Rail
Material Management Programme
Material Management Programme
In 2024 Develop Consulting supported the Assembly department at a global provider of equipment, systems & digital solutions in freight rail, transit and mining, to improve parts availability and presentation, and to reduce non-value-adding material handling, by developing a new ‘kitting process’.
Results
- BOM accuracy improved from 78% to 100%
- Right First Time increased from 91% to 98%
- 15% build time reduction
- Revised work instructions for the 3 main products that can be used for auditing and training
Observations
Our client had a contractual obligation to “turn around” a fully serviced engine raft in 20 days, from door to door. At commencement of Develop Consulting’s support, they were only able to achieve a 28 day return.
Non delivery to the schedule risked causing “holes in trains” or forcing the customers to extend the engine service hours under concession. Late deliveries were leading to penalty charges and a reduced annual turnover.
Through detailed audits of the processes and their related documentation, it became clear that the Production Bill of Materials and the shop-floor work instructions did not correlate. The Raft Fitters were spending 15~20% of the allocated build time searching for parts delivered in consolidated bags and boxes, and then often needing to walk to the stores to collect additional parts that they could either not find or were missing from the kits.
Actions
An engine raft was followed through the complete Assembly process, identifying 100% of all parts used, the sequence they were assembled and their originating source locations. The work instructions were re-written, to include all part numbers and tooling required, with the work content broken down into ‘tasks’.
Working with the Stores teams, the parts were ‘kitted’ into segmented trays in the sequence of the ‘task’ work instructions, then passed to the Reclaimed Parts team where they ‘kitted’ the re-used and over-hauled parts alongside the new, enabling the fitters to easily pick all the parts required for an individual task without the need to search through the previous bags and boxes, which were sorted by commodity and/or supplier, but not task sequence.
Using the more accurate picking sheets developed from the new Production BOM enabled the Reclaimed Parts team to identify missing, lost or damaged items earlier in the process, allowing more time to fulfil the delivered kit.
The work instructions were then broken down into single shift ‘chunks’ to support the training of new fitters, and giving the ability to flow the assembly lines in sequence to a regular beat.
