Presentation Summary

Anchor Danly is an International manufacturer and distributer company serving a wide variety of industries including automotive, power generation, aerospace and mining industries. They have twelve plants worldwide including eight in North America, two in Germany and two in China. The plants in Germany supply different parts to automotive manufacturers in Europe and China plants supply the demand in Asia only. There are three main divisions in company which are as follow:

* Die set: manufacturing the top and lower plates of stamp press

* Fabrication: fabricating and machining large steel structures

* Components: manufacturing a range of metal components such as pins, bushing, etc.

The Windsor plant is a 116,000 sq. ft facility with a total of 165 employees. They currently operate in two and half shifts in die set and fabrication industries. However, having seen a huge increase in business, they are trying to go to 24/7 operation. The automotive and automotive parts industries constitute Anchor Danly's largest die set market.

The process starts in warehouse where large sheets of steel are received. Then, they are cut by advanced cutting machines into desired dimension and shape. Anchor Danly has recently acquired a new software technology that allows them reduce the amount of small remnants parts. Larger pieces of remnants are kept for possible future use. After cutting, parts are put into thermo stress relieving ovens for a 8 hours period. There are three ovens with temperature of 1200 F. Then sheets go to one of the following paths:

* Fabrication: which is consisted of two stations:

1. Fitting: in this station, fitters take all the pieces and fit them together. They weld them only to the point that they can be moved to the welding station.

2. Welding: first, parts have to be grinded to have a smooth surface. Then using different type of machines depending of the structure, pieces are welded together.

* Die set: steel pieces are loaded in machines that have a magnetic rotating table and a grinding stones on top. Rotating in opposite way, pieces are grinded to desired size. After that, other values are added to make the final die set.

A brief overview of plant

* There is not any quality control section in this facility. However, if required by customers, different tests can be done on products including stress relieving test, thermo stress relieving test, ultrasonic testing and weld quality check.

* Heavy duty cranes are used to move steel sheets around in plant; however, due to their moveability limit, lift-trucks are used as well.

* There are communication boards that allow team leaders to interact with their team members. The purpose is to engage employees in improving