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Lean Optimization of a Manufacturing Transfer

Lean Optimization of a Manufacturing Transfer
The Challenge

A medical device company came to us looking for a long-term partner to manufacture and assemble their innovative product. In working with the customer during production, we found several issues with their existing manufacturing process, these included: long lead times, high scrap rate, high re-work rate, and varied daily output. The customer wanted a better manufacturing process in order to meet the increasing market demands for their product and to reduce waste and reduce costs.

The Solution

Freudenberg Medical adheres to a proprietary lean manufacturing system called GROWTTH®. GROWTTH® stands for Get Rid of Waste Through Team Harmony. Freudenberg started the GROWTTH® program over 30 years ago. This proven methodology is now a company-wide program that strives to eliminate waste, optimize value-added activities, and shrink lead times. Our team spent many hours maximizing efficiency during the manufacturing process by utilizing different lean tools, these included simple standard work instruction, value stream mapping, one piece flow based on Takt time, and many more. After six months of GROWTTH® and Kaizen activities, Freudenberg Medical successfully delivered an improved manufacturing process for the customer. The Work Instruction was reduced from 33 pages to 10, the work in process decreased from the line, and managing daily improvement (MDI) was put in place to review and track daily output.

Lean Optimization of a Manufacturing Transfer
Lean Optimization of a Manufacturing Transfer
The Result

The revised manufacturing process improved lead time by 90%, reduced the scrap rate by 73%, and reduced the re-work rate by 65%. In additional, by changing the layout of the production floor, we reduced the manufacturing footprint by half. Freudenberg Medical will continue to optimize the current manufacturing process for the customer.  Continuous improvement using lean manufacturing principles enables us to offer the best manufacturing services with the highest product quality.

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