Manufacturing Engineering MEng Projects

We at Hawks & Associates (HAI) were approached by the Detroit Faygo manufacturing plant to assess opportunities for improvement regarding their lighting setup. The current system used is costly to the client as well as energy intensive. Our goal was to propose a system that is attractive from a financial and energy perspective.

The new lighting setup will use light emitting diodes (LEDs) as they are more efficient than the lights operating currently. They will serve to reduce annual cost and consumption by over 70%. The cost savings will be amplified by the rebate by about 20-30%. They will also mitigate emissions produced by the plant which will positively impact the environment and reduce the client’s carbon footprint by 1.6 million lbs of CO₂ annually.

This project leveraged the Define, Measure/Analyze, Implement/Control (DMAIC) process to define the problem voiced by Stryker Medical leadership teams that the component qualification / PPAP process “takes too long and is overly burdensome”. Literature review and analysis of recurring bottlenecks in previous projects was completed to outline a proposed component qualification method. The use of part-submission planning, collaborative frontloading, and black-box engineering methods were leveraged on the Pace project, allowing the team to achieve an efficiency gain of 87.7%, correlating to a cost avoidance of $6.5 million. In addition, gathered data was analyzed through general linear models to present predictive equations that will allow future project teams to understand expected component qualification timelines by supplier and process type, considering the expected number of design changes and process changes that are required in the iterative design process.

In this project, we identify and recommend a fix for excessive separation of spacer and substrate during cold deployment at -30o C, which could result in increased time for airbag inflation due to bag interaction. Based on visual observations breakout, pattern was replicated by varying head position and composite material was evaluated as a single layer. By successfully making optimization to the simulation model, we controlled the simulation time under 10 minutes.

The dental capsules manufactured in New Ulm plant have had internal and external rejects including flash also called spew or burrs, moisture content, discoloration and short shot which need to be addressed in order to increase the throughout, reduce the cycle time, improve the quality of the capsules and meet customer requirements. The right first time (RFT) average over the past year has been 78%. The proposal to improve the right first time to a goal of 95% is to use a Six Sigma methodology with a DMAIC (Define – Measure – Analyze – Control) approach to improve operations and quality by determining the root cause, proposing recommendations, applying solutions and implementing a control plan. After analysis, the results show that the highest occurrence of defects is moisture content (too much or too little) caused by incorrect settings of the hydration oven process parameters. Additional defects analyzed and solutions proposed in this report include flash, short shot, and discoloration. After applying proposed solutions to address the root cause of the defects, the right first time increased to 96% which is a percentage point higher than the initial goal of 95%. The right first time improvement results in a cost saving and an estimated growth income of thousands of dollars per year.

The following project was chosen to change the way we process building cylinder head assembly systems for customers. The reason for this change is to pass along savings to the customer, while creating a more robust and marketable set of tooling for key-up on cylinder head assembly. The tooling redesign chosen was a combination of 2 previously developed tools so that the new tool utilized vacuum for key-up, while maintaining the ability for key-up verification. This project consisted of 4 phases, of which spanned an 8-month period that included a 1 phase for brainstorming and 3 phases for validating and improving.

After the 4 phases, ABB recommended the customer to utilize the new tooling in all new applications but keep the existing tooling in place as a backup. The results of this project provided the customer with an immediate savings of $1.1M though the elimination of needing to purchase additional production equipment to meeting required production volumes. The project also provided ABB with a more competitive solution to the market. Moreover, ABB’s justification for this project was the new tooling would yield at least $5M in additional sales via this solution.

The objective of the project is to improve the quality performance of the DMS assembly plant and to reduce the cost of poor quality by analyzing, recommending and possibly implementing solutions to issues that constitute 30% of Quality Rejections. The project offers value to the sponsor as they will able to look and pursue multiple different solutions that we have provided to quality issues depending on constraints such as cost, time to implement, etc. In the scope of our project, we are working on reducing both the quality rejections and the cost of poor quality. We are also limited to working on the P552 Dearborn Truck Plant (DTP) Assembly Line.

Currently, there is the need to build a modular software system for the automation of the MPCA gas chromatography hardware system. The modular needs to handle a large array of data gathering and hardware manipulation with timing concerns, performance, and energy efficiency considered. So far, the system has demonstrated most of these needs with a threaded control system for the hardware that can be configured by the user with an UI. The benefits of such a system is a reduction of manhours needed for gathering, a reduction of manhours needed to configure the code in the future, a reduction of manhours needed to develop new software system for new hardware systems and a straightforward way to control the system. However, more work needs to be done to test the software system and more studies need to be done on the energy efficiency of the system.

In commercial food production, the intersection of workplace safety and food safety is broadening. Individually, these disciplines extend beyond regulatory compliance into a much deeper matter – personal trust in product, brand, and company for employees and consumers alike. This line of reasoning compels market leaders to see compliance beyond the lens of an auditor and instead as essential to their long-term viability. This belief is driving companies to shift away from reactive management initiatives based on their own historical data to instead seeking and embracing best practices that are research-based from science or broad-based industry associations. Such an example is the adoption of a captive footwear program in food manufacturing, where employee footwear is replaced with employer-provided, facility-dedicated footwear subject to heightened sanitation levels. Utilizing IDDOV, Systems Engineering, and Production Systems Engineering concepts, this project provides completed verification activities and a roadmap to others leading up to a multi-month plant-wide pilot experience with approximately 500 production employees in a 24-hour operation. In turn, this model then provides a basis for implementation for approximately 4,000 employees companywide.

As with any compliance program, the greatest risks are cost of compliance as well as risk of non-compliance (program failure rate). This project verifies initial assumptions, defines parameter sensitivity, and explores possible cost reduction opportunities ranging from 4.8% to 28%. Mistake-proofing methods, the PTRS cycle, and a desirability scorecard are leveraged to drive both near-term adoption and long-term sustainability. Through these V&V efforts, a multi-month pilot experience becomes increasingly valuable for learning, as well as more likely to rapidly become a working model for other facilities.