STUDENT INDUSTRIAL

TRAINING PROJECT

REPORT

Application Engineering Flow and

Return to Stock Process

SEPTEMBER 2013 DISEMBER 2013

Cohu Semiconductor Equipment Group

Mohamad Amiruzaki Sanip

13517

Mechanical Engineering

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In completion of this Industrial Project for four (4) months, I would like to express

my deepest gratitude to all parties that involve in making my internship program very

interesting and meaningful. Throughout the internship period, I have learned a lot of

new things and gain many experiences that will be valuable for my future career

path.

First and foremost, I would like to thank UTPs Centre for Student Internship,

Mobility and Adjunct Lectureship (CSIMAL) for helping me in seeking the best

placement for my industrial training program.

I would also like to express my gratitude following person for their profesionalism

and contributing to the program

Mr Cheng Kian Aik, Mechanical Design Team Leader (Host Company

Supervisor)

Dr Suhaimi B Hasan (UTP Supervisor)

Miss Mei Ling (HR department)

All staff in Ismeca Malaysia Sdn Bhd

Last but not least, thanks to my family and friends for their support and

encouragement throughout this internship. I really hope that I could apply all of the

skills and knowledge that I have gained during my internship for my future career.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

HOST COMPANY VERIFICATION STATEMENT .............................................

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ........................................................................................ #

LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................. #

LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................... #

INDUSTRIAL PROJECT REPORT ...................................................................... #

CHAPTER 1 :ABSTRACT AND INTRODUCTION ............................................ #

SECTION 1.1:OBJECTIVES .......................................................................................... #

SECTION 1.2 SCOPE OF STUDY ................................................................................... #

SECTION 1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT ........................................................................... #

SECTION 1.4 THE RELEVANCY OF THE PROJECT ......................................................... #

CHAPTER 2 : BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW ........................ #

SECTION 2.1 FEASIBILITY OF THE PROJECT WITHIN SCOPE OF TIME ............................ #

SECTION 2.2 CRITICAL ANALYSIS LITERATURE & CITATION & CROSS REFERENCE ..... #

Subsection 2.2.a. Toyota Production System ........................................................ #

Subsection 2.2.b Identify 7Muda(Waste) ........................................................... # Subsection 2.2.c Lean Manufacturing .................................................................. #

Subsection 2.2.c Excess Part Management .......................................................... #

SECTION 2.3 RELEVANCY AND RECENTNESS OF LITERATURE ..................................... #

CHAPTER 3 : METHODOLOGY ........................................................................... #

SECTION 3.1 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ................................................................... #

Subsection 3.1.a Project Activity .......................................................................... #

SECTION 3.2 KEY MILESTONE ................................................................................... #

SECTION 3.3 GANTT CHART ....................................................................................... #

SECTION 3.4 TOOLS REQUIRED .................................................................................. #

CHAPTER 4 : RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ...................................................... #

SECTION 4.1 FINDINGS ............................................................................................... #

SECTION 4.2 DATA GATHERING ................................................................................. #

Subsection 4.2.a. Percentage of Items VS Project................................................ #

Subsection 4.2.b Percentage of RTS VS Module .................................................. #

Subsection 4.2.c Project VS Bulk items ................................................................. #

Subsection 4.2.d Number of parts VS Time taken ................................................. #

SECTION 4.3 PROJECT DELIVERABLES. ..................................................................... #

CHAPTER 5 : CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ........................... #

SECTION 5.1 IMPACT .................................................................................................. #

SECTION 5.2 RELEVANCY TO THE OBJECTIVES .......................................................... #

SECTION 5.3 SUGGESTED FUTURE WORK FOR EXPANSION AND CONTINUATION ......... #

Subsection 5.3.a. Drawings .................................................................................. #

Subsection 5.3.b Radio Frequency Identification(RFID) ..................................... #

REFERENCES .......................................................................................................... #

Introduction and Abstract

Manufacturing is one of the branches of engineering that involves the process

of making goods from raw materials like metal and copper into useful products that

can be used to ease our everydays life. Some countries like China uses manufacturing

as their main economic activity which helps their economic to grow rapidly. As a

result, nowadays, China is the famous country for manufacturing and most of the

products used by us are made in china.

Since the basic principles of manufacturing engineering are applied in all

industries, they work in numerous sectors including food and drink, oil, plastics, and

pharmaceuticals. Big companies play the role during the industrial revolution, where

the manufacturing sector becomes essential in all countries. Toyota motors is one of

them. Toyota has practiced so called Toyota Production System. It introduces the

management philosophy about organizing manufacturing and logistics for the

automobile manufacture. One of its key principles is 7 'Muda',the Japanese term used

by Toyota to signify a non-value adding process or waste.

Figure 1.0- 7 wastes by Toyota Production System

Cohu Semiconductor Equipment Group (COHUSEG) is also one of the manufacturer

which contributes to the economic growth in Malaysia. COHUSEG also facing the

problem with the several waste that stated in the Figure 1.0. Over production,

Inventory and Rework is kind of the waste that COHUSEG encounter. All these

problem can be seen during the Return to Stock process.

Returning to Stock process is important for the company because if the parts are not

properly returned to the warehouse, it would be disposed and it will cost a big lost for

the company which is not beneficial. Other than that if the process is not carried out

properly, for example wrong part numbers for the parts, it would result in the

dissatisfaction of customers. It is because, when the part number put by the respective

engineers is wrong, the parts would be put into the wrong storage. In future, when the

customer order the parts for their project, the person in charge would take out wrong

part from the wrong storage. Thus, it would cause a big problem for the future projects.

