Case Study – Safety and Productivity Improvement

Presented by Michael Sellers, MTorres Diseños Industriales

This paper will discuss a case study how a new design and concept of unwinding and splicing significantly improved safety and productivity. The paper will discuss the original request from the customer, and how a new concept was developed and approved. The original request was for a belt driven unwinder and used with the existing crane. We came up with a new design that would eliminate the need for a crane (suspended loads), heavy core plugs and a belt driven unwinder. With a single position unwind, and reel loading by crane loading, the typical reel change time was 5-8 minutes. The solution was to have a cart with a prepared splice. Safety was improved, as the crane was eliminated, and roll change time was reduced to ~90 seconds. The difference between 90 seconds and 8 minutes resulted in nearly one month of additional production.