ANALYSIS OF SMED
in context to Garment Industry
Subject: Lean Management
Faculty: Mr. Saurabh Chaturvedi
(Asst, Professor)
Submitted by:
Jinny Sebestian
Jyoti Rawal
Nishtha Verma
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
In preparation of our assignment, We had to take the help and guidance of some
respected persons, who deserve our deepest gratitude. As the completion of this
assignment gave us much pleasure, We would like to show our gratitude Mr. Saurabh
Chaturvedi , Lean Management Faculty, of Nift Kangra, for giving us good guideline for
assignment throughout numerous consultations. We would also like to expand our
gratitude to all those who have directly and indirectly guided us in making this assignment.
We also thank Nift Kangra for giving us such an opportunity to explore more with constant
learning. Our thanks and appreciations also go to our classmates in developing the
assignment and people who have willingly helped us out with their abilities.
SINGLE MINUTE EXCHANGE OF DIES
SMED stands for Single Minute Exchange of Die and is a
process for effectively reducing the time it takes to change
the parts on a machine.
The process was developed by a man Shiego Shingo for the
motor car industry in 1969. He reduced a setup in Toyota
Motor Company, Japan on a 1000 ton press from 4 hours to 1
hour 30 minutes in 6 months and then to under 3 minutes
after a further 3 months.
Shigeo Shingo
SMED is an important lean tool can be implemented in most of the industries, but it has
been applied to manufacturing processes, administrative services, and assembly
operations. The potential improvements in the changeover time can be achieved by
changing the order or sequence of the tasks without changing the methodology or by
altering the methodology of tasks. The main focus is to minimize waste and improve the
quality while the production time and cost were reduced.
Run-down phase:
This phase is the interval when production of old style is complete but set-
up for new style cannot be started as some of the pieces of old product
are still in line for alterations or waiting for some parts or trims, for
example a damaged placket, a missing collar, etc. In this phase feeding is
ceased and production of old style is finished on most of the work
stations. Run down typically stretches till all the pieces of old style are out
from the line.
Set-up phase:
It is the phase in which no manufacturing occurs. In this phase, machines
and equipments are adjusted as per the requirements of new style. In this
phase there is no output from the line.
Run-up phase:
This phase starts when production for the new style is commenced and
continues until consistent output at full capacity occurs. Run-up period
extends till each operation (including new operations) reaches the
specified production and quality rates consistently.
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The steps:
I. Observe the current methodology.
Watch a full changeover/style change procedure at least once as many times
as possible.
Do documentation of all the activities.
II. Separate internal and external Operations.
External operation: One may be completed while machine in operation.
Internal Operation: One that requires the shutdown of the machine or
completion.
III. Identify the tasks which can be eliminated.
IV. Convert maximum internal operations to external operations.
Monitor the current changeover process carefully.
Prioritize the performing cost and the benefits of each element.
V. Streamline the remaining internal activities.
Simplify if there are any complicated activities
The operations could be performed simultaneously.
Eliminate waiting and motion.
Standardize and hardware or machine parts that are being used.
VI. Document or record the new procedure and the actions that are yet to be
completed.
VII. Repeat it again.
Watch a full changeover/style change procedure at least once as many times
as possible. Documentation needs to be done of all the activities. SMED is a
highly sophisticated process, demands highly trained manpower. The phrase
“single minute” does not mean that all changeovers and startups should take
only one minute, but that they should take less than 10 minutes (in other
words, “single digit minute”). ‘changeover’ is the complete process of change
that takes place between the manufacturer of one style to the manufacturer of
an alternative style to the point of meeting specified production and quality
parameters.
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SMED will have the following benefits:
Lower manufacturing cost(faster changeovers mean less equipment downtime)
Smaller lot sizes(faster changeovers enable more frequent product changes)
Improved responsiveness to customer demand (smaller lot sizes enable more
flexible scheduling)
Lower inventory levels (smaller lot sizes result in lower inventory levels)
Smoother startups (standardized changeover processes improve consistency
and quality)
More orderly and organized
Enables the use of Kanban system.
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APPLICATION OF SMED IN GARMENT MANUFACTURING
Impact of Changeover Time on Productivity: A Case Study
In this study, sewing section was selected for detailed study. The information
and data have been collected through questionnaire, observation and
interview.
Changeover activities in Sewing Section:
Internal Activities in Sewing Section
Needle and thread change
New looper adjustment
New guide and folder adjustment
Trial run and adjusting the machine
Adjusting SPI
External Activities in Sewing Section
Getting instruction about new styles of product from the line
supervisor
Getting fabrics, threads and other accessories from the cutting and
store section.