In conclusion, this project is about how we can improve the Return to Stock process

so that it would be more efficient in terms of saving cost, time and its effectiveness.

Other than that, in this project, it also would analyse the engineering flow which means

the process started after the customer made and order until the product or the machine

is tested before it being sent to the customers.

1.5.9.1 Objectives

SIP Objectives

Purpose of the Student Industrial Project (SIP) is to expose students to the real working

environment so that they can relate theoretical knowledge with application in the

industry. SIP also let the students to develop their skills in safety environment, work

ethics and communication management. SIP will provide opportunity to UTPs

students to build solid understanding of the fundamentals of business and organization

performance such as economic models of business, competitive positioning and

strategy execution. With this real life experience, students can develop their ability in

assessing performance, interpreting trends, exploring the sequences of change and

making better decisions. Briefly students should be able to:

I) Investigate theoretical knowledge in industry

II) Analyse complex engineering/technical projects in industry

III) Evaluate and propose solution for given complex project or problem

IV) Communicate effectively on complex engineering /technical activities

Project Objectives

Based on the objectives of the Student Industrial Project (SIP), the best project is the

project that can fulfil the objective of SIP project regarding Engineering Flow and the

process of Return to Stock which is part of the engineering flow. The current process

of Return to Stock might time consuming especially when it is gave to the Engineering

department since the process to find the part number is time consuming. Thus it is best

if that process can be improved so that the process would be well-organized. Thus, to

sum up at the end of the project, student should be able to:

i) Analyse the engineering flow from the order until the machine is sent to

customer relate it with Toyota Production System and Lean manufacturing.

ii) Define Return to Stock (RTS) and importance of it to the engineering flow.

iii) Analyse the current process flow of the current RTS and state the

advantages and disadvantages of the flow.

iv) Propose the solution to improve the RTS process so that it becomes more

easier, save time and efficient

v) Reflect the relevancy of the new solution to the current engineering world.

1.1.5.9.2. Scope of study

Scope for the projects refers to the boundary or limits within which the study needs to

be kept. It is essential for the study to keep the projects stay in focus and exhausive.

So, for the projects , basically the students were asked to analyse the application of

enginnering flow. So that the students understand and learn something from the

process of product making. Students should suggest some improvement to the

engineering flow. Basically, engineering flow start with the order from the customer

who intrested in the product. Then they would present what kind of semiconductor that

they created with the detailed specification of what kind of turret-based testing

machine that they want. Then Centre of Excellence (COE) of mechanical would make

the layout to pass to the Hardware ,vision and T & C can start work after machine

layout was complete. Then they would make the Bill of Materials (BOM) which list

all parts needed for the project. The process would undergone several other process

and then before it is send to the customer the project would be fine tune by us so that

it really meets customers specification.

After the products were completed and being tested for its capability, the excess spare

parts would be collected in a box according to the projects. All these excess spare parts

either need to be scrapped because the part was specially design for that particular

project or need to be return to the stock. Others would be listed according to part

number and bill of material before the list being analyse by the other department. All

these processes were referred as Return to Stock (RTS) process. The students were

required to ensure that the process of RTS is improved with the new method that is

more time saving. The students also should consider either the method is practical for

every department or not.

1.5.9.3 Problem Statement

Return to Stock (RTS) plays important role in the application flow at ISMECA

Semiconductor. It determines how much the loss that need to be recoup by the

company. The more excess parts in the project the more loss we need to recoup.

Therefore, RTS should be taken seriously so that we can analyse carefully the reasons

of the parts return to be avoided in the future. Besides, we should ensure the part is

return to the right place with the right part number as it is important if the parts are

needed to be reuse for the next time. Following figures was the current brief RTS flow

that practiced by ISMECA.

As an engineer, it is important for the student to look at any process positively and

negatively. So that, the student can improve any negative sides of the process to

become positive element and maximise the positive side of the process so that it would

become more reliable and effective. The advantage of this process, it separate between

Start

Gather all parts in a box

Identify the part that need to scrap

Record all the part that already has part number

Find the missing part number in SAP or BOM list

Record the new part in the RTS List.

Attach the list with the box

Send to the Person in Charge of Warehouse

End

Figure 1.3- Process

flow of RTS

according to the

student

the usable part and unusable part. Not all the excess part can be reuse or resell to the

customer because some of them are custom made for only certain project. Once the

project is completed, means the unusable parts become completely useless. Besides,

in the process flow the spare parts was completely taken care of. This is to ensure that

the spare parts free from cosmetic and labelling defect. Thus the part would be as good

as new spare part when it is brought out back to be reuse or resell.

However the disadvantages of the process of the flow is the real problem. One of the

disadvantages is, the part that without the part number. In the process, we just need to

find the part in the BOM list or SAP which contains thousands of parts. Thus,

sometimes, the engineer faces a problem like where to find the product number for this

part. Based on the students opinion, this is the most time consuming process in RTS

because the process is really complicated. The student needs to open the drawing,

module by module, part by part, which sometimes take about a day or two.

Besides, the other disadvantages of the flow is the number of spare parts high or too

many. According to the students supervisor, a great RTS is when RTS with less parts

in it. Thus we need to add some new process in the RTS so that it would lessen the

number of spare parts in the box.

