Applying the SMED Methodology to Tire Calibration Procedures

Abstract

Due to the automotive industry’s strict demands, customers submit constant production pressure, leading to the adoption of new methodologies, techniques, and management ideas. The goal is always to minimise losses and waste. These demands also affect the maintenance department, which has to keep the balance between machines’ availability for production and ensuring that the machines’ proper running conditions translate into excellent-quality products. Thus, continuous improvement and correct management of maintenance activities are crucial for a company to maintain effective production, without defects, breakdowns, and accidents. Nevertheless, some maintenance activities should also prevent the degradation of equipment conditions in order to produce high-quality products. This paper presents an improvement of maintenance activities conducted on equipment that produces large tires. The main problems and technical difficulties of Machine Tolerance Check (MTC) activities are explored by analysing existing documents, internal knowledge, and changes to working methods. We discuss the implementation of the SMED (Single-Minute Exchange of Die) methodology in calibration procedures, as this method is commonly applied to machines’ setups to reduce downtime. At the end of the study, a 31% decrease in the duration of machine tolerance check activities was achieved, which led to a significant increase in the equipment’s availability.