Closing out the 2011 year, the Manth Brownell maintenance team completed yet another green initiative; the replacement of a 13 year old 97 kW modulating compressor with two new 55 kW variable speed, high efficiency compressors, two new compressed air storage tanks and new quick response regulators. These new additions to our compressed air system have provided us with a 40% reduction in power over our current usage and 50 % added capacity over our old system which now allows for future expansion to meet our customers’ needs.

By adding the two 660 gallon compressed air storage tanks, we’ve increased our storage capacity from 1050 gallons to a total 2730 gallons of compressed air, whereas the quick response regulators will allow us to maintain solid, steady pressure and volume on demand to our equipment.

Additionally, the increased storage, in conjunction with the new quick response regulators, will reduce the uploading cycles of the new compressors and allow us to maintain compressed air pressure in the storage tanks at a higher pressure than our main transmission line. This equates to higher quality parts and more consistent thread rolling.

By working with National Grid on this project, Manth Brownell was able to secure incentives of 33% of the total project, which will lead to an approximate annual cost savings of $14,400 in utilities.

Keyence Arrives at Manth Brownell

Several months ago the Engineers at Manth Brownell took on a new project; they were looking into a better, more efficient way to measure parts, and reduce the overall time it takes to inspect parts. With the hiring of several new employees, the pressure was on to find a system that was compact, accurate and easy to use.

Enter Keyence. Keyence is an organization that makes an Image Dimension Measurement System. Their IM-6000 series was of particular interest to Manth Brownell as it claims to measure 99 features in a matter of seconds. That means with a simple push of a button, dimensions of even the most complex parts can be easily measured, saved, organized and processed into inspection reports. Needless to say, our engineers were very excited about this new technology.

So, in early October the first of two Keyence machines arrived at Manth Brownell and since then, Erin Pitcher, LRS Quality Engineer, has been working diligently on getting it set up. She sees the Keyence machine as a huge benefit to the organization, allowing time for the Engineers to be more hands-on and proactive, rather than reactive. “We can focus on preventative measures and efficiencies and do more training with our employees, “says Pitcher. “We needed to spend more time on the floor, and now we’ll have that opportunity.”The training for the Keyence is set to be completed over the next several months and, in early 2012, the second Keyence will make its debut in the CNC area.

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Image provided courtesy of Keyence Corporation.

Case study from Modern Machine Shop highlights Manth Brownell's use of the Compact 80c solvent based parts cleaning system from Durr Ecoclean. 

Click here to see the article.

Manth Brownell Focuses on Lean Initiative

Recently Manth Brownell paired with one of its customers to focus on a new lean initiative to reduce inventory and packaging costs. The goal was to support the customer in implementing their visual inventory system that would not only benefit the customer, but Manth Brownell, as well.

Manth Brownell hosted a Kaizen with the customer in the CNC area help jump-start the process.  The customer demonstrated their pull system and returnable packaging that is used with several of their other vendors.  The pull system would require more frequent shipments of smaller quantities, using returnable packaging.  The cost of the returnable packaging would be shared between the customer and Manth-Brownell, with significant savings realized in the reduction in use of cardboard boxes and special dividers.

Though there is still much work to be done to complete this particular lean initiative, the project is scheduled for completion sometime in the early part of 2011. Manth Brownell continues to look for ways to lean their own processes and looks for ways to assist customers to help them do the same.