Last but not least, the problem can be seen in current RTS is sometimes the part from

the other project was thrown in a box. This result in when we key in the part number,

the BOM or SAP shown that the part is not belong to that particular project. This

problem can be taken by ensure the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of the RTS

was followed after any project or machine has been shipped.

1.5.9.4 Relevancy of the project

This project would help the manufacturing company especially the company that tried

to improve on their inventory management system which facing similar problem with

ISMECA Semiconductor. Since nowadays technology keep on improving thus many

new manufacturers company start their operation. Thus this excess spare part

management is important for them to know or to do proper ways to recycle the spare

parts not just blindly scrap them which might cause big loss to the company.

Background and Literature Review

Feasibility of the Project within Scope and Time frame

This project is considered feasible to the project within the scope of the

study because most of the information for the project is kept inside the company. Thus

the student just needs to think about the great solution that can solve the problem.

The project also can be said feasible in term of the time frame since the

time given to complete the project is more than enough. The project has been suggested

to the student during the second month of Industrial Training (IBB 3037). Thus it gives

the student a lot of time to think about the title though the problem statement has been

given during first day of Industrial Project (IBB 3047). In conclusion, the time frame

given should be sufficient to complete the whole project.

Critical Literature Review,Citation andCross-Referencing

Toyota Production System

Toyota Production System (TPS) is perhaps the most publicized collection of visual

systems. According to the Khanna and Shankar (2008), ideas of TPS generated by Mr

Kicchiro Toyota, founder of Toyota Automotive Industries and his staff , Mr Taichi

Ohno based on the showcase and the automatic machine invented my Mr. Sakichi

Toyoda, automatically stops functioning when the thread on the machine happens to

be cut off. Braiden and Herron (2007) claimed that reasonable response about what is

the goal regarding manufacturing proposed by Taiichi Ohno All we are doing is

looking at the time from the moment the customer gives us an order to the point where

we collect the cash. And reducing the time line by removing the non-value-added-

wastes. This response means that the manufacturing company should know the most

important objective is the input where customer placed order and the output where we

collect the cash. Other process which not added any value to the product considered as

waste.

It is important for any company who practices TPS to understand how to identify

waste, so that it can be eliminated. After the waste has been eliminated, the output will

help to increase profitability in manufacturing and distribution business. Hubbard

(2010) stated that a process adds value by producing goods or providing a service will

pay for. Thus any other process which the customer would not pay for it consider a

waste. When the great Italian sculptor Michelangelowas asked what he was sculpting,

he responded he was not sculpting but releasing the figure (value) inside by removing

the unnecessary rocks (wastes). Like Michelangelo, we should

eliminate all forms of wastes in any process or product until only what is valuable

remains. The key is to spot waste and then stop the waste.

Toyota Production System (TPS) key concepts consists of three Japanese words with

prefix mu- which every Japanese know, as product improvement program or

campaign. The first one was called Muri which means overload or overburden and

the second one was Mura means unevenness. Muri refers more specifically to

overloading an equipment, facility or human resource beyond it capacity. This undue

stress may cause downtime, defects, delays and even disasters to the company. An

operator or a machine load is over capacity might harm them. Working for 110 % for

an operator or a machine or a firm is truly heavy. The operator would get sick while

the machine would get broken after a while. With this sick operator or broken down

machine, it would make the production become slower unless the machine is fix or the

operator becomes healthy. Mura refers to unevenness in production volume which is

the extreme difference highs (peaks) and low (valleys) in production schedule. For

example a workload for Monday is 8 hours while the workload on Tuesday is 16 hours.

This inconsistency causes the cause periods of overload and long idle time. It is a must

to prevent Mura and Muri completely in order to eliminate the next waste which is

Muda.

Identify 7 Muda(Waste)

Muda () is a Japanese term for an activity that is does not add any value or is

unproductive or un-useful(). Once the Mura and Muri have been sorted out, it will

be time to identify Muda in all the operations, material usage and defects. It is

important to keep in mind that anything that does not add value is Muda or Waste.

Muda consist of 7 waste which are overproduction, waiting-time, conveyance or

transport, processing, inventory, motion and correction or rework. Overproduction

happens when customer produces more than their needs. For example the customer

order only 3 parts but the operator made 10 parts with hope that the part can be usde

for the other machine. Overproduction was the worst waste because it would cause

the other waste to happen. The next waste is called defects or errors. It means any

activity that causes the product to rework, unnecessary adjustments or returns. Bad

quality or defects does not only result in customer dissatisfactionand damage to

company image, but also in wastes due to additional costs and time to recall, rework,

repair, and replace the defective items. The rest of the other waste was shown in the

next figure.

Figure 2.2.b Examples of Several Waste in a picture

1. Muda of waiting: a waiting employee does not create added value.

2. Muda of transport: products transported from one place to another in the plant do

not create any added value.

3. Muda of inventory: capital unnecessarily tied up, value destroyed.

4. Muda of processing: stress of the work.

5. Muda of motion: no value is created during motion.

Lean Manufacturing

Henry Ford comes out with the concept of lean manufacturing which helps to eliminate

most of the waste. Lean manufacturing is define by Abu Shaaban (2012) as ssa

philosophy based on the Toyota production system to shorten the time line between

customer order and shipment of final product by elimination of waste. Other definition

was made by Liker (2004) who defined lean manufacturing as process which adding

value to eliminating waste which responsive to the change, focus on the quality, and

enhancing the effectiveness of work force. Trying to Imagine, a factory which only

produces only enough materials to produce just that which has no excess inventories,

no scrap, non-value added functions. All orders are shipped on time to the customer.

