PROPER Model: an Optimization Methodology to Reduce Cost and Lead Time for Primary Pressure-Retaining Components in Safety Relief Valves
Open AccessValve Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in the United States are facing increasing pressure to offer products capable of competing with other local and low-cost country industry players, forcing them to continuously lower prices and shorten delivery dates. At the same time, operations and fulfillments teams are discovering inefficiencies in existing designs, but not until after they have already gone into production, leading to an inflated manufacturing cost affecting the OEM’s bottom line for the rest of the product’s life-span due to the complexity involved in changing designs after they have been released for production.This praxis intends to provide a solution to this problem by introducing the PROPER (Product Redesign, Optimization of Processes, and Effectiveness Review) Model, a new methodology created to simplify existing product designs and lean-out the manufacturing processes. Unlike existing optimization methodologies, such as Lean or Six-sigma, which focus heavily on improving the manufacturing process only, the PROPER Model encompasses optimizations to the existing design, provides guidelines for a multiple optimization approach to the manufacturing processes, and adds an increase of employees’ ownership for quality verification with the goal of reducing cost and production lead-times; all while still providing a finished product that meets the requirements of safety, quality, and functionality. The practical application of this new model was implemented to Consolidated® valve components with the purpose of demonstrating that cost and lead-time reduction can be accomplished using the steps outlined by this proposed methodology. The full implementation process, with explicit examples, is outlined in this document, including the final outcome of cost reduction of over 25% and an average lead-time decrease of about 16%. The PROPER Model was initially developed to reduce cost and lead time for Primary Pressure-Retaining Components (PPRC) in Safety Relief Valves (SRV), but it could be applied in other existing products and industries as a mean to identify and reduce waste on existing component designs.
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Gonzalez_gwu_0075A_14469.pdf | 2018-12-03 | Open Access |
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