The new building was planned from the outset with high production flexibility and lean production in mind. According to Achim Olkner, Head of Production and Logistics at Lenord + Bauer, the building, which was completed in 2012, is a "breathing factory" that leaves plenty of scope for change. The plant in Gladbeck enables maximum flexibility with minimum effort in order to be able to react quickly to market conditions. Olkner is convinced that the initial additional investment has paid off: "When we rebuild now, we know how many places we need, in which grid we can set them up and then we just do it." In mechanical production, a standard cell for a machining center was already defined during construction. Where there are still empty spaces or old machines, new ones can be quickly fitted in. Busbar systems run under the ceiling throughout the entire hall and extraction systems are installed everywhere. IT equipment is also available, meaning that it could be changed over quickly if necessary.

Particularly responsive thanks to flexible workstations
Flexibility is also a top priority for the workstations: "We always wanted to work in U-shaped islands. We then designed the desks in a standardized way, with electrical power supply, compressed air and IT, so that we are always flexible and can adapt quickly. Added to this is the versatility of the employees, who have certain basic skills and can manufacture several products. And so we can breathe - that is the "breathing factory". As we work in different markets, there are of course different demands and we can react quickly to them," explains Olkner.

Lean production increases the speed
The electronics production with pre-assembly and final assembly is located on 1,840 m². Following the move to the new plant, the aim was to switch to modern equipment based on ergonomic principles that would also meet the requirements of demanding assembly processes. Treston was called in for this. Working closely together, the partners first examined the existing work processes. The entire process - from analyzing the production processes at the old site to developing and implementing the solution in the new plant - took around a year. The solutions were implemented under lean production aspects using standard components from Treston.

Ulrich Fröleke, lean expert at Treston, explains the lean production principle: "In the lean approach, it is always important that the overall production context is taken into account. Cross-departmental lean projects are highly efficient because costly and time-consuming interfaces are examined and eliminated." As part of the considerations, the hall was planned in grids based on the dimensions of the Treston work tables. These "concept" work tables were grouped into U-shaped islands. The advantage of grid planning: if necessary, conversion measures for new work islands can be carried out within one to two days.

The process-oriented arrangement and interlinking of the Treston products used brought clear advantages for Lenord + Bauer: The separation of logistics and assembly, the simultaneous integration into the newly designed production process and a transparent material flow. The individual production islands are now supplied with the required material by a material train, which is always controlled according to demand by using an electronic Kanban principle. Whereas products used to be manufactured in three to four days throughput time, this is now done in just one or one and a half days thanks to lean production.

Production islands for every work step
Electronics production is divided into individual, product-specific production islands. The hall also houses a paint shop for electronic assemblies and an oven room for temperature tests and curing processes. The table tops of the U-shaped Treston work tables are all equipped with ESD protection. Each table is equipped with electrical connections, IT, compressed air and extraction. Other furniture such as drawer units, industrial cabinets or multi-trolleys complete the islands.

Within the U-shaped structure, there is a separate workstation for each work step, where only the necessary work material can be found. In accordance with the principle of one-piece flow, one employee accompanies a workpiece through the various processing steps until completion. The workstations are also ergonomically designed, the tables are individually height-adjustable and the tools and materials required for the individual work steps are laid out using the so-called MTM gripping space template. MTM stands for Methods-time-Measurement - a type of measurement procedure for typical movement and time sequences at the workplace. Repetitive work sequences become easier to calculate in terms of time, making it possible to plan the work process. In addition, physical strain can be identified and minimized by optimizing movement sequences at the workplace, which prevents back injuries, for example.

Supplied by milk run trolley
In the final assembly of the actuators, for example, this means that the "top sellers" - i.e. frequently used parts - are stored in direct access, while the less frequently used parts are stored outside the optimum gripping circle. Empty containers are then pushed through a rack on rollers and refilled on the other side. The so-called milk run trolleys are a familiar sight in electronics production. Orders are picked in the warehouse and brought to specific staging areas together with the material on milk run trolleys. At the same time, completed orders are placed on the trolley and picked up at regular intervals.

Flexible mapping of 400 variants
In electrical production, it is necessary to manage an enormous number of variants. In the measuring cable product area, for example, there are over 400 variants in a wide variety of designs. "That's our strength," says Achim Olkner, "even if we sometimes have to perform a balancing act between customer orders and the procurement of very special parts." The solution here is: Pre-assembly, forming product groups and bringing the customer decoupling point as far as possible to the end of the process chain. For around 80% of orders, the batch sizes at Lenord + Bauer are in the range of one to 20 pieces. Depending on the urgency and quantity, more employees can be deployed for production. If there are ten workstations in an island, for example, one person could work through all the stations one after the other. If necessary, several employees can be added. Production works according to demand without having to change the layout. Thanks to their flexible skills, the trained employees can also easily work on another product.

Lenord + Bauer believes it is ideally positioned for the future. Achim Olkner: "The markets are becoming increasingly unmanageable. I have to have a concept to be able to react quickly to market requirements. Starting with the way we have planned the hall, through to setting up the workstations and the trained employees." Further growth is also possible without any problems: there are currently more workstations in electronics production than employees.