Single minutes exchange of die (smed) applications at the color changeover process of plastic bottles

Abstract

Purpose- This project’s goal is to minimize total time of the color changeover process for plastic bottle’s production at one of the leader companies in cosmetic sector. Methodology- Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) approach is used for improving the color changeover process. Based on this analysis; variants of the colors, detailed steps of the process, time of the steps and cycle time are observed and recorded. Findings- It was obtained that this process lasts from 2 hours to 8 hours depending on colors. This process is done at least two times in a week and it causes the production line to stop frequently. To use time efficiently and minimize work in process inventory, SMED is required and applied to decrease the time for color change over process. By applying proposed solution suggestions, time can decrease 60% for the color change over process which takes more than 5hours. In addition, by applying other approach, the time can decrease 20.5% for any of the color change over processes Conclusion- Color changeover process is analyzed and found out to be inefficient based on the time studies performed. By applying SMED, this process is improved by both increasing efficiency and minimizing work in process inventory.