Heat Trace Control Improvements at Appleton Group Houston Facility

Abstract

Heat Trace products delivery time at Appleton manufacturing company located in Houston Texas has become a problem since a year ago. The causes of this problem are components and mounting pan lead times, as well as assembly time. In an effort to decrease time, components and mounting pans were analyzed in regards to days. Also, employee assembly time was studied in regards to products configuration and days. It was found that by creating pre-drilled mounting pans, employee time can be reduced from 2 to 3 days. Also, assembly time can decrease by having the components that have high lead times and will be installed on the mounting pans, stock in Houston facility. The facility can even go beyond in their improvements by purchasing a machine to do the pre-drilled mounting pans, instead of buying these once outside. Also standardizations for combo products can be developed in the future. These will retain and increase new customers. Key Terms ⎯ Assembly Innovation, Base plate Evolution, Components Standardization, Manufacturing Improvements.