In recent months, SIPA, has invested heavily in a new production philosophy and new production islands that cut material wastage and downtime, with the result that lead times are reduced. But product quality is higher than ever. At the same time, SIPA has added to the value of the people employed in the operation.
Behind the new organisation are the principals of Kaizen, or continuous improvement.
The creation of an excellent mold depends on putting individual customer value front and center. All SIPA processes focus on Customer Satisfaction and the understanding of the customer requests, not only in technological terms, but also in terms of reliability, performance and response times. Kaizen is one of the most important concepts of lean production. It involves not only products, but also processes, production assets and the specialization of operatives. It is the driving force behind everything innovative that happens at SIPA.
SIPA constantly reviews the value-stream mapping of the entire mold production process, allowing it to eliminate activities that do not create value and create a production flow that reflects demand and eliminates delays and waste. By improving technological performance and making processes more robust, SIPA can guarantee excellent quality and cutting-edge products.
Quality molds demand quality processes. SIPA’s latest one-piece-flow production logic, with dedicated FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) and control plans, is the result of a synergy between process engineering and quality engineering.
Having control of the process for single items, rather than batches, improves overall flexibility in production and provides a safer working environment. The reduction of lead-time and punctuality at every stage also contributes to making the SIPA service particularly competitive.
The objective of continuous improvement is based on the choice of the best technologies, the technical training of staff and the search for innovative solutions. SIPA studies every single process phase in order to minimize the risk of error and maximize efficiency, creating stable and robust processes. Operators can supervise activities in an organized and safe way. As a result, they are evolving into supervisors of automated islands as they acquire increasingly challenging and crucial skills.
Constant process monitoring and control allows deviations to be identified in real time and errors prevented, guaranteeing very high product quality. Each phase of the workflow is prepared with timely interlocking of materials and equipment, eliminating warehouses or processes, with a just-in-time perspective to feed the final assembly and testing phases. Within the Kaizen system as applied to mold making, SIPA can measure, monitor and record everything that happens.