Pella Lean Utilization Cell Improvement

Abstract

<p>Observe a wood utilization that is not meeting the efficiency and output goals they are looking for and give feedback on different ways to improve uptime and efficiency. The cell is comprised of a cell that includes two moulders, an electronic press, a gluer, and a robot. This cell is used to combine boards that are made of scrap material from another line with full-length edge boards to create an array of larger boards that are used on various products that Pella.</p> <p>The utilization cell in question is the newest Utilization Cell (U-Cell) at the Pella, Iowa facility and has been running for just over a year. Operators from the older U-Cells have been getting trained on the machine over the course of the year to train all workers on the newer utilization cells. Despite the utilization cell not meeting the output goals Pella Corp. is looking for, it is still producing 150% more than the older U-Cells.</p>