Assessment and Plant Layout - Enerfab

Company Profile: Enerfab, a Cincinnati-based, privately held firm was incorporated in 1901 and fabricates custom-design, steel-plate, process systems. The company specializes in field fabrication, field erection and renovation of existing equipment, and engineering capabilities to provide turnkey projects and systems.

Project: Enerfab asked TechSolve to perform an assessment and a plant layout project in its tank lid department. This assessment methodology consists of in-depth interviews, observations, information gathering, and data analysis and is designed to highlight cause and effect relationships within the organization and identify the root causes of constraints. The
assessment also evaluates ways to minimize waste, reduce energy consumption, and improve business and operations practices.

TechSolve’s assessment revealed that Enerfab’s tank lid department was not planning information effectively, lacked a preventive maintenance plan, and experienced long setup times. The assessment also called into question the effectiveness of its MIS system. TechSolve engineers used a pareto analysis and process map flowchart to establish a kaizen event which streamlined the work process and eliminated non-value added activities. TechSolve implemented a pull production kanban and introduced Lean Manufacturing techniques to assure success for the tank lid department.

TechSolve engineers were able to:
• Improve planning by identifying and streamlining information requirements
• Analyze profitability using activity based costing
• Incorporate preventive maintenance on critical equipment to reduce down time
• Apply setup reduction techniques to the press area
• Evaluate the MIS system for current and future effectiveness

TechSolve worked with the staff and management of Enerfab to develop layout scenarios based on various criteria. 

Results: As a result of the TechSolve’s assessment and the introduction of Lean Manufacturing techniques, Enerfab realized:

• $50,000 in additional sales due to increased capacity
• $180,000 reduction in labor costs through elimination of non-value added activities
• $250,000 reduction in inventory costs and a reduction of work-in-process