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Case Study One: Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED)

Decades ago, manufacturers considered set up a fixed cost with no real positive or negative impact on overall part cost. Engineers at Toyota were among the first to realize the enormous opportunity to lower production costs by reducing the time it takes to set up and changeover production machinery. Research shows that an average of 30% of an operator’s time is spent preparing for the set up, 5% is used in attaching machine parts (dies, jigs, etc.) and 65% of the set up time is consumed by measuring, centering and making final adjustments to the set up.
 

Given the amount of time involved, improving set up efficiency and thereby reducing total set up time, can have a significant favorable impact on cost.

By using the “SMED” principle (Single Minute Exchange of Dies) used at Toyota, GM Nameplate has dramatically reduced the costs related to changeover or set up times. For example, in one of the set up reduction kaizen’s we performed on a screen printer used in conductive screen printing:

    • Total distance traveled to gather tools, materials and other necessary items was cut from an average of 1000 feet per set up to only 85 feet., 92% improvement.
    • Actual labor time was reduced by 60%.
    • Machine down-time was reduced by 60%.
    • Average changeover cost was reduced by 73%.

     

  
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