Total cycle time reduction  through proposed   material  handling   systems
 

Synopsis
 

              The project work at  WIPRO  fluid  power was  taken with a view to  reduce  the cycle time by reducing  the non productive time  involved in the process, at the piston rod plant(PRP).
 

                  A preliminary study was  conducted  for  the  various  workcenters  of  the  piston rod plant  which revealed that the non productive time by far exceeded the operating time in the following three workcenters.
(1) The hydraulic press.
(2) The CNC lathe.
(3) The welding workcenter.

                   By  a critical study, it  was revealed that the non productive time is made up of mainly  (1) Waiting time for crane     (2) Waiting time for helper(material handler)  (3)Transportation time and (4) Loading and unloading materials.

                  These elements have resulted in considerable losses in the present cycle time, thus resulting in the loss of production and affecting the per piece cost.

             A dedicated material handling equipment and corresponding re-arrangement of temporary storage has been proposed.

                        The loss in the production due to the non-productive elements can be eliminated or minimised by improved material handling systems. This reduces the cycle time by nearly 50%.

                 The proposed system also reduces the labor requirements in various work centers of the plant , the machine idle time and the operator idle time.