The Rubber Group recently completed a value stream mapping project that will reduce waste, remove production bottlenecks, and improve the overall effectiveness of our processes. Value steam mapping is a lean manufacturing/ Six Sigma tool for visualizing all of the steps in a work process such as injection, transfer, or compression molding from beginning to end. The project was funded under the CARES Act with assistance from the New Hampshire Manufacturing Extension Partnership Center (NHMEP).
Mapping Your Molded Rubber Products
The value stream map (VSM) that The Rubber Group created will enable our Rochester, NH company to better serve customers by improving our ability to track, analyze, and implement the flow of materials and information that’s required to make standard and custom molded rubber products. With our VSM, we can visualize the entire process of taking your product from quote through production. We use the map to identify waste, and then we develop improvements to reduce the waste and improve the overall process. With help from NHMEP, we also consolidated duplicate systems into a single information management tool.
More Value Stream Mapping Benefits
For our customers, the benefits of our VSM project include The Rubber Group’s improved ability to identify any issues up front. We’re now even more effective at performing everyday tasks, too. Internally, our team can communicate more readily while keeping you informed. Value stream mapping also improves efficiency by providing us with the ability to reduce the number of labor hours for each process. This speeds production, controls costs, and supports the on-time delivery of molded rubber parts.
From Bottlenecks to Better Rubber Molding
During our VSM project, The Rubber Group also found ways to eliminate bottlenecks, points of congestion in a production system that occur when workloads arrive too quickly for a process to handle. In addition to production delays and higher costs, bottlenecks can affect overall production capacity and slow product launches. With our commitment to continuous improvement and quality, however, The Rubber Group is an ISO 9001:2015 certified and ITAR registered company that provides better rubber molding.
Contact us for more information, or request a quote on-line anytime.