The Case of the Pencil Pushing Process $-$ Value Stream Mapping

Introduction

Columbia Writing Instruments $($CWI$)$ produces a variety of writing instruments. They manufacture plastic pens, highlighters, mechanical pencils, and wooden pencils. CWI packages the product in boxes imprinted with the customer logo and artwork to create a generic store$-$brand writing instrument. CWI$$s sales have been steadily increasing at a rate of over $20\%$ each year for the past three years. However, the additional volume and new clients seem to be creating a variety of problems in the manufacturing process.

The Problems

CWI is currently experiencing a variety of problems: a$)$ purchasing and overhead costs have been steadily increasing. Profits have been decreasing; b$)$ the facility is quickly running out of room. The production space is so full of parts and products that CWI is considering building a second production facility and warehouse; c$)$ CWI quotes an order lead time of $2$ weeks, and they are shipping approximately $15\%$ of the orders late.

The Operations Manager takes Initiative

Victoria S$.$ Morgan, the operations manager, decided to use value stream maps to highlight how the production process should be improved. Victoria chose the pencil family of products to value stream map first. Pencils are the highest profit margin product produced at CWI and demand for pencils has been increasing recently

The Pencil Family of Products

CWI manufactures a variety of pencil related products. The pencils are packaged in boxes imprinted with the customer logo and artwork. All configurations of pencil are considered part of the pencil family of products because they are processed using similar methods and equipment. CWI receives orders for approximately $25,000$ pencils each week. CWI operates one shift $(8$ hours each day$)$ running $5$ days each week.

The Pencil$-$Making Process

Victoria decides to $$walk the process$$ with her production staff to collect the data required for value stream mapping. The team carries paper and pencils to document the process steps, and stop watches to time the various steps of the process. If there is no information about lot size and setup time in the Department information, consider the lot size as $1.$

The Raw Materials Storage Area

The team documents the raw materials in stock for making pencils of $20$ days of Wood. The wood supplier, Timber Incorporated, makes shipments once every other week $($once every $2$ weeks$).$

The Cutting Department

In the Cutting Department, wood dowels are cut to the correct length. Victoria and her team watch the process for a while. The Cutting Department makes $10,000$ of a single length and color before sending the blanks to the Insert Department. First, the machine used in this department requires $5$ minutes to set$-$up for the particular length to be cut. Next, an operator cuts the painted dowel. Victoria times how long it takes for the operator to create a pencil blank. After watching the process run for $15$ minutes, $409$ pencil blanks have been made. Therefore, the processing time is $2\mathrm{.}2$ seconds $[15$ minutes x $60$ seconds $/409$ pencil blanks$].$ One person works in this department. Uptime is on average $85\%.$ They notes that there are $30,000$ pencil blanks in work$-$in$-$process inventory between the Cutting and Inserting.

Insert Department

In the Insert Department, the operator inserts a graphite rod into the center of the pencil blank. There is no setup required for this operation. After watching the Insert Department for $20$ minutes, $375$ pencils were processed through the department. One person works in this department. There are $18,000$ pencils are sitting in an inventory staging area waiting to have erasers attached. Uptime is on average $95\%.$

Eraser Department

In the Eraser Department, the pencils are banded with a metal band and an eraser is crimped into place. There is no setup required for this process. Currently, six eraser installers work in this department; each operating one of six eraser installing machines. After watching one of the operators work at this process, they observe that it takes an average of $17$ seconds for each pencil to be processed through this machine. Victoria knows that she has $6$ operators, each one installing erasers in $17$ seconds. The team notices that there are $60,000$ pencils in an inventory staging area waiting to be boxed. Uptime is on average $100\%.$

Boxing and Printing Department

The Boxing and Printing Department boxes the pencils into custom imprinted boxes. Each day, the workers receive a list of orders that should be packaged that day. Fifteen $(15)$ people work simultaneously during the shift, but only $3$ are printing and boxing for this product family of wood pencils. After watching the department for $20$ minutes, the improvement team notes that one of the average workers has boxed $60$ pencils. Victoria calculates the Cycle Time for this operation by dividing $1,200$ seconds $[20$ minutes x $60$ seconds$]$ by $60$ pencils resulting in $20$ seconds per pencil. Uptime is on average $100\%$