Data: The Voice of the Process

Quick Reference

OEE: Overall Equipment Effectiveness

OEE, or Overall Equipment Effectiveness, is like a health check for your process. It tells you in simple terms how well your process is performing. Here’s the breakdown:

• Quality: This part looks at how many defects your process is spitting out. If you’re making a lot of mistakes, this number drops, showing you need to focus on catching and reducing errors.
• Availability: Think of this as checking if your gear is ready to go when you need it. If your machines are always breaking down or need constant fixing, your availability score will be low, signaling that you’ve got some equipment issues to sort out.
• Performance: This is all about your team. Are they working at their best speed, or are there hiccups like training gaps or just not being as efficient as they could be? If performance is low, it’s a sign to look into how people are using the machines.

OEE gives you a quick snapshot of what’s going on in your production area. If your score is low, it’s like a big sign pointing to whether your problems are from making too many mistakes, having unreliable equipment, or needing better training or methods for your crew.

OEE and KPI

OEE and KPIs are like two sides of the same coin in managing your operations. OEE is your proactive tool, always on the lookout, telling you about quality, availability, and performance issues before they get out of hand. It’s like having a health check every day. Meanwhile, KPIs are more like your report card, showing you after the fact how well you’ve done. They’re reactive, giving you the big picture of what’s already happened. But here’s the thing, they’re not rivals; they’re teammates. OEE can help you fix problems before they start, while KPIs can show you if those fixes are paying off over time. Together, they make a solid team where you can both prevent issues and see how your prevention strategies are working out. Both can be equally useless if you do not know how to interpret and communicate the story they are telling.

Leveraging Data to Enhance Team Dynamics and Productivity

In most production facilities, teamwork is an intimate detail to the overall operation of the plant. People rely on each other to cover their own tasks to ensure a balanced workload. Absences are a real plague, especially since many places run with lean teams due to staffing challenges; missing just one person can have a significant impact. The old adage, “better late than never,” was often acceptable, with most instances falling within “acceptable” or established grace periods. (Personally, I believe on-time doesn’t have a grace period.) After developing a system for real-time reporting in the plant, I began to delve into the issues more deeply. One of the most surprising insights was that an individual who was habitually late actually caused productivity to drop by as much as 30%, whereas their absence sometimes had almost no impact on productivity at all. In some cases, this person was disruptive and not a high performer, hindering performance, while in others, they were an obvious outlier, and you could see the difference in the demeanor and efficiency of the team when they were present.

This led to earlier interventions on attendance issues and addressing outliers as soon as they were identified. Being an outlier doesn’t necessarily mean someone is bad; they might just not mesh well with the current leadership or team dynamics. Sometimes, moving these individuals to different departments or shifts resulted in immediate turnarounds, where they could thrive in a more suited environment. Using data to identify struggling teams not only boosted productivity but also had a direct, positive impact on reducing turnover. This approach helped in creating a more harmonious work environment, where individuals could find their fit, leading to better job satisfaction and retention.

Tackling the Challenge of Broken Brick in Manufacturing

Having my start in the packaging department of a brick plant, I intimately understood the repercussions of process flaws—we were the last line of defense, ensuring product left the facility no matter the upstream inefficiencies. From raw material sourcing to grinding, extrusion, staging, and firing, there existed multiple points of failure that directly affected the quality and quantity of our output.

Upon my promotion to Assistant Director of Operations, I made it my mission to eradicate broken brick, which had been plaguing our operations. The challenge was multifaceted, but I knew I had to start at the source: the raw material. We mined everything on-site, testing for material composition, but without a cohesive data system, insights were scattered. At the time, tests were manually logged and then entered into Excel, an inefficient process.

I took the initiative to create an Access database, centralizing all quality control data. This system allowed for immediate comparison and analysis of material composition, integrating further quality tests over time, ultimately turning it into a comprehensive hub for our production process. Despite this, the issue of broken brick persisted, with constant fluctuations I believed were influenced by weather conditions.

To test this hypothesis, I spearheaded the development of an IoT network using Raspberry Pis and MariaDB. We collected data on pressure, temperature, and humidity throughout the facility, complemented by a weather station for broader environmental insights. After a year of data collection, I could conclusively link low natural humidity to increases in broken brick.

