DentalEZ Pump Handling Material

Company Profile

DentalEZ® produces dental operatory systems, including cabinets, patient chairs, X-ray machines, and delivery equipment used in the dental office. DentalEZ Manufacturing Company was founded in 1958 by Des Moines inventor John Naughton, who helped develop the J-Chair®,, which allows the dentist to sit next to a reclined patient, greatly reduced the strain on the dentist’s neck and back while enhancing the comfort of the patient.

Situation

DentalEZ needed to determine an ergonomically sound method of transferring a single or dual pump mechanism throughout the assembly process that would reduce stress on employees who work in the pump assembly station. DentalEZ initially wanted the APC to design a new ergonomic crane to pick up the pump throughout the building process. The pump is a large bulky product that took two employees to build. The process required a large amount of manual work. The company also had a need for technical training of their personnel.

Solution

The APC contacted several vendors able to construct the ergonomic crane, which resulted in bids ranging from $8,000 to $40,000. However, the APC decided to redesign the pump assembly all together in order to reduce the stress associated with the multiple lifts involved in the pump assembly station and to avoid the cost of purchasing the ergonomic crane. A lift table with slides (rails) with a rotating jig was designed and workbenches were converted to roll tables. This solution offered the advantage of minimizing workload stress while avoiding the large investment cost.

Results

The project allowed DentalEz to identify their options as to how to resolve the problem with the pump handling process. There was an increase in throughput and an improvement in the work environment for employees. DentalEz believes that unit labor costs will be 5% to 9% lower than they would have been without the center’s services. By designing the lift table, there was a cost savings of $35,000, which is the amount that would have been spent to purchase a crane.

DentalEZ Learns Lean Manufacturing Basics

Company Profile

DentalEZ® produces dental operatory systems, including cabinets, patient chairs, X-ray machines, and delivery equipment used in the dental office. DentalEZ Manufacturing Company was founded in 1958 by Des Moines inventor John Naughton, who helped develop the J-Chair®,, which allows the dentist to sit next to a reclined patient, greatly reduced the strain on the dentist’s neck and back while enhancing the comfort of the patient. They are known for their ergonomically appealing designs.

Situation

DentalEZ came to the Alabama Productivity Center in search of a method to improve employee skill in such a manner that would aid them in eliminating waste and improving efficiency by reducing lead-time, inventory for work-in-progress and defect rate. They knew that Lean Manufacturing offered the potential for such improvements.

Solution

The APC, along with trainers from other ATN centers, trained the employees at DentalEZ during a 2-day class on Lean Manufacturing.

Results

As a result of the Center’s assistance, DentalEZ experienced improvement in employee productivity while increasing employee morale. Due to one-piece flow, an element of Lean Manufacturing that emphasizes producing one unit at a time, DentalEZ reduced lead-time, increased throughput and reduced inventory for work-in-progress. According to the survey completed by Don Walton, the center’s services resulted in a $30,000 cost savings, which was more than 1% of annual sales.

DentalEZ Increases Efficiency With New Plant Layout

Company Profile

DentalEZ® produces dental operatory systems, including cabinets, patient chairs, X-ray machines, and delivery equipment used in the dental office. DentalEZ Manufacturing Company was founded in 1958 by Des Moines inventor John Naughton, who helped develop the J-Chair®,, which allows the dentist to sit next to a reclined patient, greatly reducing the strain on the dentist’s neck and back while enhancing the comfort of the patient. They are known for their ergonomically appealing designs.

Situation

DentalEZ came to the Alabama Productivity in search of a new plant layout that would accomplish the goals of achieving better ergonomics, increase productivity and decrease cycle time. The original plant layout created several difficulties such as employee fatigue from the lack of ergonomics, having to walk to different areas in order to get parts or traveling to the other side of the plant to test fixtures.

Solution

The APC sent Graduate Research Assistant Clay Rikard to Bay Minnette, AL to spend the summer at DentalEZ. The project entailed creating and implementing a new plant layout for the Chair Mounted Unit (CMU) area. The APC has completed several projects in order to attain their goal of creating a more productive plant.

The APC began with a complete redesign of the plant layout to establish a one-piece flow. Steps taken to achieve this included: rearranging the stations within the plant, ordering tools such as tool balancers, creating and ordering shadow/tool boards and racks. Shipping was divided from receiving by marking off the floor. Head assembly was redesigned to resemble an assembly line. Racks and lift tables were designed for better ergonomics. Kanbans were designed for the flex arm. Tool and shadow boards were constructed for all stations so that all tools can be found and put back into their place more easily.

A number of changes were made to the console area. A table was added and work responsibilities were divided into sub assemblies and final assemblies. Supplies were rearranged and brought closer to the employees. Labeling was made clearer on supplies and a tool balancer was added. A new rack was fabricated for umbilical tubing as well as a lift table to make pack out less strenuous. The lift table raises and lowers to the appropriate height so that the user can push the console toward final packaging.

The manifold testing station was redesigned and a new test fixture was added so that users would not have to push the manifold across the plant to testing as they had before. A rack was added, which allows the employee to feed the manifold inside the rack where it will be placed into the completed head.

The Head and Arm station final pack out areas were combined with the use of a gravity flow rack. The employee in the Head station can slide the completed head onto the same rack that the Arm station employee places his finished good. A tool balancer was added and new bins were developed on the workbench so that the employee would no longer have to reach into bins of supplies that were located behind him.

Results

As a result of the Center’s assistance, DentalEZ experienced a cost savings of 6.25% or $5,600 a year. According to the survey completed by Don Walton, the center’s services resulted in a 5% to 9% decrease in unit labor cost, reduced lead-time and increased throughput. Along with increased investments of $4,000, DentalEZ gained a significant improvement in both employee skills and employee work environment.