Plant Project

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Plant Project
Underwood Mold Company Plant Report MGT
3200-08 12/2/07 By Team 08 A Justin
Correll Tasha Helm Genie Tucker Ramzi Zaki Justin
and Genie Report Writers Tasha and Ramzi
Constructed the Powerpoint
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Underwood Mold Company, Inc.
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Who are We?

• The name might not jog your brain to think
  plastics and not the fungus mold. The company
  offers packaging plastic products for its
  customers specific needs as well as custom
  injection molding services, mold design and
  fabrication. Underwood Mold Company, Inc is
  located in Woodstock, GA and has been serving
  companies for thirty-eight years. The company has
  been successful from its first purchase of the
  Bridgeport Milling Machine in 1969 to entering
  the open-head container market offering a variety
  of gallon pails and lids. Underwood Mold Company,
  Inc. can make anything that is plastic thus
  making it a competitor to watch in this unique
  market.

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Introduction-A few Facts

• Underwood Mold Company was founded in 1969 by
  Larry Underwood hence the name Underwood
• The company bought its first piece of equipment
  (Bridgeport Milling Machine) in 1969
• 1971 Underwood entered the mold market
• 2004 Expands aerosol cap market
• 2007 Enters open-head container market
• 50 of the molds for the plastic products are
  owned by the company they are producing the
  plastic product for

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Products

• Since the company specializes in plastics,
  anything that is needed using plastic can be
  made.
• A few products Underwood Mold Company makes are
  the following
• Roller bearings for hand trucks
• Bondo spreaders
• Aerosol can caps
• Doorstops
• Plastic window frames
• Plastic water gages
• Buckets
• Underwood also produces plastics for smaller
  products i.e. fiber optic cable pieces and door
  stops which can be produced in bulk due to easy
  storage.

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Products cont.

• Open head pail lids
• Overcaps

• One Gallon plastic paint bucket
  
  
• Aerosol can lids

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Operation Strategies

• The Operations strategy for Underwood Mold
  Company is to ensure the machines are operating
  properly at all times in order to prevent
  bottlenecks.
• Another important aspect of the operation
  strategy is the process flow from production to
  shipment.

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Competitive Priorities

• Underwood Mold Company, Incs competition is
  China and Mexico. However, many customers will
  not buy from China because it takes so long to
  get the products from China to The United States.
  The Chinese will send their products out on ships
  and that takes 30days to get from China to
  California. Once In California, it can take a
  week or two to get the products to customers
  throughout the US. .
• Advantages For Underwood Mold Company, Inc.
• Shorter Shipment time
• Labor Cost on the rise in Mexico China
• Profit Margin decreasing in Mexico China
• Bulk purchase discounts

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Resource Inputs to Operations

• There are many resource inputs that go into
  operations of the plant daily
• One resource are the machines that produce the
  products. This is one of the main reasons the
  company is doing so well and can produce these
  products efficiently. The machines are a vital
  part of Underwood Molds success. These machines
  are expensive. The costs range anywhere from
  120,000 to 130,000 a piece. There are four
  buildings at the plant with several of these
  machines.
• Another important resource is the material used
  to make their products. Many companys are
  requesting recycled material. This is both
  economical and eco friendly.

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Process Flow of Operations

• Process Steps
• Monitor the Machines
• Programming the Machines
• Loading of the Machines
• Production Steps
• Heating the plastic
• Cooling the plastic
• Inspection of the plastic
• Packing the final product
• Storing
• Shipping

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Process Flow of Operations

• All of the machines are programmed and run by
  robots that have touch screens instead of being
  controlled by hand or manual control
• Some Machines have the capability to monitor
  itself 24 hours a day 7 days a week, identify its
  own defective products and discard them
  automatically, and the ability to turn itself on
  and off when needed
• Actual pieces that are being produced are
  boosters for the fiber optic cables that revamp
  the light to pass through the fiber optic cable.
  This product is small as a strand of hair which
  is why it is tested by the computer instead of a
  human. It is so small that it has to have a
  piece of plastic the size of a fingernail to be
  able to keep track of them.

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Capacity Issues

• Biggest plant problem was space (packaging and
  storage)
• Offsite facility to create more space for
  finished products
• Just-in-time (JIT) system where demand for their
  products drives production
• A JIT layout with each machine doing a different
  job
• Reduces inventory

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Bottlenecks Issues
If you practice Breakdown Maintenance, a day may
come when your machines may break down your
company.

• Machines Maintenance
• . Late delivery of customers orders
• Labor Availability
• . Weekdays Vs. Weekends
• . Absenteeism

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Quality Issues

• Products are randomly tested, any defective ones
  can be ground and used again in the bucket making
  process, which saves money by not throwing away
  defective products. This costs the company
  money in the form of time, but at least they are
  not throwing a product away and are still able to
  use it.
• Labels on the raw material plastic are vital to
  quality. This is because there are many
  variations of plastic with either different
  densities or different material put into them.
  For example if low density plastic were used in
  bucket production the bucket would get stuck in
  the press and it causes the formaldehyde in the
  low density plastic to turn into gas at the
  higher temperatures it takes the low density to
  melt. This would cause the entire building to be
  evacuated because of the effect it would have on
  the employees. Different products call for
  flexible plastic, hard plastic and different
  densities. Because of all of these plastic needs
  that is why correct labeling is important.

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Inventory Issues

• As stated earlier space is one of the major
  inventory problems. There is not much room for
  finished products so normally as soon as the
  product is done a truck is onsite to ship it out.
  For products that take up a great deal of space,
  such as the buckets, a warehouse is available in
  Ball Ground to store the products until the full
  shipment amount is reached. They have two
  80,000-pound silos between the four buildings.
  An order of plastic can take various times to
  receive. A regular order of 10,000 pounds of
  standard plastic takes two to three days. For
  specialized plastics with special ingredients
  such as chrome (which is used as a hardener) can
  take up to three weeks to receive.

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Management Issues
The main management issue is employee turnover
and scheduling. Because the plant is a 24/7
operation the night shifts and weekends are more
difficult to staff. There are less people
willing to do these hours. For employees that
are constantly on time and rarely call out sick
the managers tend to work with them if they need
a day off. Unlike the employees that call in
sick or show up late the others are given more
privileges. However the weekend shift absences
are inexcusable because of a smaller crew.
Another issue management has to deal with is when
to stop a machine for maintenance. The plant
manager orders the different plastics at
different amounts depending on how much is used
each day. An example of this would be the
buckets use quite a bit of plastic so they order
more plastic when it gets down to 3000 pounds.