However, this revelation was just the tip of the iceberg. The real breakthrough came when I began to analyze the data in terms of enthalpy, converting environmental metrics into BTUs to assess the ‘power’ of the air. This allowed not only to predict when we would have broken brick but also to pinpoint exactly where and how much would occur in our production process.

Armed with these insights, I proposed and led a significant project to install large, automatic doors over the staging area. This initiative enabled us to control the environment before the drying and firing stages, directly impacting defect rates. The result was a dramatic reduction in broken brick, increasing the number of quality products reaching our customers and significantly cutting down the man-hours required for packaging throughout the year.

This project wasn’t just about solving an operational problem; it demonstrated my capability to:

• Innovate: By using technology to transform data into actionable insights.
• Lead: Orchestrating a complex project from concept to implementation, affecting multiple departments.
• Analyze: Utilizing complex data analytics to solve real-world manufacturing issues.
• Execute: Turning analysis into tangible operational improvements that directly enhanced profitability and efficiency.

This experience underscores my ability to drive operational excellence and manage large-scale changes, qualities I am eager to bring to any forward-thinking organization.

Improving Efficiency Through Innovative Iterative Design

Case Study: Enhancing Efficiency in Veneer Insertion at Triangle Brick

Original Design

Improved Design

Background

Triangle Brick faced significant operational inefficiencies in its packaging area due to a problematic veneer insertion device. The original setup used foam pads that deteriorated rapidly, leading to vacuum loss and frequent board drops. This issue was exacerbated by the porous nature of some veneer planks, which made them unusable. The venturi-style vacuum pump was also a source of trouble, clogging with dust, requiring multiple daily shutdowns for cleaning, and consuming excessive compressed air that impacted the entire plant’s pneumatics.

Initial Challenges

• Rapid Deterioration: Foam pads failed within hours, necessitating constant manual intervention.
• Material Incompatibility: Porous veneer planks couldn’t be used, leading to material wastage.
• Maintenance Issues: Frequent cleaning of vacuum pumps due to dust, leading to production halts.
• Air Consumption: Excessive use of compressed air affecting plant-wide pneumatics.

Solution Development

The project began with a determination to find a more sustainable solution. Initial consultations with the machine manufacturer suggested that nails were typically used, and suction cups were dismissed as unfeasible. However, this advice was not accepted as final:

• Collaboration with Experts: I reached out to Mark Moss at Innovative Fluid Power, initiating a partnership that would prove fruitful in addressing not only this issue but many others in the future.
• Industry Consultation: We engaged with leading pneumatic companies like Schmalz and Festo. Samples of the problematic veneer were sent to Schmalz, who developed suction cups compatible with our vacuum pumps.
• Custom Engineering: A local machine shop was commissioned to create custom plates to fit the new suction cups, significantly improving the device’s efficiency.

Interim Improvements

Despite the initial success, the system still faced issues with filter clogging due to fine dust. This was mitigated by:

• Dust Management: Implementing a pre-use blowing system for the veneer, which extended filter life and allowed for preventative maintenance during shift changes.

Optimization for High Volume

As production goals increased from 8,000-9,000 to 20,000 bricks per hour per line, further enhancements were necessary:

• 3D Printing Innovations: Collaborating again with Mark, we utilized 3D printing to redesign parts like cylinder, rod-end, and sensor mounts. This redesign not only reduced the device’s weight by 147 pounds but also:
  • Reduced Cycle Time: By over 50%.
  • Increased Efficiency: To 90%.
  • Lowered Air Consumption: By 70%.

Results

The modifications achieved what the original equipment manufacturer deemed impossible:

• Productivity Surge: Reached production numbers that surpassed expectations.
• Cost Efficiency: The project paid for itself within a month, with parts costing less than $5,000 and requiring just a few hours to implement.
• Industry Impact: The adoption of suction cup technology became a standard in new packaging machines across the brick industry.

Conclusion

This case study exemplifies how persistent problem-solving, innovative thinking, and strategic partnerships can transform operational inefficiencies into industry-leading practices. The veneer insertion device at Triangle Brick not only improved in-house performance but also set a new benchmark for the sector.