SMED GALLERY This page will display photos and drawings of gimmicks, gadgets and tools that readers have found to help improve changeover. Readers are encouraged to submit pictures with a 1-2 paragraph description. Thse will be posted anonymously or with links and credit as the submitter desires. Send submissions to johnhenry@changeover.com Subscribe to the FREE Lean Changeover Newsletter Enter your e-mail below For Email Marketing you can trust Get notified whenever new pictures are added. Click the Twitter to follow Changeovercom on Twitter
		A few lines down are some multiple tubing connectors from Colder Products. Those are great for smaller pneumatic connections but may not have the capacity required for larger flows or hydraulic and water connections. This SPC connector from Staubli allows for high flow rates of gases and liquids. It also closes off both male and female connectors so that there is no dripping or loss of pressure when disconnecting. Learn more about this and other products at the Staubli website www.quick-mold-change.com
Removing handknobs is easy. Putting them back can be much harder. One of the difficulties is starting the threads correctly. This can take some fiddling and time. Worse, it can result in an inexperienced or rushed assembler cross-threading and damaging the threads resulting in large amount of lost time to repair. If the last 5-6 threads are ground or turned down to the root diameter, the threads will seld-align eliminating the thread starting problem. This is a trick from NASCAR. Note the studs in the tire changing video linked below. Posted 4/12/11
		The picture to the left shows another style of sanitary conveyor with an even more open frame design. This design is manufactured by another first class conveyor designer/builder, AutoPak Engineering. www.autopak.com Posted 4/12/11
Some plants disassemble conveyors daily for cleaning of anything which may have fallen into the frame. Sanitary conveyors are pretty standard in the pharmaceutical but not much used elsewhere. Sanitary conveyors use a closed frame with the chain running on rails mounted above. Any spills will fall through the chain onto the top of the frame where they may be easily cleaned up. The photo shows a sanitary conveyor from NEDCO, a 1st class conveyor manufacturer. www.nedcoconveyor.com
		A lot of time is lost running to the storeroom for changeparts. This should be, but often isn't, done before the line shuts down. Even so, it can still waste time. How about store the parts right on the machine? This shows a guiderail on a Hoppmann feeder from Service Engineering Inc. stored right above the mounting position when not in use.
SIKO is probably the best known manufacture of mechanical digital indicators but have you seen their electronic versions? These have no gears to wear and provide an easy to read LCD display. Best part is that the display is 2 lines. One line shows the desired setpoint, the other shows the actual position. When setpoint and position match, an LED changes from red to green. www.http://www.sikoproducts.com/PositionLine
		Connecting multiple tubes for actuating cylinders or other machine functions can take some time. Connect them wrong and they can take a LOT of time fixing the damage that can result. Colder has multiple quick connectors for 2 (left) to up to 10 (right) tubes at once. Poka-Yoke and foolproof. Also available in larger sizes for coolling water, hydraulics and the like. More info at www.colder.com
Pucks are commonly used in the cosmetics and aerosol industries but almost unheard of in others. Pucks can be used to eliminate the need for changeover by making all contained the same diameter and height. They can also be helpful for running non-round containers. This picture shows two bottles free and in pucks. Pucks eliminate changeover of the rinser, filler, capper and neck bander. State manufacturing is a leading manufacturer of pucks. More info at their site http://www.statemfg.com/
		These goalpost style pucks allow labeling of the bottles while in the puck. These pucks were used on a line that simultaneously runs all 3 size bottles with any count of up to 6 different products. The pucks and line design are from The Automation Partnership www.automationpartnership.com
A popular make of pouch forming machine has a cut off blade actuated by a cam on the machine mainshaft. As built, the cam was abut 1/2" wide and needed to be repositioned whenever the pouch length changes. A mechanic took me to the line during a break in a Changeover Made ESEE workshop to show me what he had done. He had replaced the cam with a custom cam made in a local machine shop. Same profile but about 3" long. Changing pouch length is is now done with no tools, from the top of the machine, by an operator. Your teammates are experts. They have great ideas if you will give the the chance to express them. Let me repeat that: Your teammates are experts. They have great ideas if you will give the the chance to express them. John Henry 2/28/11 www.changeover.com
		NASCAR pitstops take longer than Formula 1, typically about 15 seconds. Part of this is because of the rules. There are 22 people over the wall in the F-1 stop below. NASCAR allows 7. F-1 cars have single nut wheels, NASCAR requires 5. But they don't turn them off. Note also the necked down studs to ease threading of the nuts when placing the next wheel. Not shown is that the nuts are glued to the wheel so that when they mount the wheel, there is no fumbling with the nuts. Thanks to 2020 Hindsight for the video 2/28/11 www.2020hindsight.com
This video clip shows a Formula 1 pitstop. The car pulls into the pit box, takes on fuel, 4 fresh tires, air intakes checked and cleared and a drink for the driver and out again. All in less than 8 seconds. Note how little motion there is. When the car comes in, the teamates are all in place to do their jobs. When the car pulls out, they are pretty much still in the same locations. Posted by John R Henry, 2/28/11
		This picture shows a 5 & 10ml pharmaceutical vial with colored water for visibility. While they appear the same diameter, there is 0.063" difference in diameter. Had vials of the same size been chosen, changeover would have been simple height adjustment taking 5 minutes for the entire line. Due to the different diameters, a 90 minute changeover is required. The additional 85 minutes per day wastes about 20% of the line's total available production time. Solution: Standardize vial diameters with variable height. By John R Henry CPP, Changeover.com 2/22/11 johnhenry@changeover.com
This picture shows a guage used to verify correct position and straighness of the label on a bottle. Machined from a scrap piece of PVC, the labeled bottle is dropped in and the label edge aligned with the edge of the window. Any variation in height or skew is instantly detected. In the picture, the label is about 1/4" higher than it should be. Posted by John R Henry CPP, Changeover.com 2/22/11 johnhenry@changeover.com
e-mail: info@changeover.com Call: 787-550-9650 (Eastern US business hours) ©2011 John R Henry, All rights reserved. Unless otherwise noted, permission is granted to copy and share the information on this page provided that www.changeover.com is suitably credited