Precision Micro cell culture delivers benefits for customers
1 min read
Precision Micro, the Birmingham based precision components manufacturer, has expanded its application of cell-based manufacturing, following its move to new premises a few years back.
On moving to its new site at Fort Dunlop, Birmingham, the company made provision for a number of independent manufacturing cells, with each one dedicated to a single product or a single customer. The strategy was based on the principal of Group Technology, which seeks the maximising of throughput and minimising of downtime by processing similar parts or parts requiring similar manufacturing process routes through a cell.
The first cell was initiated for a single, high volume, complex component for a major tier 1 automotive supplier and the results in improved quality and repeatability proved to be outstanding.
The improvements made possible by the move to cell manufacturing have enabled the company to achieve quality and repeatability levels approaching six sigma; improving production efficiency dramatically.
Further bespoke manufacturing cells have now been set up, but it is the adoption of a 'cell culture' to process routes throughout the facility that has had the greatest beneficial effect. By grouping broadly similar components into families and giving manufacturing responsibility to dedicated, trained, multi-skilled teams, Precision Micro has been able greatly improve product consistency and repeatability, and has been able to provide a faster and more efficient service to its customers.
Combined with the company's efforts to improve process control, the adoption of 'cell culture' has, reports the company, played a significant part in the company's Constant Quality Improvement initiative, helping remove production bottlenecks, minimise standing stock, reduce waste and respond to customers' demands in a shorter timeframe.
Precision Micro has pioneered developments in photo etching (also known as chemical etching, photo chemical etching, acid etching and chemical milling), electroforming and mechanical forming, and serves customers in automotive, communications, aerospace, electronics, medical, military and other 'high-tech' engineering industries.
It claims to be Europe's largest independent photo etching operation, and claimsto be considered to be the technology leader in its industry, having developed new innovative process routes, such as LEEF and LEEP, that have reset benchmarks for precision, accuracy and repeatability.
