Forrest ColemanEngineering InternREA Magnet Wire, Osceola AR17 July 2015

Accomplishments Incorporate 5S In Taping and Lead Cable Departments

Reorganized shop floors for faster access to inventory Staged production materials for immediate use Shadowed equipment and hand tools Consolidated calibrated measuring tools into machine specific

tool kits Implemented audit program for sustainment

Improve Documentation for Plant Production Evaluated plant practices to produce visual work instructions Upgraded production work order instructions Upgraded system for tracking and sustaining calibrated tools

Record Actual Conform Production Rates Created a new program to combine data from two separate

databases

Other Tasks & Duties In Progress

Conducting taping down time by cause study Taping lines taping head pin alignment

Establish standard angles to be used for different ranges of builds

Improving taping work instructions Similar to Pourtier work instructions

Working on alcohol concentration control in conform product cooling baths

Trouble regulating the concentration of alcohol Trolley area safety kaizen event

Participating in risk and priority assessment and solution implementation

5S Improvements

Tools Shadowed for Rapid Access

Materials Staged to Match Production Schedule

Calibrated ToolKits Assembled

Lead Cable Inventory Floor Plan Created

I’ve helped REA make 5S a key component for establishing a visual workplace on the plant floor. It is a lean-based system of continual improvement focused on: visual order organization cleanliness standardization

The results expected from a new 5S program are: improved profitability, efficiency, service and safety.

Key for 11% Lead

Cable Production

Increase

DocumentationI was set to evaluate current practices of most experienced operators to improve old procedures and create new visual work instructions to be posted in the lead cable workplace.

I also worked with systems experts to amend the work order traveler to include necessary technical data required for operator adherence to customer requirements. This provides essential product setup information to aid production and reduce the risk of quality issues in lead cable.

Work Order Traveler Amended for Lead Cable(Previously did not specify where to apply specific tapes)

Visual Work Instructions for Lead Cable

Program for Actual Production Rates

Tools Shadowed for Rapid Access

REA depends on an accurate account of machine output to cost products for the magnet wire market. The need to effectively track production rates impelled me to created a new method to account for this performance and replace the current method of manual measurement at machines.

I learned how to build additional queries in both of REA’s QC Hub and PDS systems from IT experts. The additional access gained was incorporated into a MS Excel program using common time-stamp values to link the two sets of data. I learned and utilized Visual Basic in Excel to create a macro based automated method to combine and build an accurate model of actual production output per product.

The result of my work is to be utilized for creating an accurate costing model to adapt the variable conversion cost for each wire product made by the plant. In addition, the data gained can be used to set operator production standards and aid continuous improvement.

Not only does this process save over 50 salary position man hours a

month by eliminating the need for manual data collection using a

standard multi-moment time study, but it also provides twice as many

instances in which data was recorded at rapid access.

(In less than 10 min, one with this program and access to databases can

produce a report)

Rea Magnet Wire Proprietary

Feedback

Tools Shadowed for Rapid Access

The experience one has at an internship does depend more or less on

the organization and the team they are working with, but after those variables

are established it is truly up to the intern to put forth the effort necessary to

have the experience and to gain the knowledge he or she desires. The team that

I have been working with here in Osceola (everyone from engineers to the HR

manager) has been extremely helpful and open-minded about any ideas that I

have wanted to implement to help solve problems in the multiple projects that I

have been involved with during my internship. I have learned a great deal about

the magnet wire industry while further developing my critical thinking skills.

The only thing I could wish for different next time in an internship is for the

experience to be more technically oriented. Even though not all of my

experience was technically oriented, I believe it was possibly necessary to have

the experience in order to prepare myself to work as an engineer in a

manufacturing industry. I would work for REA again, and may have another

opportunity to do so next summer. I hear that New Haven Ave is a very

technically oriented plant and has a lot of technical knowledge with the many

engineers on site. It would be nice to learn some advanced skills from more

engineers.

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