Brief Description of the project:

To improve the productivity of MIM(Metal Injection Molding) parts in molding by implementing the below points

1. Converting continuous high volume production tools running with 1,2 or 4 cavities to  multi-cavity 8,16,32 cavities
2. Automating manual unwinding of threads to auto unwinding using servo motors
3. Multi machine operation by introducing Robots (2 machine 1 operator or 4machine one operator)
4. Eliminating manual de-gating, by converting edge gate design to sub gate design.
5. Online productivity monitoring by implementing Industry 4.0.

Trigger for the project:

Present molding productivity is less due to following reasons

1. Less number cavities  consuming more machine and man hours
2. Less throughput per machine
3. Parts running Manual mode with more cycle time
4. No Consistency in output both in terms of quantity and quality
5. More manpower required to run the machine manually (Man to machine Ratio)
6. Utilizing more people for manual de-gating and staging.
7. Manpower hours are used for manual updating production details and feedstock request..

Eg:01-HON032(VANE)-4 cavity tool with edge gate:

The demand  for this part is 600k per month in  the 4 cavity tool with 36 second cycle time we were able to produce around  8k  production per day in manual mode with de-gating and to fill customer demand to need to  run 3 machines continuously ..

Eg:02 BOS001(Gear Ring)-4 cavity with Manual unwinding:

The demand for this part is 300k per month in the 4 cavity tool with 60 second cycle time we were able to produce around 5.2 k production per day in manual mode with manual unwinding and to fill customer demand to need to 2 molding machines continuously.

Other MOP’s of the molding department:

Above MOP’s are monitored every quarter by TOP management and we decided to take up challenge of improving them by 50% in next three financial year. Our customer’s demands were increasing and we did not had place to add more machines in the shop floor.

Solution generation & Innovation:

Running more machine with less number of cavities by manual mode is most challenging task to meet customer demand. This affect other customer deliveries. We started to think on how to overcome this situation with innovative solutions. Initially started for more number of cavities (Multi cavity) and tried with 8, 16 and 32.Then we faced difficulty to handle them manually then we started working on Robo’s to pick multi cavities from the tools. For picking different parts with different profile and fragile green parts, we started working on different EOAT’s and grippers. We could implement simple pick and place solutions for easy parts (~30 parts) within 3 months.

For avoiding manual De-gating of the parts different gate concepts were tried so that gate gets cut at the root without leaving any projections.

For parts with thread insert (internal thread), we started working with different tool design concept so that unwinding can happen in the mould itself.

For auto production data collection and feedstock request we started discussing with service provider to get the required data on line automatically. After going through with several service providers we realised it will better to set up small automation team internally who are interested in software development. Internal Automation team formed with 5 engineers, they started working on building IOT’s for capturing required data from the machines.

Implementation:

Eg1. HON032(VANE)-32 cavity tool with Sub gate Auto de-gate and Auto staging: For high runner HON32 parts 32 cavity with auto de-gating tool made and Robo pick & Place implemented. Output per day increased to  50K per day.

Eg 2. BOS001- Gear ring parts 8 cavity tool with auto thread insert (servo drive) made and mechanical gripper EOAT developed to pick the parts from tool and keep it on Conveyor. Second Robo was used to restage them on Ceramic trays.

Few more examples of EOAT’s:

1.180° Tilting (Part placing Fixture) BLK17      2. Part Picking with 180° Tilting( Without suction pad) SIL01

Results/Impact. Value Creation and Business impact:

With implementation of multi cavity tools for high runners, auto de gating (sub gate), auto unwinding (internal threaded parts) and Robot implementations for handling multi cavity parts overall productivity of the department has improved by 40%. With existing machines and manpower we could increase our sales and able to serve more customers.

From above graphs, we can see in 3 years there is :

1. 31% increase in Throughput per machine
2. 46% increase in Throughput per operators
3. 43% reduction in man to machine ratio

Environmental impact:

1. Since the number of cavities are increased, the power consumption has drastically reduced thereby reducing carbon footprint. Higher energy consumption is depleting natural resources which is an environmental impact.

Scope for horizontal deployment.

