We define operations management as the area dedicated to both research and the execution of improvements related to all those activities that generate added value in processes, hand in hand with a methodology based on planning, organization, direction and control.
With the sole purpose of increasing quality and reducing operating costs, providing a competitive advantage for the company against customers, making it more lean, flexible and sustainable.
The main objective of operations management within the organization should be to minimize waiting times between production batches, reduce idle and set-up times, reduce inventories of both materials in process and finished product, have materials available raw materials, packaging materials and human resources at the time of starting a production and, in short, delivering finished products on time (mainly those destined for export markets), that is, permanently improving Customer Service. It is important to know the demand expectations for the different products, the time of each manufacturing cycle, the manufacturing capacities of the different lines, the necessary resources,the supply policies for each raw material and packaging materials, their replacement times, and many other variables that affect this complex system.
In the following document we will analyze the production process of "Choco Pops" a Mexican company created by Mexicans dedicated to the creation of chocolate popsicles in combination with a rich snack.
Lean Manufacturing (Lean) groups a series of methods mainly focused on minimizing the use of resources or reducing waste in manufacturing through work teams. Among the wastes that do consume resources, but do not add value for the customer and for which they are not willing to pay, for example: defective products, product inspections in process, dispatch of materials, waiting times, among others.
Among the Lean working methods can be implemented such as:
5'S: aims to achieve better organized, tidier and cleaner workplaces on a permanent basis to achieve higher productivity and a better work environment.
It comes from five Japanese words:
Seiri = Separate (or Classify)
Seiton = Order
Seiso = Clean
Seiketsu = Standardize
Shitsuke = Sustain (or Self-discipline)
FIFO: First inputs, First outputs. The first thing that comes in is the first thing that comes out.
It is the type of movement that is guaranteed with dynamic shelving
Kaizen: It literally means: "change for the better." It is usually translated directly as "Continuous Improvement" is a quality strategy or methodology in the company and at work, both individually and collectively.
Kanban: It is a Japanese word that means, among other things, "poster" or "sign." It is generally associated with a card that is used as a communication signal between jobs that warns of a need for manufacturing or transportation.
JIT: Just In Time
“Just in time” refers to a good or service that must be provided to the customer:
1. what is required (what)
2. when it is needed (when)
3. in the required quantity (how much)
4. with the required quality (how)
5. in the required place (where)
Poka Yokes - Bug Proof - It is a device (generally) intended to prevent mistakes; some authors handle the poka-yoke as an anti-fool system which guarantees the safety of the machinery before the users, process or procedure
Andon System: The Andon is a device that visually warns of an anomaly. They allow you to easily know if the operating conditions of the equipment are optimal or not. (And in some cases it also gives us information about the type of anomaly) It is a signal destined to trigger an immediate reaction to correct anomalies.
SMED: This system was developed to shorten machine preparation times, making it possible to make smaller batches of size
Takt time: it is the step at which the consumer acquires a particular item or service
Project justification
Choco pop organization, is located in the city of Piedras Negras Coahuila, northeast of the Mexican republic with a population of 152,806 inhabitants (INEGI Census 2010). The city is the main and closest of the 5 springs (Allende, Nava, Morelos, Villa Unión, Zaragoza). Within the city various economic activities are concentrated, among which the maquiladora industry predominates, formal commerce is made up of national and international shopping centers, however local industries are not consolidated, the branch to which you want to enter there are no suppliers that offer The service only has Kacer de Allende Coah sweets, which are supplied to convenience stores once a week, the product they provide are regional sweets, Choco pop offers an economical alternative,delicious and with a youthful air, ideal for occasion details, since our main ingredient is chocolate, almonds, walnuts and coconut, products that are only found at certain times of the year.
Customer demand vs. Tiempo Takt
Our market is the convenience stores called OXXO, there are a total of 100 stores located in the north of Coahuila, according to the information provided by the client, the demand is as follows:
Total pieces required per month = 3,000 pallets
Total pieces required per week = 750 pallets
Cost of sale per piece = $ 5 pesos
Total sales per month = $ 15,000 pesos
Our working hours are determined as follows:
Shifts per day = 1
Days per week = 5 (Monday to Friday)
Hours per day = 9 hours (from 7am to 5pm)
Hours per week = 45
Therefore our Takt Time is:
Takt Time = Total hours available / total weekly demand = 45/750
Takt Time = 0.06 hours * 60 = 3.6 minutes (Takt Time)
Therefore, the above shows us that every 3.6 minutes we have to have a packed pallet at the end of the line.
