“Are you crazy? We are not going to move our saw! We cannot afford to shut down for weeks to turn things upside down.” Those are words I’ve heard more than once, but it turns out I am not crazy. Saws can be moved and the process improvement can be accomplished in days and not weeks.
Moving saws inside the building so they are positioned at an outside wall will free up valuable plant space and increase sawing efficiency by reclaiming saw idle time with a Lumber PickLine. Don’t believe me? Check out my article from last May, Incremental CapEx and Accelerated ROI.
Many truss plants are shoe-horned into existing buildings with many constraints. Moving saws and feeding saws with Lumber PickLines sounds extreme, but it can be accomplished with accelerated ROI due to the ongoing operating cost savings and increased truss production after the extreme plant makeover.
An extreme plant makeover, done in two phases, was captured in my article on Threading the Needle with a High Rise Lumber PickLine. Adding a RetroC component saw was phase one (5 days) followed by phase two (4 days) when we moved a linear saw from deep inside the plant to the outside wall, allowing it to be fed from the same lumber PickLine as the phase one RetroC saw.
Need more convincing? Here are some revealing before and after photos. [For all photos, See PDF or View in Full Issue.]
BEFORE – Blade in the middle of the plant directly in front of the tables is good for just-in-time, however, it’s not enough buffer and the material staging area in front of the tables is not conducive to truss building. AFTER – Still just-in-time to the tables, however, with more efficient material staging and collated cut pieces spread out in front of the tables which has increased truss production.
BEFORE & AFTER – It’s easy to see how congestion in the material staging area is alleviated.
BEFORE – All saw cutting material in-feed was accomplished inside the building. AFTER – A Lumber PickLine utilizes the previous forklift path, resulting in significant operating cost savings and increased material handling efficiency.
BEFORE & AFTER – Not only does the added Lumber PickLine maximize space, this Double PickLine accelerates the ROI by feeding two automated saws from the same bunks of lumber.
When you’re ready to Feed Your Beast and see these efficient and effective systems for yourself, let us know! Inside and out, LimTek Process Organization Technology will help you squeeze out more truss production and deliver quality trusses with shorter lead times to better service your customers by organizing your truss fabrication processes to maximize your investment in automation. https://limteksolutions.com/#solutions