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Component Manufacturing dverti$er
Don’t Forget! You Saw it in the
July 2019 #11240 Page #14
Adverti$er
You’re Only As Strong As Your Weakest Link Chris Scott
Square 1 Design & Manufacture Inc
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eing only as strong as your weakest link is not only true in sports but also on the production line, whether we are talking about people or equipment. Diagnosing the slowest and least efficient point in any production line is key to having a successful and profitable manufacturing process.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
When we look at a wall panel manufacturing line, most of the work is done at the front of the line with everything feeding into the framing table. That means, what happens down the line is critical—the last thing we want is to have something back up the line and stop the framing table. This makes the sheathing station the “weakest link” in the line.
One approach to preventing a back-up on the line is to add more labor and resources. Some plants spread out the work from one table to several tables to avoid a pinch point. Examples of this would be using a squaring table before the sheathing table to apply and tack down the sheathing or a squaring table afterward to rout the openings. The sheathing station itself poses certain problems also. On a squaring table with manual nail guns being used, it’s hard to make sure that you get the correct nailing spacing. Many production shops just make sure they apply extra nails at a narrower spacing, but this can be as bad as having too wide of a nailing pattern. The other concern is (shiners) nails missing the studs. Because a worker can only reach one side of the table, two guys are needed on the tacking and sheathing station.
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