Single Minute Exchange Die Approach for Optimising Setup Time in Labelling Printing Company

The concept of “make-to-order” (MTO) type companies is to produce the products just-in-time and improve the customer satisfaction. These types of company produce a high variety with low volume requiring a frequent setup operation. The shorter setup time will reduce the manufacturing lead time and hence increase the productivity. Unfortunately, most of the MTO type companies suffer with high setup time. Thus, single minute exchange die (SMED) concept is developed which consist of four stages: internal and external setup are not distinguished, separating internal and external setup, converting internal into external setup and streamlining all aspects of the setup operations. The main objective of using SMED concept is to accomplish setup time in less than 10 min. In this case study, the SMED concept being applied to convert internal setup to external setup which involves the activities of ink preparation and test printing. In the stage three of SMED concept, feasible solutions has been applied to fulfilled the objective. The result of implementing SMED concept in MTO type companies is the improvement in the productivity and reduction in the setup time. The improvement of productivity for this case study was 29.15%.