Such are the desired outcome of lean manufacturing. One of the important steps to

implement lean manufacturing is Just-In-Time (JIT) concept. Monden (1998) and

Levy (1997) are both agree that JIT production is the back bone of the lean

manufacturing. JIT is defined as producing and/or delivering only the necessary parts,

within the necessary time in the necessary quantity using minimum resources.

Therefore, no need for inventory since the appropriate number of parts are produced

and shipped immediately when the customer order is received. However, it is

impossible in practical sense, thus the key to the efficiency to this system is by

decreasing the quantity in the system.

Cohu SEG also practiced the lean manufacturing system. This system is appropriate

to be used in the company since one machine costs around half million. Thus if the

company used the old traditional mass production system, it would cost millions of

loss. That is why the company uses the lean manufacturing system. Initially, the

company would receive an order from the customers which is from the manufacturing

semiconductor company. Then the customers would specify about the machine that

they want with the engineer of the company. If the engineer has a problem with the

specification from the customer, they will discuss the problem together until both sides

are satisfied. Then Centre of Excelence (COE) mechanical would create a machine

layout and pass to other department (Hardware and Vision). After that, Bill of Material

(BOM) would be created after technical drawing and schematic drawing has been

drawn. COE mechanical would validate mechanical BOM to prevent any missing or

additional part creation before the parts can be fabricated by respective manufacturer.

After the parts are created, the machine would be assembly by the fine tuner. After the

machine is completed and shipped, all the excess spare part would be collected in a

box to undergo return to stock process.

Excess spare part Management

Excess parts Management start after the project or machine has been completed and

shipped to the customers. It is comprised in the inventory management. Inventory

according to Investopedia refer to the raw materials, work-in-process goods and

completely finished goods that are categorized to be partial of businesss assets that

are ready or will be ready for sale. It is the most important assets that most business

possess, because the turnover of inventory represents one of the primary sources of

revenue generation and subsequent earnings for the companys shareholders. In this

project, inventory refers to completely finish goods. Jianfeng,Jingying and Xiaodong

(2011) stated that effective inventory management of spare parts is important for

support maintenance operations and protect against failures. For example if a machine

is broken and needed to be replace some of the parts , the fine tuner for the machine

could easily request it from the inventories.

However, having these inventories left idle in the warehouse would cost the company

large amount of money. It is because the greater amount of parts in inventories the

larger space needed to store them. The space that is used to store them considered a

waste since the parts does not add value. Besides the space can be used for other

activities which more profitable like adding the space for assembly process.

Furthermore, the inventories need maintenance so that they stay valuable and does not

broken. For example, the metals in the inventories need to be avoided from water and

air to prevent oxidation which would cause the metals to rust. Rusting would cost the

metals lost in value which is a loss to the company. MPWANYA (2005) stated that

having these inventories on hand can cost around 20 to 40 percent of their actual value

every year. He added that for some company that have poor inventory management

can seriously damage the business

Relevancy and the recentness of the literature

Most of the literature taken was about not less than 10 years. Thus it is still relevant

to the the world of manufacturing. Furthermore, the lean manufacturing is a long-

term discussion started after Mr Kicchiro Toyoda, the founder of Toyota introduce

Toyota Production System in Japanese and influence to the whole Asia. At the same

time, Henry Ford introduce lean manufacturing that influences the whole West

countries. The literature used in the literature review mostly a paper explaining about

the TPS and lean manufacturing in modern view. Thus it is still relevance to apply in

this new era.

Methodology

Research Methodology

Identify the research problem

Extensive literature review on the problem

Collecting the data

Analysis and interpretation of Data

Design the solution for the problem

Discussion and Conclusion

Figure 3.1- Process

flow of Research

Methodology

Project Activities

Identify the research problem

Research problem that chosen for the project is on how to improve on Return to Stock.

Return to Stock is one of the process in the excess part management. After the product

is completed and all the parts were collected in the box, the engineer and fine tuner

will work together in order to find the part number of all the parts in the box. Without

the part number, the warehouse would face a problem in placing the right parts at the

right place. In order to find the part number, engineer should revise the overall drawing

of the project. After they found the similar part, the engineer should double check the

part with the dimension to ensure that the parts number and its revision are correct.

Other than finding the part number, the engineer in charge also should determine why

the products is return. There are several reasons why the product is return:

i) Purchase Order cancellation The customer cancel the project

ii) Customer Request Change the customer want to change the part for their

machine with the other part

iii) Engineering Change design change by engineering /wrong revision

iv) Wrong Order the part is not found in BOM thus it is not belong to the project

v) Bulk item screw , nuts , pins , washer and fitting

vi) Canevas item Additional items that the customer does not want.

Supervisor of the author found out that this process takes a lot of time. Thus the author

needs to improve the process or suggest new process, so that RTS can be done in a

short amount of time.

