General interest press release
Reinventing Production: Company-Wide Approach
Siemens is paving the way to improve its own production processes. The aim of the new approach is to boost productivity even in times of resource scarcity. As the latest issue of the research magazine Pictures of the Future reports, the company is currently carrying out a gradual conversion of the Siemens production system in its 300 plants in 40 countries. Initial successes show that even simple measures yield dramatic improvements. For example, a measuring instrument plant in Berlin has drastically accelerated the production process and boosted its productivity by 20 percent. While previously it took four work days until a product was ready for shipment, now it takes just one hour. What's more the number of products that fail to pass final inspection has decreased by one fourth, and the measures have freed up 1,200 square meters of space.
Siemens is paving the way to improve its own production processes.The aim of the new approach is to boost productivity evenin times of resource scarcity. As the latest issue of the researchmagazine Pictures of the Future reports, the company is currentlycarrying out a gradual conversion of the Siemens productionsystem in its 300 plants in 40 countries.
Initial successes show that even simple measures yield dramaticimprovements. For example, a measuring instrument plant inBerlin has drastically accelerated the production process andboosted its productivity by 20 percent. The plant manufacturesdigital protective devices of the SiProtec family, which preventhigh-voltage lines and terminal equipment from being damagedin the event of overvoltage or lightning strikes. The system hasenabled the plant to shorten production times: While previously ittook four work days until a product was ready for shipment, nowit takes just one hour. What's more the number of products thatfail to pass final inspection has decreased by one fourth, and themeasures have freed up 1,200 square meters of space.
Before the production system was introduced in the plant, its400 employees had to cover long distances to fetch materials andoften had to wait to check products for proper functioning. Theywere forced to frequently interrupt their work to prepare the nextprocess step and to sort tools and documents. After every step,the product was placed in a container until an employee couldfind time to carry out the next step.
Now there is better coordination of the various sequences. Theproduction lines at which the workers formerly sat behind oneanother, separated by large distances, have been converted intoU-shaped cells, where fixed teams of employees work. The requiredmaterials are close at hand, and each employee passes theproduct on to the next worker in the chain, until it is finished andcompletely packaged. The new system has many advantages: Thework area is prepared for each individual process step. It is clearlyarranged and easy to use, and the distance to the next work stationis as short as possible. Sorting and interruptions betweenwork steps are a thing of the past.
The production system is a company-wide effort to optimizeproduction at Siemens. The principles applied are the same, butthe solution in each plant is different. Lean production is not anew idea, but it isn't always consistently applied. To date, hardlyany technology companies have managed to introduce unifiedproduction systems.
Photo: http://www.siemens.com/ct-pictures/in20090601