Getting needle, guide and other tools for the new style product from
maintenance department (if required).
Returning tools from the last operation to maintenance department.
Style-wise comparative analysis of changeover time
The changeover time was calculated through observation. The
actual changeover time is calculated using a stopwatch and the
standard time is obtained from the production department. The
difference between the actual and standard changeover time is
shown in Table 1 and Table 2.
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Table 1. Changeover time for Style A
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Table2. Changeover time for Style B
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Here, the changeover time is long because when a new style enters the
sewing line there is a major setup problem in machine as well as supply
problem of fabrics and accessories.
Fig 1 Impact of Changeover time
Guidelines for changeover time reduction:
Streamlining internal activities
Start the setup operation before the day of new style operation (if possible).
Assign the expert mechanics at the right time to solve the adjustment
problem or any machine problem.
Implement parallel operation for quicker setup. Parallel operations divide
the setup operation between two people, here one is operator
himself/herself and other one is helper who must be expert in setup
operation for various sewing machines.
Optimize the start-up time by eliminating trials and adjustment.
Eliminating trials and adjustments is done by making good settings
before the operator startup the machine for new operation
Streamlining external activities
To make sure that all accessories are available in sewing section, when it is
needed.
To make sure that all accessories and equipment are arranged
properly (set in order) in store & maintenance department, so all these
things can be brought at a right speed without spending much time.
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PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH IMPLEMENTATION OF SMED
Time pressure induced by the SMED to minimize the downtime of machines
increases the occupational safety and health risks associated with operations
such as maintenance, cleaning or product change, out and in production,
already known to be particularly accident-prone.
It is designed for manufacturing systems. It centers around large assets with
recurring or one-time work orders.
In practice, there is often the restriction in the application of SMED method
that the usability of the machine control system is unfavorable, but the
production company has often no direct influence on the control system and
the interface between human and machine. In the consequence, the potential
of faster setup cannot be completely exhausted with SMED method.
The biggest limitation of the system is that it is heavily dependent on all the
steps of the process. There is no room for halfway measures, or for skipping
one step over another. In order to bring SMED to its completion, all the steps
must be carried out to the very best of the company’s ability. And this
depends on the employees and leadership in question.
For example, consider a situation where not every external factor has been
considered by management. This hinders the entire process down from the
beginning all the way to the end. It’s not the fault of the process; rather, one
should examine external factors that were not considered in the beginning.
Other common situations include untrained employees, outdated or overrated
company policies, overextended leadership, and failure to streamline
processes appropriately.
Research paper discussed that SMED has several limitations such as no
detailed guideline in transferring internal activities to external activities in
Phase 3 and lack of detailed process concerning the standardization in
Phase 4.
There is also a decided lag time that can never fully be eliminated,
particularly when humans are deeply involved in the process.
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MANDATORY SOLUTIONS
Identify the process needed:
Duration of the changeover should be long enough to make SMED
practices viable.
Know if the changeovers happen frequently enough to make new
processes more efficient than the old ones.
Employees should be engaged, motivated, and invested in the change.
There should be sufficient return on investment.
Remove all external elements:
People running the project should understand the difference between
external and internal elements.
Have all the tools, documentation, and processes examined before moving
to the next step.
Covert any internal efforts that can be into external elements:
Ask questions like: Can this effort or process happen when the machine is
running?
If it can, why hasn’t it been done while the machine is running in the past?
If there’s a way to make an internal element external, what would it take to
accomplish?
Will it be worth it to switch internal efforts in question to external efforts?
Standardize the process and discover best practices:
We should have an idea of steps that will be repeated each time and
others that will be repeated occasionally.
What is the fastest way to get the work done?
What is the most efficient way to reach completion?
Streamline the process and maintain best practices:
Steps that can be cut out of the process altogether
Check if the people are adequately trained.
The team should understand the process and the practices behind
implementing SMED on their machines.
There should be a possibility of eliminating motions and waiting.
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References:
Karim, Rubayet. “Impact of Changeover Time on Productivity: A
Case Study”. International Journal of Engineering and
TechnologyIJET-IJENS, Vol:13 No:06.
https://www.thefabricator.com/stampingjournal/article/stamping/5-
pitfalls-to-avoid-when-implementing-smed
https://www.researchgate.net/post/What-are-the-limitations-of-
Single-Minute-Exchange-of-Dies-SMED
https://www.leanproduction.com/smed.html
https://www.toolshero.com/quality-management/smed/
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