January 2008 Edition

FACILITY MANAGEMENT

Doing it Right Depends on Planning

Preface

Almost every shop owner dreams of building a facility that would be the perfect environment for work and machines. Valenite, a cutting tools and systems company, decided to expand its facilities, took that challenge seriously, and spent years in planning. Here's the story of how the company did it so everyone considering building the ideal shop can learn from the firm's example. – Editor

In his 1993 book A Simple Plan, author Scott B. Smith wove a tale of three unfortunate characters who found a huge amount of money and devised, what they thought, was the perfect scheme to keep it. They were thwarted at every turn. As the story unfolded, it became apparent their plan was neither simple nor perfect.

As with the characters in this book, we, at Valenite, also found there was no simple plan for constructing a new building. There is no substitute for thorough planning, extensive consultations, analysis, strategizing, reviewing, scheduling, and organizational preparations before any brick and mortar or concrete is set.

The Critical Phases

The initial planning stages, without a doubt, are the most critical phases of the construction process, providing the best opportunity to save time, minimize budget overruns, and eliminate mistakes and oversights that, if left unchecked, could later cause productivity, quality, safety, or environmental concerns until corrected.

It is far easier and cost-efficient to catch and correct potential problems in the on-site drawings and CAD layouts than to effect change orders once construction has started – or even worse to require demolition and reconstruction.

At Valenite, our expansion project and process began nearly three years prior to construction, with the decision to upgrade the production space, capabilities, and capacities of the Valenite MODCO production facilities: a satellite manufacturing plant several miles from our headquarters in Madison Heights, MI. The idea was to expand the corporate headquarters for MODCO by nearly 60 percent with an additional 33,500 ft² of space for manufacturing and offices.

The Three-team Approach

The program began with the establishment of three project teams: the Steering and Functional Move Team [tasked with the overall direction of the program]; the Equipment Planning and Implementation Team; and the Building Planning and Construction Team.

Teams consisted of cross-functional staff including finance, maintenance, IT management, purchasing, engineering support, inspection, manufacturing and machine specifications, auxiliary process operations, quality documentation, and inspection.

To plan for the future construction, it was necessary to get as accurate a prediction as possible of what the company could expect. So, one of the first steps was for marketing, sales, and engineering teams to generate realistic forecasts of future market conditions, potential sales, and predicted product requirements for MODCO, including probable new product developments and the phasing out of obsolete items.

From these estimates, manufacturing staff members were able to develop a list of desired and required technologies – both new and existing – that would meet and exceed the forecast production and quality requirements, while establishing lean flow concepts to reduce infrastructure requirements.

Some of the advanced technologies considered included multi-tasking turn-mill machines as well as replacing many manual machines with CNC systems able to outperform the older units and capable of untended operations. Often, three or four new machines could replace as many as seven of the vintage units.

The If/Then Question

The next phase of the planning stage was to create multiple what-if scenarios. These were a series of CAD generated plant layouts illustrating not only machine positioning, but also peripheral equipment such as storage racks for fixturing and tooling, inspection stations, raw materials storage, shipping areas, product repair and service departments, and even workbenches and personal tool boxes, that helped assure optimum process flow throughout the plant.

Once the team approved the manufacturing layout, it was time to bring in the army of contractors and suppliers. They worked on the project as consultants, offering suggestions and recommendations about the plans. These included general contractors for the overall building construction, electrical trades, machine riggers, dust and mist environmental systems, overhead cranes and material handling, storage systems, voice and data handling, and security systems.

The goal – between the extensive internal pre-planning and these series of consultations – was to arrive at a process that would result in as few construction change orders as possible, and to create a detailed time-line for each activity to ensure all dependencies were properly aligned.

At the same time, the teams contacted the appropriate local government officials and departments to arrange the necessary site approval documents and permits. It was also important to check with the local and state taxing authorities for possible tax abatements and credits available for community development and capital investments.

Addressing Energy Concerns

It was also important during this phase to bring in representatives of the area's utility companies, providing them with a forecast of the new facility's energy requirements. They required additional paperwork and data, such as a detailed report to justify predicted power needs and usage. This gave the representatives the information they needed for modifications required to deliver infrastructure or equipment prior to, or during, construction.

Once construction began, we established general guidelines and implemented rules that helped to streamline the process and eliminate potential conflicts.

One important guideline was developing and implementing a single, authorized review and approval process for change orders. The change orders were made clear to the contractor and to our staff members, to minimize costly plan alterations.

A second step was to set aside time each week for mandatory team meetings with contractor and subcontractor representatives to review accomplishments, rectify problems, and to keep work scheduling as close as possible to the original time plan.

The third guide was emphasis on open communications with all team members and access to the project decision makers. This assured that everyone was on the same page. It also enabled minimal delays in making decisions concerning unforeseen circumstances.

Getting Close to Bricks and Mortar

As the construction phase came to a close, we began making preparations for the relocation of existing machines and delivery of new systems. The quality control department started its assigned task of updating MODCO documents, manuals, and procedures to reflect the new location, processes, and equipment to maintain our ISO site-specific certifications.

This also entailed upgraded quality reporting, safety, and emergency training of personnel. Coordination of the new equipment suppliers also had to be taken into consideration. We had to set training schedules for our selected operators, taking into account our need to minimize disruption to ongoing production.

Coordination with the rigging contractor had to be set to give us the opportunity to plan a phased – and carefully choreographed – relocation of existing machines as well as timely delivery of new units. The goal was to keep interruptions to a minimum, while providing the movers maximum access at the new plant for maneuvering and placing machines.

The scheduling was so precise, in many instances that as the machines were set in place, they were up and running production parts within hours of their arrival.

No Plan is Perfect

In spite of all the planning – nearly two years of diligent planning, as opposed to eight months of construction and six weeks for the relocation – we did experience one significant setback, and a few minor alterations.

It turned out that a section of flooring had to be excavated and deepened. The major change order involved the reinforcement of the flooring beneath a 25-ton boring mill. But, in total, the charges for all of the incurred change orders were a modest one percent of the construction costs. The project of construction and equipment acquisitions came in well within budget figures and timelines.

"Appoint talented people to the tasks at hand, use their input, rely on their area of knowledge and expertise, and plan and prepare down to the minutest detail. Then, regardless of the project's size and complexity, a successful outcome emerges as one simply executes the plan," Tim Dowd, Valenite vice-president-operations and the overall project leader, said as the project drew to a close.

The Pay-off

My counterpart on the Equipment Planning and Implementation subcommittee, Jim Wals, Valenite manufacturing manager, said particularly challenging was looking into the future for machine and equipment performance.

"Rapidly changing manufacturing technologies made for a tough selection process," Wals said, "but at the same time, the team felt confident that our choices of new technologies combined with, and working alongside, our existing units, would deliver the production and quality performance required as outlined in the project planning."

We on the Building Planning and Construction Team found it exciting to be a part of the project, to witness the process grow from a grass field and parking lot to a finished building extension, blending in with the existing structure. Because the project went beyond our normal day-to-day responsibilities, it was exhilarating to see it all come to fruition, and become a contributing facility to the success of Valenite products and to our customers. Valenite LLC

Robert Pytel is the Purchasing Manager, Standard Products/Packaging, of Valenite. He served as chairman of the company's Building Planning and Construction Committee

Visit www.rsleads.com/801mn-201 for more information