Milwaukee, Wisconsin – www.phmining.com
Joy Global is a leader in manufacturing and service of large excavating and drilling machines for the mining industry.
Results presented by Bob Mueller and Paul Diedrick at the QRM 2009 Conference.
QRM Background
- 2000 – Joined QRM Center
- 2003 – Implemented first cell “LRP”
- 2004 – Q-ROC
- 2006 – Implemented seven QRM cells at one time
- 2007 – Implement POLCA
- 2008 – Add four more QRM cells
- 2009 – Q-ROC for export shipping
POLCA Implementation
After getting familiar with QRM and creating cells, P&H decided to implement POLCA to control the complex flow between cells and, in some instances, stand-alone machines. The original implementation consisted of 44 loops and 805 cards, making it the largest POLCA implementation in the world. It currenently covers 13 cells and four non-cell areas.
Results
- Output of critical gearing components went up 253%
- QRM numbers increased 204%
- Inventory Turns increased 13%
- Number of POLCA cards in circulation down 23%
- WIP down $2-3M
Feedback from the “Folks in the Front Line”
- Shop Floor – “The guys on the floor love the process. They are the ones that are really singing the praises of POLCA.”
- “Hours of manager time has been eliminated.”
- Operator – “We are not buried in parts all the time.”
- Planner – “Things are going great, we don’t have as much inventory around […] (yet) we also have fewer late deliveries.”