Extensive literature review on the problem

Literature review is important in any research in order to compare the problem with

the common problem faced by other manufacturing company. For this project, the

author found out the similar problem about taking too many time in the process that

does not add any value or known as muda or waste. The author compared the project

between Toyota Production System. The solution to eliminate the waste is by practiced

lean manufacturing. The author did some cross referencing so that the information is

more reliable. Literature review also important to ensure that the problem is relevance

to nowadays world.

Collecting the data

Data Collection involves checking or logging the data in; checking the data for

accuracy; entering the data into the computer; transforming the data; and developing

and documenting a database structure that integrates the various measures. In this

study, data is gathered from observation and recorded data that had been done earlier.

Observation data is done by analysing the return product sample given to the author

by the operator. Data also had been collected by the author using the RTS product list

for every project.

Analysis and interpretation of Data

Data gathered consist of

- Project number

- Product description with quantity

- Product module

Several graph are generated from the data collected. The data will be analyse from the

graph to suggest the suitable solution.

Design the solution for the problem

Several solutions would be suggested. The flow for the solution would be drawn so

that it is more understandable. The advantages and disadvantages for each solution

would be determine. The best solution would be chosen for the conclusion.

Discussion and Conclusion

The best solution will be explained and the author would verify why the solution is

given. The solution also would be reflected to the objective of the project and would

be define the relevancy solution to the company.

Key Milestone

Figure 3.2-Key

Milestone

Gantt chart G

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Table 3.3.- Gantt chart

Tools required

Hardware

- Portable Laptop To write the Student Industrial Project Report

- Pendrive To transfer RTS data from office.

- Personal Computer To key in parts in RTS and compare the drawing with

the part.

- Stationaries- Pencil to write draft of report and long ruler to measure the long

parts that cannot be measured by using vernier caliper

- Measuring tools electronic vernier caliper to measure the parts accurately to

ensure the parts is the same with the drawings in server

Software

- System, Application, Product (SAP) system to retrieve the Bill of Materials

(BOM) and compare with the order by customers

- Excel to key in the part number to RTS list ; to create Gantt chart, Key

milestone and graph to analyse data from RTS list.

- Word To write the Student Indsutrial Project Report.

- Gmail To communicate with other colleques regarding the project.

Result and Discussion

Findings

For the graph 2.1-2.3, author analyse which module are the most returnable for

3 random project. As a result for Project 1 (Graph 2.1), total parts available was 389

with the number of parts return are 20. This gave the percentage of 5% . In this 5% of

return product, 35% of it are from Platform module, 30% are from Feeding module,

10% are from Orientator module, 10% are from Taping module and the balance 15%

are from Table module.

With 365 total parts invovled in Project 2 (Graph 2.2), 26 parts or 7%

of it were return to stock. 42% of the return parts in this Project are from Platform

module, 30% are from Adaptation module, 19% are from Tapping module, and 4%

are from Maintenance, Table and Feeding module.

During Project 3 (Graph2.3), total parts that had been returned were 43

parts from 556 parts that give the percentage up to 8%. Platform module produce the

highest returned parts with 44% followed by Tapping module with 33%. For

Adaptation module, Table module, and Test module they covered 5% of the returned

parts each. Vision module with 7% and the lowest are from Maintenance module with

only 2%.

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Project 3

Value

Data analysis

From the Figure XX , the project with highest percentage of return parts or items was

Project 3 with 15.63% of total items in the project. The lowest percentage was from

project 7 with 1.94% of total items. For the high percentage, it might because of poor

management of the project or the return parts might mainly made up of canevas or

bulk items. In the other hand for the project with the low number of items can be said

well handed project.

However, from the graph we can see the different project has different number of

parts. The graph does not show any pattern that we can forecast for the next project.

This due to various manipulated variable or reasons which cause the quantity of parts

in a project high or low. The reasons are wrong bookings ,engineering related ,

canevas item , bulk item , request from project manager, typing error of project

manager, the item is not belong to the project , and the parts are belong to supplier.

Reflecting the objective of the project,we should reduce all these errors in order to

lessen the quantity of RTS in future. Techniques of reduce the errors would be

discussed on the next section.

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Project VS Percentage of Return Item

Percentage

For the total 10 projects that had been analyzed, 3673 parts were involved with 196

parts were submitted to the engineer to be store at the warehouse. This shows that for

10 projects that haad been done, 5.34% of the parts were returned to the stock.Though

the percentage is around 5% which looks like it is not significance , each of the parts

that return has high value. Assume that one part has a price around RM 3 , with 196

parts the price for the total parts return are RM 588. Moreover , note that , the price of

part is various from one to another. One might have really high value and another one

might be really cheap. According to last year report , averangely the total price for

return parts for one project is around RM 300 to RM 400. This shown that the return

parts was somehow a loss or a waste to the company if it was not properly manage.

From this 5.34% returned parts, Platform module gave the highest percentage

with 42.86% of the returned parts are from this module. Following is Adaptation

module with the percentage of 14.80% and Tapping module 13.78%. All these three

modules are the critical modules as they are the highest of three by producing return

parts.From 10 projects that were done, some of the module gave the same percentages.

Table module and Test module both have the same percentage which each module

represent 6.12% of the total returned parts, same goes with Equipment module and

Orientator module which also showing the same percentage of 2.04%. Feeding module

produce 7.14% of the total 5.34% of the returned parts while Vision module produce

4.59% from the total parts. Maintenance module is the lowest percentage from all 10

modules that had been analyzes with only 1.02% of product returns.

