Incremental improvement: A worked example

In adhesives, sealants and masking applications, increasing productivity and quality is often about small changes. By identifying the main pain or pressure points, be it quality, repeatability, or bottlenecks, you can plan a step-by-step approach that gets you where you want to be with minimal redundancy.

For the purpose of this example, I am the founder and Managing Director of a small electronics business. After a year of R&D, I am happy with my product design and decide to take my product to market.

Part of my process involves temporarily masking a PCB before a conformal coating process. For help choosing a suitable liquid mask, I reach out to an adhesives supplier. Because I'm just starting out and don't know if my product will take off, they help me devise an affordable process that involves dispensing a maskant using a Quantx syringe and manual plunger.

My initial product launch goes well, soon amassing several small customers. Finding myself increasingly busy running my new business, I hire an operator, Mary, to assist with production.

As my business continues to grow, my hands-on process starts to struggle. The dispense rates are inconsistent, and squeezing the plunger all day is giving Mary a sore thumb. We're also accidentally dispensing excess material, leading to spillages and wastage.

Step up 1: Semi-manual dispensing

I speak to my trusted advisor again, who suggest that stepping up to a semi-manual dispensing method would improve productivity. It helps that I already have a little compressor that is used for spraying.

By adding a DC50 dispensing controller with a foot pedal, Mary can dispense material at a far more consistent rate, and the more ergonomic process relieves the strain on our thumbs. I'm pleased that product throughput has increased, and results are far more uniform than when I first started production.

Mary is very adept at the process, but I worry that when Mary is away on leave, or sick, I won't be able to produce products to the same standard. It makes sense to deskill the process so that if Mary is unavailable, production can continue to the same standard.

Step up 2: Controlled, semi-manual dispensing

To improve accuracy, my trusted advisor recommends that I purchase a dispensing robot to control the placement of material. I also invest in a 3D printed jig, which allows me to process multiple parts at once, improving throughput.

The new robot allows me to produce identical products - plus, anyone can load products and press the button with very little training. The addition of a valve means materials don't run during dispense, creating cleaner, more professional looking final products, with less wastage.

After being featured in a prestigious magazine, I am contacted by a multinational customer who wishes to resell my products - I need to quickly increase production volume. As I do so, I notice that Mary is spending an increasing amount of time changing syringes during production. I contact my supplier to see if it is possible to supply material to my new robot system in bulk.

Step up 3: Semi-automated dispensing

My supplier recommends a pressure pot to help dispense my adhesive, which will substantially reduce the time required to change out depleted material syringes. I can now purchase materials in bulk, increasing economies of scale and saving money.

The pressure pot frees Mary's time up significantly. She can now carry out multiple tasks at once, improving productivity. But, as demand grows further and material is used up quickly, I wish the system could operate much more independently.

Step up 4: Semi-automated bulk dispensing

I raise this with my trusted advisor, who suggests I progress to a fully incorporated custom system to speed up my process. They build me an archytas series enclosure, which has all my dispensing and application technology integrated to simplify and consolidate operations. My adhesives partner trained my team on it too, and that helped us keep operations running smoothly.

I'm very pleased with how my process has progressed. I've improved productivity and quality with a series of small changes, in a way that enabled quick return on my investments and avoided any redundancy. I've got from a simple manual process to a highly repeatable and accurate semi-automated process in a way that's manageable for my operators.

Are you looking for an adhesives partner to help improve productivity? Intertronics will take the time to understand your process in detail, so the company can recommend equipment and materials to help you achieve your goals, one step at a time.