Development
Choco Pops, is a company whose philosophy is the multidisciplinary integration of staff, providing an environment that allows the creation of new tools for human and business development.
The mission is based on the Total satisfaction of our customers, offering innovative and accessible products.
Organizational structure
Productivity and Quality Objectives
The fact that our people have clear objectives is of great importance for achieving our reason for being "making money" for the benefit of both us as an organization and for our clients, therefore we have established 4 basic objectives that govern our daily pallet manufacturing processes.
The following flow chart indicates the sequence of operations from when the raw material is received until the orders are made to our customers. In this way in an orderly way we can see step by step how our product is manufactured choco pop palettes
Operation Flow
Operation # 1
Preparation of Materials:
1. Take the three materials and place them near the scale in their respective glasses to weigh the materials.
2.- Afterwards, take each one of them and weigh them according to the table shown.
3-Take material already with the correct weight and place it in the mixer.
4-Mix raw material for 10 seconds.
5.-Heat COKER for 10 minutes at the beginning of the shift.
6-Take a tablespoon of chocolate and weigh it on a scale, it should weigh 40grs.
7-Place Chocolate in coker and move spoon while it melts for 10 seconds. Then move it to the molding area to place the melted chocolate in the mold.
8-Prepare Molds by placing the toothpicks on each one.
9- Take Material previously mixed in the Coker and melted placing it in the mold carefully
10- After the molds are ready, place it in the refrigerator and let them cure for 10 minutes.
11- Take Refractory Mold and carefully remove the already prepared pallets.
12- Then remove all the excess using a knife.
13- Take the bag and ribbon and pack the pallet, not forgetting to place the Correct label, after having the pallet ready with its packaging, make sure to place it in the correct container
The following diagram shows us visually how we carry out our process mapping from the receipt of materials to the shipment to our client.
First Piece
The review and approval of the first piece is of great importance to ensure that the process has the capacity to produce a quality product. The following label must be filled out, signed and affixed to the first piece during the first hour of production. Production supervisor and quality auditor are responsible for carrying out this activity.
In the event that the first piece DOES NOT MEET the customer's requirements, a red rejection label must be placed on it and production should NOT be started until the situation is resolved and the material in process must be inspected 100%.
Quality Audits Quality
audits to the production process must be carried out every 2 hours, this activity helps us to maintain a process within control, if anomalies are detected by the quality auditor, ANDON must be activated red and the line will stop to correct the detected faults. Production should NOT be continued or resumed as long as the quality failure in the product has not been corrected. The following format should be used to keep audit records.
Frequency: In process (EP): 1 pieces every 2 hours Acceptance criteria: Zero defects.
Reaction plan: If a non-conformity (bad parts) is found, the entire lot will be rejected and all suspicious parts will be subject to the 100% draw.
Time: Indicates the date and time of the non - conforming parts that were found.
Comments:
System to require raw material
Our system to require raw material is based on the following:
A) we must have a maximum inventory of 1 month in raw material
B) when our raw material reaches a minimum level of 2 weeks it is time to carry out a new order for 3 weeks of raw material which takes 2-3 days to reach our location.
C) Upon receipt of the order, our inventory level again reaches the maximum level of 4 weeks.
D) So successively the cycle is repeated
Cost to pay for each order placed
FIFO
system The First In / First Out (FIFO) system is used as part of the inventory movement control, in this way we ensure that there is no loss of perishable materials and / or finished products.
The warehouse manager of raw materials and finished products has the responsibility of:
a) When receiving raw materials, immediately place a label of the color that corresponds to the month and note the date of receipt on the label.
b) Upon receiving the finished product from the production line, immediately place a FIFO label of the color of the month that corresponds to it and note the date of entry on the same label.
c) When production requires raw material and / or shipments are made to customers, you should always release the materials with older dates.
FIFO system (Color code per month)
FIRST INPUTS FIRST OUTPUTS
Andón System
Our manufacturing system has an ANDON System at the end of the line. This system helps us to visually notify the members of the production line when any anomaly is detected such as: Defective product, equipment failing, high waste rate, low productivity, etc.