Altough most of the parts come from Platform module , we can not simply blame the

person in charge for the module. Platform was the big module which consists of many

simple module like Support for PC , Turret or Frame mounted. Platform is the module

which consist the largest number of parts in every module. Other than that , Platform

basically the frame for the other module and it is not assemble by the company. Some

parts like wheel and the stand which commonly return back to the stock because it

might be too old. For the other module , some of the part might need change because

of not fit to the module or need engineering change or the customer himself would like

the part to be change. As a conclusion , the engineer should take note on which kind

of module have the highest amount to be given extra attention when doing the order to

avoid excess parts on that module again.

Graph 1.1 showed the bulk and normal parts that are submitted to the engineer

to be stored at the warehouse for every project. As referred to the graph, the author

determined that the bulk parts made up around 9 to 65% of the return items. This shows

only 20% of the total project have a bulk parts more than normal parts to be sent for

Return to Stock.

The bulk parts consist of fittings, screw, nuts and other small parts of the

component. Mostly, the bulk parts can be reused for other projects. This make keeping

the bulk parts in the warehouse are not economic. Other than that, by reused the bulk

parts, the warehouse space can be reduced. The cost to upgrade the warehouse as the

storage of items or part keep increased day by day can also be cut as the minimal usage

of bulk parts space.

From the data analysis, ISMECA Semiconductor can reused about 20% to 30%

of the parts that are submitted to the engineer to be store at the warehouse. By reused

this items, ISMECA semiconductor can reduce the cost of buying new parts. It also

can reduce the production time as if they buy a new sets of parts, they need to order it

50%

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and wait for several days before the parts deliver at production line. Different with

reused, the parts can be used on the spot as the parts are already on the production line.

Therefore, in the author point of view, this type of return should be stored at a section

which contains whole set of bulk items to be use. Further clarification about the storage

of bulk items would be explained at the next section.

Graph show that the number of parts versus time taken to complete the listing of

RTS. The more items in the RTS, the more time taken to complete listing the parts in

the RTS list. For Project 4 and 5, we can see that though the items in the project is

many but the author can finish listing the parts with short amount of time. This is due

to most of the parts already has their part number attached at the package or written

on the part with the tape. Thats why the author only need to key in the number

which save a lot of time.

This graph conclude that the loss of the part number consume lots of time for the

author to complete his job. When the author receive a box with a part which did not

have part number, the author needs to go through the drawing by module one by one.

Some of the drawing of module has too many parts which made the user to disable

some of parts visibility in order to see the inside parts. After the author found the

similar part in the assembly drawings, the author needs to see its technical drawing

and measure the actual part and compare it with the drawings. Some drawing looks

like the same but the dimension is different. This process was the process that the

author needs to improve in order to ensure the process of RTS became much faster

and easier.

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Project Deliverables or Suggestion of Solutions.

After the analysis of all the form the Return to Stock list, several problems were

identified. These problems happen because of several reasons stated above. From all

the reason, Canevas and bulk items are the error that cannot be avoided since this

items were compulsory to be ordered but the customer does not want it and the bulk

items cannot be predicted thus it is normal to order the bulk items more than

required. Moreover, reasons like wrong bookings or the typing error were kind of

error which is categorized as human error. Human is not machine thus human are not

perfect. We cannot vanished human error at once but we can minimize the error.

Other types of error considered as technical error that can be avoided with practiced

the right Standard of Procedure (SOP) or improve the process or the system.

Thus , after several weeks of thinking to make the process of RTS easier and lessen

the time taken and number of items for each project , I suggest several ideas.Firstly I

am thinking of using of RFID for each manufactured parts. RFID is the new

technology which has been widely use in many products like vehicles, airline

passangers , Alzheimers patiens and pets. It is kind of tags which attached to the

product and the tracker can easily track it by using special devices. However, after

discussion with the supervisor, this kind of devices is too expensive. Furthermore , in

order to buy the RFID tags and applied it as a part of Industrial Project , it taking too

much time as the author needs to help the supervisor and project manager to finish

the project. Thus for this Industrial Project the author think it is not suitable.

Nevertheless, the tagging of the parts is a good of idea. Previous method practiced by

was by using the labelled and barcode system but then in order to assemble become a

big module the packaging is ripped and thrown away. When the assembler found out

that the part is not fit or not suitable to be assemble or the assembler found out that it

is not belong to that project , the package already been disposed. Along with the

disposed package was the barcode and the number of parts.Thats where the problem

of lost part number started.

Engineering department start to play their role on RTS after the excess part has been

collected in a box. Then , we would take out the parts that cannot be reused to be sent

to scrapped. The remaining parts in the box would be sent to engineering department

be keyed into the RTS list. Before the parts can be key in, the author needs to ensure

that all parts in the box has their part number. If not, the author need to refer back to

the drawings. For the author point of view, this step is the most hardest and time

consuming step in the RTS process. The step might be easier for the engineer who

design the machine or project, but for the author, he needs to randomly check the

drawings. After the author did several projects for RTS , the author realized that the

name of the parts describe the part itself. For example in the return box , there is a

rod which does not have part numbers. Thus the author simply use the find command

in Microsoft Excel to find the word rod in the Bill of Materials. The results varies

from 30 up to 100++ . Next, the author would go through the parts one by one and

compare its features with the drawing in the server.

