Inventory Based Evaluation

Customer Plant Level IBE Plan Proposal for Pneumatic Valves.

Goals: Inventory reduction, spec consolidation, and vendor consolidation.

Steps:

1. Choose a champion that can make decisions and can drive change through the group.

1. Make a list of all current valves in stock and what machines / applications they are used on. (This is Phase One – this takes about day to day and one half and requires about 2 to 3 teams of 2 to three people plus one plant person for guide and safety requirements, based on the size of the plant)

1. Brand name
2. Inline or Manifold mount style
3. Voltage – AC, DC
4. Electrical connection type – din, conduit, hard wire leads, M12, other
5. Function type – 2 way, 3 way, NO, NC, 4 way, 5 ported 4 way, vacuum
6. Solenoid type – single, double, 2 position, 3 position and center function.
7. Machine.
8. Application.

1. Plant tour to verify all valves / applications / plant safety requirements
2. Standardize on as few valves as possible (in another MDN project like this, the customer went from 400 solenoid valves part numbers down to 16. (This is Phase Two Step – takes couple of weeks or so, based on size of the plant valve population and is completed by the sales person who handles the plant)

1. Converting two and 3 ways to 4 ways with a plugged port.
2. Standardize on valves series sizes and port sizes/threads.
3. Standardize on din connector, voltage, wattage, and lights.
4. Standardize on modifications like wash-down.
5. Identify mounting and wiring/connector retrofit needs.

1. Meetings and presentations to ALL shifts with the corporate champion there to drive the project. 

1. CPR/MVP to quantify savings of:

1. Mac Valve standards for the plant and OEM’s.
2. Production bottleneck reduction or frequently replaced valves.
3. Cost of valves changeover.
4. Increased productivity and decreased unplanned preventative maintenance.
5. Decreased SKU’s, inventory savings, and reduction of purchase orders.

1. When phase two results have been approved by the customer, schedule phase three; (Phase Three – this can be done as soon as all shifts are trained and is conducted by two Mac distributor sales people)

1. Phase three is a complete pneumatic training course for all maintenance leads and plant floor maintenance personnel. This includes pneumatic training on how air valves operate, troubleshooting air valves, part number understanding, mounting considerations, etc.  This is conducted for all personnel and all shifts and is ongoing as long as “we” remain active in the plant.

1. Schedule implementation of valve changeovers.

1. Identify next plant and champions. 

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