If you’re looking for ways to improve your CNC lathe changeovers and streamline production, In this blog post, we’ll explore the basics of SMED and how it can benefit your CNC lathe facility.
What Is SMED?
SMED ( Single Minute Exchange of Dies ) is a lean manufacturing technique that was developed by Toyota in the 1950s.
The goal of SMED is to reduce the time and effort required to change over dies on CNC lathe machining.
The key to SMED is to identify and eliminate non-value-added activities during the changeover process. By doing this, production can be streamlined and waste can be reduced.
The Benefits Of Implementing SMED
There are several benefits to implementing SMED in your CNC lathe facility. First, it can help to reduce changeover times.
This, in turn, can lead to increased productivity and throughput. In addition, SMED can help to improve quality by reducing the potential for errors during the changeover process.
Finally, implementing SMED can help to reduce costs by eliminating waste and improving efficiency.
How To Get Started With SMED In Your CNC Lathe Facility
There are several steps that you can take to implement SMED in your CNC lathe facility.
First, you’ll need to identify the activities that are involved in the changeover process.
Once you’ve identified the activities involved in the changeover process, you’ll need to determine which of these activities are value-added and which are non-value-added.
Value-added activities are those that contribute to the final product or service. Non-value-added activities are those that do not contribute to the final product or service.
Next, you’ll need to determine how to eliminate or reduce the non-value-added activities.
This may involve redesigning the process, automating certain steps, or making other changes.
Finally, you’ll need to implement the changes and track the results. This will help you to assess the effectiveness of the SMED implementation and make further improvements as necessary.
Tips For Successful SMED Implementation
1. Choose the right tasks to streamline. Not every task in the changeover process can or should be streamlined. When considering which tasks to focus on, look for those that are:
- Repetitive
- Time-consuming
- Fiddly or delicate
- Physical labor-intensive
2. Break down the task into smaller steps. Once you’ve selected the tasks to streamline, it’s time to break them down into individual steps. This will help you identify which steps can be improved or eliminated altogether.
3. Simplify and standardize wherever possible. When streamlining your changeovers, aim to simplify and standardize as much as possible. This will make the process easier to learn and execute, and will help reduce the likelihood of errors.
4. Make use of available technology. There are many technologies that can be used to streamline changeovers, from simple things like workstation lighting and ergonomic tools, to more complex systems like automated material handling and inspection.
5. Train your team and establish standard procedures. Once you’ve streamlined your changeovers, it’s important to train your team on the new procedures and establish standard operating procedures (SOPs) to ensure consistency.
Following these tips will help you streamline your CNC lathe changeovers using SMED, resulting in reduced downtime and increased efficiency.
Case Study: A Successful SMED Implementation
A Company is a manufacturer of CNC lathes. They were looking for ways to streamline their changeover process in order to reduce downtime and improve efficiency.
They decided to implement SMED (Single Minute Exchange of Dies), a lean manufacturing technique that is used to streamline repetitive tasks.
The first step in the process was to choose the right tasks to streamline. They focused on tasks that were repetitive, time-consuming, fiddly, or physically labor-intensive.
Once these tasks were selected, they broke them down into smaller steps and Simplified and standardized wherever possible.
They also made use of available technology, such as workstation lighting and ergonomic tools, to help streamline the process.
In addition, they trained their team on the new procedures and established standard operating procedures (SOPs) to ensure consistency.
As a result of these efforts, the Company was able to successfully streamline its CNC lathe changeovers, resulting in reduced downtime and increased efficiency.
Resources For Further Reading On SMED
There are many excellent resources available on SMED and changeover optimization. Here are a few of the best:
1. The Machine That Changed the World: Based on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 5-Million-Dollar 5-Year Study on the Future of the Automobile, by James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones, and Daniel Roos (HarperCollins, 1991)
2. The Lean Machine: How Harley-Davidson Drove Top-Line Growth and Profitability with Revolutionary Lean Manufacturing, by Rich Teerlink and Lee Crittenden (McGraw-Hill, 2003)
3. Quick Changeover for Operators: The Smed System, by Kiyoshi Suzaki (Productivity Press, 1987)
4. Lean Production Simplified, by Pascal Dennis (Productivity Press, 2002)
5. TOC for SMED: Streamlining Machine Changeovers, by Norman Bodek (Productivity Press, 2011)
These resources will provide you with a wealth of information on SMED and changeover optimization, helping you to streamline your own changeovers for increased efficiency.
