Aggreko Manufacturing, Dumbarton, Scotland

Aggreko Manufacturing in Dumbarton manufacture Temporary Power & Temperature Control equipment for hire around the globe.  The highest volume and highest revenue products manufactured are a range of temporary power generators.  The units at the top of this range, the 1MW variants (One Mega Watt variants), range from 800kVA to 1.2MW in output and account for around 50% of the revenue from the plant.

The challenge

The success of Aggreko in the market place had created a need to be able to produce nearly 30% more throughput in less space under the crane at the same or better cost/quality performance.

They also wanted to take this opportunity to maximise line side delivery to improve predictability and further reduce costs.

How Ross International helped

Ross International proposed facilitating a multi-level, multi-functional team of people through a 1-week Kaizen Blitz.  Meetings were held with the MD, Tom Sreeves, and members of his management team to fix the scope, set the goals and choose the team necessary to do the job.  The scope included all processes from material delivery to the build area, build, test, final inspection and shipment of the finished product.

The goals set reflected the challenge with the main objective being the capability to produce 30% more product in the same space at less cost without any effect on quality at test or with the customer.

Pre-meetings were held with the Kaizen Team and with all operators and others likely to be affected by the new processes, to invite their co-operation and assistance.

The Kaizen Blitz week followed the usual Ross International proven formula of training on Day-1, establishing the current state on Day-2, designing and developing the new ways on Day-3, testing and getting feedback and continuously improving on Day-4 and finished with pulling together an action plan and making a presentation on Day-5.

Follow-through visits took place to ensure the action plan was being worked and that any obstacles to progress were being elevated for attention as required.

Impact of the Kaizen

A flow process for the build was established with 3 progressive stages each capable of operating within the Takt Time for the new volumes of units.  The calculations showed that it would be possible to meet the new volumes with one footprint versus the four footprints previously used.  The team chose to put in two footprints for safety until the new process was proven.  The new process made it easier to focus on the details within each of the 3 sub-stages and identify further areas for reduction of the hands-on time required to build the units.

Material supply to the build process

Once the locations for the build process had been fixed, we devised a system for supplying material to the position line-side where it was used.  This eliminated the need to produce kits of material for each generator.  The receiving yard was completely re-laid to allow the heavy, frequently used parts for the 1MW variants to be delivered as close as possible to the build area.

Test yard

The test yard was completely reorganised during the week to minimise congestion and double/triple handling of generator sets.  Now, instead of fuelling of units being done with the units sitting in the wash bay, the fuelling is done in a dedicated fuelling area and not moved to the test area until they are completely ready for test.  This, together with the reduced movements required, increased the test capacity to cope with the new volumes without the need to buy additional capital equipment (load banks).  The test yard is now much cleaner, tidier and safer for all users.

Line Balancing exercise

Note: This work was carried out by Aggreko personnel several months after the Kaizen Blitz without RI involvement.

• They broke the mechanical and electrical build down into stages and timed how long each step took.
• They then looked at all the non value add time and tried to eliminate this.
• They moved some of the work from the mechanical side to the electrical side so that both operators had equal amounts of work (Time wise).
• They determined a starting point so that the mechanical and electrical operators would never be in each others way.
• By doing all this they made sure that both the operators were very efficient. They also introduced standard work sheets so that each set is built the same way and also that the operators don’t work out of sequence.  These procedures also provided a good base for training purposes.

All this led to the reduction of 36% in the labour hours which equates to a saving of £672 per generator

“This (line balancing exercise) would not have been possible if all the hard work that was done in the Kaizen event hadn’t been done, like the line side material, 6S and more importantly the momentum we gained from the event. Thankfully that momentum is still going and there is a positive buzz about the place regarding change / improvement” - Alan Burns, Project Leader of the Kaizen Blitz.

Outcomes:

• 25% increase in throughput capability
• Labour cost reduced by £672 per generator
• 33% less floor space required
• Completely eliminated the need for 1.2MW kit racks. All 1.2MW material is now line side delivered

The lessons from this event are now being spread to the Gas Generator product lines and will be spread throughout the other variants of generator; this process will also be carried forward to their new plant.