The Production Supervisor is responsible for keeping the respective ANDON color on based on the following:
a) Green color: there is no anomaly in the operation
b) Yellow color: there is a potential for an anomaly, we must be alert.
c) Color Red: some anomaly has occurred, it is necessary to stop the line and carry out improvement actions.
Economic Justification
Based on the following financial analysis related to initial investment, sales and expenses, our operation is profitable in the short, medium and long term.
Methodology and Analysis During the process
Methodology:
Just In Time in our Production line to Create Flow in our process, seeking to implement "one piece Flow" This benefits by reducing the WIP and avoiding generating over production, on the other hand if a This defect would be minimal, and will not generate an additional cost in production.
Application of Takt time according to the Customer's requirement, applying these systems together with the pull System. The production line will be made more efficient.
Visual control is applied using operating methods that help the operator to better understand the process, correctly interpreting the way to assemble the parts. Work with Small Batches When Required or where normally applies when we have a Restriction
The Line Was Balanced to seek to Eliminate the Restriction in Our Process.
Apply the 5s in our process to more easily identify the needs of the Production line.
The Kan Ban system was used during the cooling process by means of cards that allowed us to know which trays were ready and available in the refrigerator, using colors that identified them as available and occupied.
Simple error-proof devices (Poka Yoke) are used in our process such as: Scales to ensure the correct amount of each material, molds that ensure uniform pieces and avoid material waste as well as a simple device that ensures that the chopsticks are placed correctly on each pallet.
Analysis:
During the process, several analyzes of raw materials, suppliers, and the process were made, all with the aim of improving our product and making the production line more efficient.
Raw material:
The first component we analyzed was the main ingredient, chocolate, since the product that was originally used was very slow to cast (10: 25min) and very difficult to handle due to its consistency, this reduced the number of pieces to be manufactured Since only 4 popsicles were produced with the same chocolate grammage. At a cost of $ 68 pesos per 1,000 gr with the change that was made, an efficiency of 95% was obtained, reducing the casting time from 10:25 min to 1:35 min, allowing this same mixture to complete 8-9 manufactured pallets.
Providers:
Originally, the raw material was purchased in a shopping center, which handled the following costs:
$ 68 pesos for 1 kilogram of chocolate.
$ 229 pesos for 1 kilogram of almond
$ 310 pesos for 1 kilogram of walnut
$ 50 pesos for 1 kilogram of coconut
The change from a national supplier in volume sales was made, having the following results:
All material prices were significantly reduced when buying by volume, reducing our cost of materials per unit of production by 50%.
Process:
During the steps to manufacture the pallets, we encountered real situations in which we had to determine improvements to be able to balance the operations of the product, the process already works in a normal way but we can still improve the total direct personnel required by reducing the number of 5 operators current to a total of 3 traders as trades # 2 and # 5 are still somewhat loose.
Our Brand:
To define our brand we select from a total of 3 options
Conclusions
All organizations today seek to streamline their process, time and costs, which is why they are constantly looking for continuous improvement of them by implementing methodologies or tools that allow them to make these changes, operations management is a strategic point for this purpose since it opens the panorama to the needs and allows us to analyze the possible solutions that we can face. During the development of the project we were able to realize the importance of the correct implementation of the tools, since it is essential to first carry out a situational analysis looking for our bottlenecks or those activities that are not allowing the flow of the process, as happened with the first chocolate that we acquire,Knowing the client's requirements is not only important for the materials area, it is also an important part of the speed and precision of work and its deliveries on time.
During the process of applying the methodology, we were able to participate in the following improvements to our product, such as:
• Reduction in product manufacturing costs
• Product reengineering
• JIT application for raw material delivery.
• Reduction of production time.
• Balance and Lay out adjustments were made.
This is a clear example that the implementation of the TPS methodology is applicable in any organizational turn obtaining excellent results, as a company it is sometimes difficult to fully apply this system, however, raising awareness among staff of its use is necessary since if We have some tools of the same, the correct application of these will open the way to a global knowledge and therefore a guide to continuous improvement.
Bibliography
Made to order Lean
Ed. Lane
Lean Lexicon
Lean Enterprise Institute
Toyota System
Yasuhiro Monden
Toyota
Jeffrey K. Liker
Wikipedia
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