So, in order to improve this steps, the author suggest to strengthen the engraved

method. Actually, the engraved method has been put into practice on some of the big

parts like blocks and the nest. The disadvantages of the engrave method was it is not

applicable to the small parts or parts which has small flat surface areas like long rod.

The author would like to improvise the engraved method by combine it with tagging

method which is using small coloured sticker like shown in the Figure below.

It is advisable to use this sticker at the module which has many returns part like

Platform and Taping. Platform or Taping is considered as big module or mother

which consist of several small module or children. So we assign the children with

the number while reasons of RTS with an alphabet.

Other than that, author thought that in the description of material in the BOM list is

too little. The author suggested to improvise the database by adding the description

of the item like its weight or the number of holes and types of hole for each items or

material used for the parts. Besides , for the simple parts like block which has

dimension of 20x60x3 and has two holes with diameter., we might can add the

dimension beside the name of parts. This solution needs a lot of work and involved

other department since the database needs to be altered.The alternative for this

solutions is the company should consider making other database other than Bill of

Material which consists of complete description of every product. In order to do this

engineering department should work together with software department to produce

new program to search the parts based on its descriptions. It is tiring and time

consuming but once the part missing its numbers it is much easier to find its number.

13

C

Children Number (for example) 12 - Frame 15 Turret 13 PC kit

Reasons of RTS (for example) A Bulk items C Wrong Bookings D Canevas

Morever, the customer can always refer to this program if they would like to have

part change or module change.

After the analysis of the parts , the author found out that the return items mostly

made up of bulk items or canevas. Bulk items are the items which included fittings,

washer , various types of screw (countersunk, headless), nuts or bolt. Canevas are the

items which included 1.5m 3pin plug or safety cover which is the extra items which

supplied to the customer but they dont want. The analogy for Canevas items is like

the medical kit , jumper , kit to change tyre to the new car. Without all these items ,

the car can still function well but they are important in case of emergency. Bulk

items and canevas made up almost half or more of total of number of parts return.

So , from the analysis the author think we should separate bulk items with the other

parts as soon as it received by the engineer in charge. As stated earlier, the

percentage for this kind of parts to be reuse is high rather than other parts. Thus it

cannot considered waste to the company if it is managed well. In this company bin to

placed all the standard bulk items from BOSSARD and ADAX already provided at

the production site. The author think in order to improvise the system , the company

should provide more bin for non-standard items but they always appear in the Return

to Stock like fittings , amplifier and spacer. So that , the amount of items return

would be less and the common items can be reused for the other projects.

Combining all three solution the author comes out with the new flow of system. This

new flow of system can be said the final solution or the product of this project. With

this solutions , the author hope the Return to Stock process can become easier and

the parts for the RTS would become lesser and lesser day by day.

Start

All the excess part are collected in the box.

Identify the part that need to scrap

Seperate the bulk items or canevas items with normal item

The colour stiker was applied by the fine tuner with the

numbering and alphabet

The labelled part according to the module was sent to the

engineer.

The engineer search the similar looking part in the new program made for lost part number items.

The engineer check the dimension for lost part number

items

Record the new part in the RTS List.

Send to the Person in Charge for next process

End

Conclusion and Recommendation

Impact

Since the method or new flow still did not applied to the system, thus the results still

undetermined. Nevertheless, according to 28 weeks of working in this company , the

author think this system will be effective to the system .Implementation of the

separation of bulk items with normal items reduce the number of parts that need to be

return and might reduce the number of loss part number items. With the additional of

adding new description which describe each parts in the new program, the user

would easily found the part number for the loss part. Thus , the RTS list might only

taken around 2 or 3 hours. On the other hand , the implementation of the sticker will

reduce the number of parts in module which has large number of return items . In

addition , the engineer or project manager can track the reasons of return item by

simply looking at the sticker. So , process of analysis of RTS reasons can be done

easily in the future. The author hope if the process is chosen to be implement in this

company , the person who involved with RTS can follow the Standard Operating

Procedure (SOP) which is made based on the solution , accordingly so that the

process of RTS become easier and faster.

The impact of the project to the author was the author learnt lots of new things that is

important in future life. The author learnt how to manage time properly so that the

project will be sent on time. This project also teach the author to organize the report

so that it is easier to be interpreted and understand.

Relevancy to the objectives

Before the author discuss the relevancy of the solution to the objective , the author

would like to recap the objective of the project which are :

i) Analyse the engineering flow from the order until the machine is sent to

customer relate it with Toyota Production System and Lean manufacturing.

ii) Define Return to Stock (RTS) and importance of it to the engineering flow.

iii) Analyse the current process flow of the current RTS and state the

advantages and disadvantages of the flow.

iv) Propose the solution to improve the RTS process so that it becomes more

easier, save time and efficient

v) Reflect the relevancy of the new solution to the current engineering world.

The first and second objective has been achieved when the author write literature

review which reflected the engineering flow and RTS .RTS and its importance has

been during the problem statement along with the flow. After the author analyse the

data from the RTS list , the author found out the solution for RTS which is further

explain during the project deliverable.

For the last objective , for the author point of view , this solution Is relevance since

the method use is simple and can be implement to other factory of manufacturing

company who overcome the same problem. But , the author think there is better way

to solve the problems if the author given more time . The author would discuss more

about this better way in the next section. In conclusion , most of the objectives is

relevant and the project meet its objective.

