Design for set-ups: a step towards quick changeovers in foundries

Abstract

Productivity can be enhanced by exercising economy at all levels of the organisation, thereby controlling the quantity of resource inputs as well as by increasing outputs with the same or reduced levels of inputs (Mileham, 1999). Set-up time is one of the vital parameters used in any manufacturing industry and is a form of necessary input to every machine or workstation. The SMED method, originally developed by the Japanese industrial engineer Shigeo Shingo, for reducing the time to exchange dies gives a really straightforward approach to improve existing set-ups and to easily obtain a reduction of up to 60% (Singh and Khanduja, 2010). Since the last decade, people have also realised that by improving ‘a posteriori’ situation a lot of problems can be prevented during the design phase of the equipment itself. This paper completes the set of design rules specifically for foundry dies and tooling, for their shorter set-ups. Efforts have been made to sustain the existing design of tooling on the basis of Poka-yoke principles. A specific set-up tool kit has also been unleashed in the text, and based on practical experiences a number of useful tips have been quoted for formulation of an efficient and effective set-up procedure, strategically.