The same concept of

1. Multi cavity
2. Auto unwinding,
3. Use of Robots.
4. Design optimization,
5. Can be used across moulding shop.

Any other merits:

Increase of productivity avoids purchase of new machines which in turn reduces

1. Capital cost.
2. Real estate reduction
3. Consumables reduction
4. Increase in sales

Address of the Plant / Site location: AKURLI ROAD, KANDIVLI-EAST, MUMBAI- 400101, MAHARASHTRA

Brief Description of the project.

Conserve to Preserve - A Step towards Carbon Neutrality by Adopting Green Manufacturing Process to Improve productivity, reduce product cost & enhance quality of life.

Mahindra AD Kandivali Plant: - Background
This plant was established in 1964, oldest amongst the Mahindra Manufacturing Plants. This plant is called mother plant as it supplies Aggregates like Axle/ Transmission Gear Boxes to other TCF Plants. This is the only integrated Manufactoruing plant ( From Captive Foundry to Vehicle Roll Down) located in High Wage island metrocity- Mumbai.

Plant area is 64 Acres and Employee strength is 4500+We have a Dream- To be amongst the Top 10 Global Automotive Brands. To Achieve this, we had started Journey in 2007 with Milestones in the form of Promise 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019 ,2022 and so on. Currently Promise 2019 is in force. Since, promise we have declared is to reduce Specific Caron and water Footprint by 15% as compared to FY16 Level. Sector specific Energy Management Policy and Plant Specific Water Management Policy are the guiding documents.

Climate change is a major challenge for developing countries like India that face large scale climate variability and are exposed to enhanced risks from climate change.

Drawing inspiration from above, our project is a A Step towards Carbon Neutrality by Adopting Green Manufacturing Process to Improve productivity, reduce product cost & enhance quality of life.

Trigger for the project. (10 Points)

Foundry is being considered as one of the most hazardous and dangerous process which consumes lots of natural resource. Team Foundry took a challenge to reduce the Natural resource consumption, Improve the Productivity and Reduce Conversion Cost.

Concern-1: High Natural Resources Consumption

If we analyze the electrical & thermal consumption of the Kandivli plant, Foundry unit consumes 31% of the total power & 16% of total thermal energy.

Upon mapping the C0₂ profile cell wise melting contributes the highest due to presence of induction furnaces where a dedicated CFT is working under ENCON for its reduction.  Core Room cell ranks second due to PNG heated core making machines, so the team took up the challenge to reduce it.

Concern-2:  High Casting Manufacturing Cost

To retain the cost competitiveness in this VUCA world we plotted the casting wise product cost wherein LCCR Crankcase was highest which upon further bifurcation revealed that contribution of raw material (59%), labor (11%) & FOS – Tooling (4%). These costs were further plotted cell wise wherein Core Room cell was highest so reducing the overall cost of Core Room cell was targeted

Core Room Cost breakup of top three contributors where further analyzed & highest contributors were Raw material - Resin Coated sand, Labor – on 32 Series machine & FOS Tooling – PNG

Concern-3: Less Crankcase Casting making capacity

To cater to the projected increase in crankcase casting demand, capacity dispatch mapping was done cell wise wherein the core room capacity had a gap of 3500 nos. Barrel 1&4 and Barrell 2&3 were having least capacity. Hence focus was on increasing its capacity.

To Manufacture one crankcase core assembly 7 varieties of core were required which were manufactured on 4 machines & its productivity was less due to high cycle time. To overcome it M&M Foundry started looking for Innovative and sustainable and Productivity project for moving towards Improving quality of life, improving business performance, making technology affordable and Green process to achieve sustainable business model, a positive step towards achieving an inclusive growth. Foundry Team did a process mapping of Core room and identified gas heating (High Cycle Time) is one of the influencing deterrent factors to aim our goal. Our team decided to think differently and create positive impact on our business with enhanced Productivity. The team challenged the conventional process of shell core process making and implemented cold box process for LCCR Crankcase barrel core making with changing the die design and thereby moving towards green manufacturing

Solution Generation & Innovation (20 Marks)