Suggested Future Work for Expansion and Continuation

Drawings

From the author opinion , this kind of drawings is much easier to be refer for the

engineer to do RTS . This kind of drawings was called exploded drawings.

Compared to current type of drawings which gather all the parts together in the

drawings , this kind of drawing is gave more wide vision on the parts. With this kind

of drawings , each of the part can be trace and be located. It is better if the drawings

is made according to the module and documented for reference of engineers and the

customers.

Radio-frequency identification (RFID)

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is an automatic identification method, relying

on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tags or

transponders. An RFID tag is an object that can be applied to anything including

animal, any product or person for the purpose of identification using radio waves.

Some tags can be read from several meters away and beyond the line of sight of the

reader. For passive RFID tags, it have no internal power supply while and active

RFID tags have their own internal power source which is used the power of

Integrated Circuit(IC) to broadcast the signal to reader.

RFID is the most suitable methods to solve this problems. This RFID tag contains

tiny semiconductor chips, miniaturized antennas and sometimes a battery. The tag

can be in many forms depend on the type of object that the user want to track. The

author ideas was to attached every parts with the passive tags of RFID which is

cheaper, smaller and thinner . This kind of RFID do not have internal power source

thus they rely on the signals by RFID reader.

In order to use the RFID tags in the warehouse and make the process of RTS more

easier, my suggestion is we used the strip type of RFID and we attached it on every

manufactured product. However to save cost , the author suggest to act according to

the analysis of RTS which means we only attached the RFID to the module which

have highest amount of items. After that , after we scan it for Return to Stock , and

the parts safely placed in the warehouse , the RFID tags can be detach and attached it

to the new project. This kind of method might have chance of RFID broken during

the transportation of parts of during the assembly. Therefore to avoid this situation

from happen it is advisable for the handler of the parts from the fabrication of parts

until the person in charge for warehouse.

Recommendation for UTP

Industrial Project (IP) is the course that is compulsory for each student of UTP to

take this course in order to graduate .It is the new version of normal Student

Industrial Training which the previous batch enrolled a semester before. Thus the

author would like to suggest a few recommendation for improvement of this course.

First of all, the author would like to suggest for student who would like to intern in a

company to ask about the training that he or she might undergo. The student should

ask the detail of the training and what kind of work that he or she would do. Some

company take for granted that the UTP student has long period of training and they

just ask them to help them doing simple things which is not worth to be done by real

engineer. CSIMAL should provide a guideline that needed to be undergone by the

trainee before they finish the training.

Next, for the Log book, the author think it is too burdensome to do the Logbook

every day. Some of the trainee might undergone similar routine for several days.

Thus the author thing the Logbook should only be written every week.

Lastly , before the student going for industrial training , CSIMAL should organize a

short course or workshop on how to do proper technical report. It is true that during

first year every student is compulsory to take academic writing course but in that

course does not included on how to write technical project report . For example , how

to write great methodology, impact or discussion.It is important for the student to

learnt about all these to produce great report.

Other than that ,the Industrial Project is a good platform for every student

experienced to handle a project as a preparation for his or her Final Year Project

during Final year. The period of 7 months is just great which enables the author to

experience a lot during industrial training.

Safety Training and value for practical experience

Lesson Learnt and Experienced Gained

During the industrial internship, there are many things that the author learnt and

experience new knowledge especially during the completing the task given by Host

Company and completing the industrial project. The surrounding of the workplace also

teaches the author about the work environment. Industrial internship program is made

to help students in exposing themselves to the real working environment. It acts as a

bridging to connect the knowledge that has been taught in UTP with the reality of the

working. From here, the author was able to acquiring vest of knowledge that related to

manufacturing industry to build the knowledge and be able to get sense of what its

like working in a particular career field. During the internship, most of the time, the

author did the office works. Thus it is important for the author to learnt about time

management.

Time management

Industrial Project teach the author to manage the time really well compared to the

Industrial Training , the first part of the Internship. For Industrial Project , the student

needs to come out with a project and a report which solve problems face by engineering

world . It is count as additional work which the author needs to do after office hour.

This project considered as university project and the author was told that the student

cannot mixed the university project and work task that given during office hour. The

author has been paid to complete the work task during the office hour and the company

disallow the student to do the project during office hour. For the author this is a big

challenged since he needs to manage time after office hour to do the project.It is

challenging since the author cannot staying up to late as tomorrow he needs to wake

up early for work. Sometimes the author need to wake up in the middle of the night to

work on the project.

Besides, sometimes the author has been given the two works in a time. For example

when the author finding the part number in the drawings the project manager asked to

help him design a cover for the machine. The author learnt that in this kind of situation

the author needs to know the level of urgency which mean which one is more

important.In the working field , work task were given constantly. It is a common when

the first task was not done yet but the second task was received. Thats why the level

of urgency is important.

Lastly it is important for the author to learn that in the working field , last minute

working is a really bad ideas. Working life is really different in university life. In the

university life if you given an assignment which needed to be sent on Friday , the

student always start working a day before. Then if the assignment is bad , the biggest

punishment that the student will get is low of marks for that assignment.on. Despite of

working field , if any of the work done badly , the company would face a loss or the

customer might get angry. If it keeps on happening the risk of the worker fired from

the work Is really high. Thats why in working field we need to work every project

starting from the first day task was given to retain the quality of the work.

Self discipline

References