Case Study
Shadow Boards - Tullis Russell
This Case Study will outline why Tullis Russell chose to work with Visual Management Technology on implementing Shadow Boards at the point of activity on there new coating machine.
Tullis Russell
Tullis Russell are one of the world’s leading specialist paper coatings companies, situated only a stone’s throw from VMT HQ in Bollington, Cheshire. We were very interested to hear that approximately 60% of all the worlds stamps pass through their specialised security paper coating process that happens in Bollington. They had recently installed a new multi-million-pound coater and the Tullis Russell management team were keen to ensure that the processes associated with operating the coater were class leading.
The Problem
The management team at Tullis Russell wanted to ensure that the changeover times between rolls of paper were smooth and low on time consumption. It was identified that some time was spent by the operators locating tooling or sorting through application tapes to find the correct specification tape. It was suggested that some Visual Management could be applied to organise the workplace to provide structure and order to the storage of the equipment used to changeover rolls, reducing any potential for waste in looking for tools, equipment or tape.
The Solution
VMT advised that simple Shadow Boards would be the most effective Visual Management solution for visually presenting the tools and equipment needed for the operator to perform the paper roll changeover efficiently, Shadow boards are ideal where tools are being used regularly on a daily basis (as per the roll changeover tools and tapes) as they can be position very close to the process. VMT spent time with the operators to understand the equipment used during the process and frequency of use, this helped to inform the design layout that was presented to the Tullis Russell team. Whilst onsite VMT also obtained the tooling information required that would be digitised to create the final Shadow Board design.
The Result
Once the design of the shadow board had been created a review process with the operators was undertaken. This is important as it is the operators who use the Shadow Boards on a day-to-day basis, so the board must be practical so that the operators are inclined to use the boards as intended. After final approval was obtain the boards were delivered ready for use – no final assembly required as all VMT Shadow Boards leave VMT ready for use.
The Shadow Boards were well received (most importantly) by the operators. They commented on the Shadow Boards making their life easier as they know that the tools and equipment always have a home to return to. This way of storing equipment helps to create efficient working habits as reaching for a piece of kit becomes second nature as it will always be in the same position. The Shadow Boards have also helped with achieving reduced changeover times as production on the new coater ramps up.
