Progressive Drawer Systems Deliver Cost-Savings Solutions

When most people think of vending, they think of a soft drink or snack machine where an item drops into a steel bin from standard-sized rotating coils. Hit the wrong button and you can't return the unused item through the glass. These types of systems are currently being used in some manufacturing environments, but are typically not the best solution - particularly for the medical manufacturing industry, where materials and tools can be both delicate and expensive. Kennametal, Inc. currently offers their ToolBoss Management System platform as a money- and time-saving tool for medical and dental parts manufacturers.

ToolBoss is both a global supply chain optimization system, and the name of the industrial vending platform offered by Kennametal, Inc. Three platforms provide custom solutions for full system optimization with two platforms to be released in 2008. Edward Skrzynski, global manager for Kennametal Supply Chain Services explains how the most common platform works.

"Our progressive drawer system, known as ToolBoss, is our original industrial vending unit," says Skrzynski. "If you want to dispense one single insert or want to dispense a package of inserts, we have a drawer designed for the item type and quantity dispensed. There is no need to spend time or pay for repackaging. No items are dropped, which eliminates possible damage to the dispensed item. Only the item requested and quantity required is dispensed."

ToolBoss also allows reconditionable items such as drills or recyclable materials (including carbide) to be returned and placed in a separate bin within the system. These promote the recondition and recycle process, ensuring the full life cycle value of the items.

The platform was initially proposed as a best-design solution for a dental implant manufacturing environment. Skrzynski recounts that what the company had hoped to gain from the hospital medical dispensing system ultimately became a loss, and the original ToolBoss proposal was soon renewed. "Eventually up to 10 units would be installed and we had been automating their crib system so that the ToolBoss point-of-use systems fully communicate with the central stocking location. Now more than 50 different production machines, on all three shifts, are getting secure and unattended supply access from a 24/7 operation."

With the complete audit trails that ToolBoss provided, the dental implant company could now review the stored data and track information such as batch codes and lot numbers, detailing what was used to make a particular series of parts. Not only are the items completely traceable, but complete cost details are also available. A ToolBoss user can determine exactly how much was spent in tooling costs for each job or operation, allowing the manufacturer to adjust their practices by implementing rationing or restrictions on supplies to reduce costs and improve profitability.

The ToolBoss success story soon spread to the parent company that had begun shopping for a new industrial vending system. According to Skrzynski, Kennametal initially traded a demo ToolBoss system for carbide recycling materials. "They liked the platform, but had trouble articulating the actual cost savings that could be realized, and requested that we evaluate the entire plant manufacturing process. After two days of surveys, we established baselines to determine their current cost status, what engineered solutions could be implemented, and what savings they could expect to see."

The results showed that at a plant level, the large medical manufacturer had the ability to save approximately $5 million per year in acquisition, possession, and usage costs. After presenting a general solution for the company's needs, further cell-by-cell level studies ensued. This allowed Kennametal into an instrumentation cell to gather more data – not only how the supplies were acquired, but how the entire process of paperwork, purchase orders, acquisition, receiving, restocking, and accounts payable flowed.

"We looked at possession costs residing in inventory, obsolescence, on-hand supplies, and the manpower to manage the supplies," explains Skrzynski. "We also looked at the usage costs, which is the time it takes to find an item and bring it back into the manufacturing environment, and the ability to control the full life cycle of supplies, such as reconditioning and recycling."

"We did a comprehensive analysis of this one particular cell and we documented $687,000 worth of cost savings," explains Skrzynski. "We made recommendations to implement a 'point-of-use ToolBoss' and a Kennametal Automated Tool Management System (KATMS), to manage supplies from the main supply room or crib. We would then take specific supplies out of the centralized crib area and move them into the manufacturing area, resulting in time and cost savings as well as managing those items 24/7 – unattended."

Because the company was utilizing Okuma machine tools, Kennametal recommended an interface with the new Okuma THINC-OSP control. This provided an option to automate the set-up process, which gave the medical manufacturer the ability to use a bar-code scanning device to set up the THINC-OSP controller. When they scan the bar code for the next job, the THINC controller automatically pulls the CNC program file, transmitting the set up order to ToolBoss to pick the appropriate supplies for a specific job.

Now, when the operator or set-up person is going to initiate a new job, they scan one bar-code. The Okuma THINCOSP control pulls the correct program and the ToolBoss has now readied the correct components. The operator walks over to the machine, and the ToolBoss unit automatically begins dispensing the appropriate items needed for the kit.

Skrzynski indicates that the Okuma interface feature was worth more than $200,000 in reduced set-up time in this cell alone. The plant has seven cells and Kennametal is now in the process of evaluating these remaining cells based on the successful results at the initial location.

"We can track multiple supplies and tools that went out for specific jobs against produced components used in medical manufacturing, along with what tools are associated with that job," says Skrzynski. "If we have to, we can trace back to the jobs origin in order to evaluate the entire workflow process."