Seniors Optimize Shop Efficiency and Layout
Industrial and Systems Engineering seniors Madelyn Gibbs, Sami Kanukunta, Nicholas Reynolds, Connor Salsbury, and Jacob Voorhees worked with Andersen Windows & Doors for their Senior Design project. Andersen Windows & Doors is a private window and door manufacturer headquartered in Bayport, Minnesota.
The team of ISyE seniors worked to improve the operational efficiency of the Andersen Consolidation Center in Menomonie, WI. The team focused on improving the picking process, window assembly, and floor layout of the Consolidation Center, with the objective of reducing unnecessary waste and improving product flow within the facility. In addition, they sought to decrease processing times and improve worker productivity.
The team began by surveying employees to measure satisfaction with the current facility layout and process flow. In this survey the team found that a majority of facility employees had at least 1 suggested change to the facility. To dive deeper into the primary challenges in the facility, the team created spaghetti diagrams to map common pathways in the facility used by employees in various roles, and they performed time studies to analyze and identify where inefficiencies occurred. The team discovered that workers were making several back-and-forth trips between different locations in the facility to find accessories and put uncompleted projects into storage locations. Upon analyzing the congestion, they saw even more significant issues during the corporation’s busy season (April - October).
Ultimately, to improve the situation and meet the objectives set out by Andersen, the team hosted a Kaizen event, which “ . . . supports an effective, short-term brainstorming session that focuses on a single challenge and improves an existing process.” This event was held with Andersen employees and stakeholders so that al perspectives were represented and any disagreements could be resolved quickly. During the event, the team presented recommendations that included consolidating racks to include various accessories in order to reduce the number of trips, as well as implementing technology to make sorting and allocating accessories easier. They also concluded that standardizing barcode placement on products would make for easier access and retrieval. Finally, they recommended that organizing the tools in the shop, as well as implementing lift tables and pictures, will ease burdens on employees, improve understanding, and make training more effective.
After the Kaizen event, the team conducted a Paper Doll exercise to mock-up potential redesigned layouts for the shop floor so that product flow could be visualized for different options.
In their Final Report, the team concluded that if elements such as barcodes, lighting, organization elements, tablets, and accessibility features were added, the company could have a cost savings of $35,500; 1,372 working hours; and improve shop utilization by 22% per year.
The team reflected on three lessons they took away from their Senior Design Project: clearly outlining project scope prevents wasting; time management ensures tasks are completed effectively; and continuously leveraging each team member’s experience fosters a culture of improvement and increases overall project efficiency.