Core making process which required manual feeding of resin coated silica sandbags 300 Nos Per Day of 50 Kg each into a 38 years old machine in which dies were heated and maintained at 300 ⁰C by using Process Natural Gas for heating .It was a nightmare for the machine operator to remove heated cores from the Die at 300 ⁰C due to Process Limitation, it was consuming high quantity of natural resources which lead to generation of high amount of carbon dioxide and the Cycle time of machine was very high resulting into to low productivity. So, in a nutshell it was impacting the 3Ps i.e. People, Planet Profit

Action 2: Integration of slab core with barrel core

The team came up with an innovative way of integrating the slab core within the barrel core neck portion thereby eliminating the need of one variety of core

Hurlde    c. Low sand supply capacity

Solution: Pneumatic sand transfer system

The existing sand requirement was 1.4 ton/hr. which was catered by manual sand transfer & addition to individual machines. As a result, time required for sand transfer was more & high fatigue. Also, the layout of machine & manual sand mixing operation made it more difficult.

The revised sand requirement to cater to increased demand was 1.9 ton/hr. which was 0.5 ton less than the existing capacity. The team has studied the process flow, operational requirements & with aim of improving the sand supply capacity pinned on a low-cost solution of pneumatic sand transfer system with auto sand mixing & dosing facility. This frugal solution gave an output of 2.4 ton/hr. therefore making it future ready for further capacity enhancement

Hurlde    d. Manual Core Unloading 

Solution: Pneumatic sand transfer system

For core unloading 80 kgs of core needed to be lifted manually around 160 times/shift which challenges the endurance of operators and classified as yellow stage under ergonomic SSES analysis.

The team started working on evaluating various options to improve quality of life of operators & reduce fatigue while reducing fatigue by exploring various frugal alternatives to the standard most sought out alternatives such robots. But due to high capex and space constraint the team developed a flexible core unloader thereby converting the stage to green as per SSES analysis

Hurlde     e. Manual Data capturing

Solution: Industry 4.0 & IOT Real time data capturing

Traditionally all the data required to calculate productivity, quality, cost parameters was done manually which required high time

The team leveraged the concept of industry 4.0 & IoT for real time data capturing using smart sensors & thereby eliminating the manual activity

A Step towards Carbon Neutrality by Adopting Green Manufacturing Process

Results / Impact. (20 Marks)

Value Creation and Business Impact:

Benefits under PQCDSM:

Productivity (P): -

1. Crankcase Core making Productivity increased by 110% (from 80 Nos/shift to 168 Nos/shift)
2. Work Content Reduction of 4.41 % at PU Level

Quality (Q): -

1. Customer End rework due to Fins eliminated.
2. Surface Finish of Casting improved which lead to delightful customer Experience

Cost (C): -                 Total Cost Saving-362 lakhs/Annum (YOY)

1. Raw Material Cost Saving of Rs. 242.7 Lakhs/Annum.
2. Electrical energy Cost Saving of Rs. 8.08 Lakhs/Annum
3. PNG Cost Saving of Rs. 52.4 Lakhs/Annum
4. Additives Consumption Cost Saving Rs. 46.7 Lakhs/Annum
5. Manpower cost saving of 12.7 Lakhs/annum

Delivery(D): -

1. LCCR Crankcase Dispatch capacity increased 6500 Nos/Month to 9750 Nos/Month
2. Opportunity to generate new business
3. Retaining existing cost competitiveness in the market

Safety(S):-

1. Operator fatigue due to manual sand transfer eliminated
2. SSES Yellow stages changed to Green Stages

Morale(M):-

1. Delightful experience to stake holder

Environmental Impact ( 10 Marks)

1. Carbon Footprint Reduced-581 Tons/Annum
2. Electricity consumption reduced by 42%
3. PNG Consumption reduced by 100%
4. Raw Material Consumption reduced by 51%

Scope for Horizontal Development: (10 Marks)

Shared idea with following industries

Any other merits.(10 Marks)

a) Innovative & First time in industry solution of manufacturing 7 varieties of crankcase cores in a single machine. This unique system is applied for PATENT with patent registration no 2791/PAT/2019

b) This Project was rewarded as the best sustainability project in entire Mahindra & Mahindra sector for the year 2019 for its frugal first in industry solution to increase quality of life of operators & drive positive change in life of all stakeholders enabling them to RISE