This page covers my highest achievements at NTN. Read on for a brief summary of my role in these large production improvement projects.
I planned and commissioned a new heat treatment line to expand production capacity.
Demand for NTN's CV joints is only increasing so production capacity must be expanded across all departments. I played a pivotal role in the two years between quoting and mass production of a new heat treat line. The new line uses robots to handle parts, totally eliminating the mechanical complexity (read: maintenance difficulty) of lower tech custom part handling systems. This additional machine increases heat treatment capacity by 12% in the part family this machine produces, or 5.5% overall.
This sketch I drew laid the groundwork for the entire line layout and heavily influenced the induction vendor's machine design. Through the build process I collaborated continuously with vendors to ensure use of existing tooling and induction coils, for easy access to common maintenance tasks, and to use interfaces similar to existing machinery.
I detailed the floorplan for the entire line consisting of 3 consecutive robot cells managing 5 machines. Equipment location and part flow was entirely my responsibility. To this end I verified column locations with a tape measure, planned and ordered guarding, marked floor locations, and directed rigging crews. Installation was hectic as I oversaw utilities contractors, our internal electrical engineering group, and my heat treat coworkers to situate everything correctly and in order to complete installation on schedule.
I then led commissioning. I created templates for recordkeeping forms, wrote operation work instructions, and revised existing documentation to include the new machine. I conducted low volume part trials (thankfully with lots of help from my team because those are a lot of work). Lastly I trained machine operators to run the line and setup technicians to perform part changeovers and troubleshooting.
I detailed the floorplan for the entire line consisting of 3 consecutive robot cells managing 5 machines. Equipment location and part flow was entirely my responsibility. To this end I verified column locations with a tape measure, planned and ordered guarding, marked floor locations, and directed rigging crews. Installation was hectic as I oversaw utilities contractors, our internal electrical engineering group, and my heat treat coworkers to situate everything correctly and in order to complete installation on schedule.
I then led commissioning. I created templates for recordkeeping forms, wrote operation work instructions, and revised existing documentation to include the new machine. I conducted low volume part trials (thankfully with lots of help from my team because those are a lot of work). Lastly I trained machine operators to run the line and setup technicians to perform part changeovers and troubleshooting.