Hi, I’m Aaron Christensen

Overview During the summer of 2019, Wisconsin’s Chippewa Valley area was suffering from a serious labor shortage. As a result, the Phillips-Medisize Oak Lawn plant was regularly operating at reduced capacity. A workstation was identified that required excessive labor and became a target for improvement. The product being made at the workstation is called a Starter Bundle, and it consists of Device and Consumable packages wrapped in a cardboard Sleeve. Prior to this project, the three pieces were assembled together by hand. With one operator able to assemble a Starter Bundle in ~7.5 seconds, this task typically required six operators to keep up with the rest of the line.

Solution An automation cell was devised that performed the same duties as the operators assigned to the station. Due to the need for rapid implementation, the decision was made to forgo high-tech vision inspection systems or other quality verifications because the assembly line was designed to catch most defects at later points. This allowed the project to go from recognition of the need to a functioning machine within just 7 weeks. First generation The first generation of the Sleeve Packing Automation assembled Starter Bundles in approximately two seconds and required only two operators, nearly doubling their effective output. The machine functioned by first stacking the Device and Consumable onto each other, then erecting a flattened Sleeve by squeezing it from the ends. A funnel would be inserted into the open Sleeve, then the Device and Consumable would be pushed through the funnel and into the Sleeve. Lastly, the assembled Starter Bundle would fall through a chute and onto a table-mounted conveyor belt below. The machine’s footprint measured only 20” x 24” and it sat easily on a tabletop. When running smoothly, the Sleeve Packing Automation allowed two of the six operators at the station to idle. Unfortunately, the machine suffered from somewhat poor reliability. Six positions were still staffed at the station to maintain rate when the machine went down, preventing full cost savings from being realized. Despite this, the first generation served four months in production and was partially responsible for a gradual OEE increase on the line as a whole.