the market as OEM suppliers.
Challenge:
Localising “low-hanging fruit” in terms of savings potential in Production and in SCM and creating a road map to exploit this potential so as to quickly achieve lasting results. As a result of the strained financial situation, a small budget is available in a narrow time frame.
What’s more, digitalisation tools (ERP, MES-PDC and MES-MDC) are only used in a rudimentary manner and a great deal of process information along the value creation chain is administered in a fragmented, redundant way in Excel or in paper form.
Solution:
The processes for the various product groups along the value creation chain are analysed in collaboration with the machine operators and heads of department in Production.
- All of the activities within the production steps: sorting of raw materials, pulverisation of raw materials, Fourdrinier processing, compressing, sorting, grinding, rewinding, coating, printing, embossing, finishing, colour mixing, QA, and packaging are recorded in collaboration with the machine operators and shift supervisors. These activities are categorised as “value-adding” or “not value-adding”.
- By means of a lean work sampling assessment for the work processes along the value creation chain, we quantify the improvement potential as a percentage if the non-value-adding activities are reduced to a minimum.
Results:
A road map with the improvement potential identified as “low-hanging fruit” and specific measures:
- To reduce setup and start-up times (Lean SMED) for the processes Fourdrinier processing, compressing, sorting, grinding, rewinding, coating, printing, embossing, finishing
- To introduce the target requirements
- To reduce processing times by implementing Lean 5S and Lean Milk Run requirements
- To simplify the management structures within the manufacturing organisation.
