Manufacturers face many challenges in their business from overseas competitors to raw material increases.
But one of the biggest challenges deals with space – the right facility space and design to fit your unique assembly line. Wasted space is one of the 7 wastes in the Toyota Production System for lean manufacturing. Not having sufficient space for your assembly line can lead to a significant reduction in line throughput, slower production, and even accidents.
Assembly lines move components down a production line from operation to operation until the product is completed. To save space in your facility, you need to shrink your assembly line - and UNEX FlowCell flow racks can help you do it.
FlowCell is the ideal lineside storage solution, allowing users to consolidate storage on the line and reduce the footprint of lineside storage.
If you are looking to reduce inventory and space, while boosting productivity, UNEX FlowCell flow racks are a great start. They provide substantial benefits to your assembly environment, including:
1. Housekeeping
5S is a housekeeping method for the shop floor consisting of 5 rules that eliminate waste and foster a lean environment. The five S’s are organization, orderliness, cleanliness, standardization, and discipline. FlowCells help you have a place for everything and everything is in its place, drastically reducing the clutter that can slow down the assembly line activity and eat up valuable workspace.
2. Compact Plant Layout
FlowCells are modular flow rack systems that can be specifically designed for a manufacturer's unique needs. This allows FlowCells to be configured to fit smaller footprints than other material handling solutions typically present on an assembly line. A minimized footprint means storing more parts and product lineside while increasing the available space on the line for value-added activities.
3. Streamline Movements
FlowCells streamline movements of product through the assembly process by ensuring the fewest number of non-value added activities take place on the assembly line. Identifying and eliminating (or at least reducing) non-value-added activity is the key to streamlining a manufacturing process on the assembly line.
As product life cycles shrink and you offer a widening range of products, the need for flexibility and space consolidation in your assembly line flow process is even greater than ever. These benefits ensure you are better able to control your inventories, decrease the footprint of your assembly line, and produce higher quality products in less time and at lower costs.
UNEX FlowCells provide this flexibility while eliminating wasted space and wasteful activities that choke up the assembly line.
To learn more about the assembly line benefits a FlowCell can bring to your manufacturing operation, download our Lean Manufacturing Guidebook.
