Introduction

(1) This career episode took four months, from June to October 2008. It was a machining process improvement project that I participated at XXXXXl. I was working as a Manufacturing Process Engineer with machining process, and in this particular case I made a validation of new cutting fluid for shaving process.

Background

(2) The main purpose of this project was validate a new kind of cutting fluid for shaving process of the gears for vehicle transmissions at Eaton (http://www.). These gears are the main parts of the transmission, which is manufactured in many machining steps, thermal treatment, assembly, and the project aim was improvement / cost reduction of cutting fluid usage.

(3) Due to approval problems in the operation of shaving, the manufacturing team exchanged the current oil that time (integral oil plus chlorinated paraffin – usually used in shaving process) for new oil (soluble oil – called FLUCOR 405e) with thirty percent of concentration and seventy percent of water. There was no follow up for all costs involved and performance in the operation that could ensure that the usage of the new oil was advantageous for the company.

(4) The facilitators were EHS department (Environment Health and Safety), Lubrication department, and Manufacturing department. As internal clients two areas of the company were considered the main departments with possible benefits, Manufacturing and Management tools.

(5) Manager
EHS Department
Quality Engineerig
Process Engineering
Accounting / Cost
Environment
Safety
Roughness
Approval
Capability
Operator
Process
Tool
Acquisition
Maintenance
Effluent treatment
Reuse
Fire
Leaking
Handly
Storage
PPE
Satisfaction
Setup
Machining conditions
Production rate
Part / grind
Adaptation
Preventive
Consumption
Manager
EHS Department
Quality Engineerig
Process Engineering
Accounting / Cost
Environment
Safety
Roughness
Approval
Capability
Operator
Process
Tool
Acquisition
Maintenance
Effluent treatment
Reuse
Fire
Leaking
Handly
Storage
PPE
Satisfaction
Setup
Machining conditions
Production rate
Part / grind
Adaptation
Preventive
Consumption
For a good comprehension I used a tool called WBS for map the areas involved in the project, which needed to supply data for my documentation to my department Process Engineering, and my position is in gray as follow bellow:

Personal Engineering Activity

(6) After know that, I created a multidisciplinary group, enabling the comparison of these oils in many aspects, and then reach a realistic conclusion about which option is most appropriate, following the criteria of quality, cost and environment. Once created a multidisciplinary group, I started to collect all information to prepare the comparison between both cutting fluids. Before start the analysis of the project I organized a communication plan with contacts of all stakeholders (internal departments and supplier of the new oil), and booking meetings with them. Four areas were considered very important to make a follow up as you can see on the WBS above such as: EHS (Environment Healthy and Safety), Quality Engineering, Process Engineering, and Accounting / Cost. As a guideline I defined bullet points in scope of the project as follow below: * Cutting fluid consumption; * Lifetime tool (Shaver) * Maintenance records; * Fluid impact (EHS); * Cost; * Quality of the process / parts; * Performance / approval; * Risk plan (FMEA – Failure Modes Effects Analysis) * Set up; * Fluid behaviour in the manufacturing process; and * Data statistic work.

(7) The first step was check the Lifetime tool (Shaver), cutting fluid consumption, maintenance records and fluid impacts (EHS). Using the very know method Lean Manufacturing I decided to use some tools such as: 5S, Continuous flow, Kaisen, and PDCA to monitor these items. After three months monitoring the lifetime of the shaver I concluded that the new cutting fluid (soluble oil – called FLUCOR 405e) did not change the lifetime of the shaver.

(8) Although the new cutting fluid was demonstrating to perform well, the consumption was more than expected due to some issues on the machine in the production line. Some points were leaking on the hoses and on the base of the machine which does the shaving process. In my investigation I found out that this particular machine had not been monitored and the preventive maintenance had not been done properly. For a safe work and no impact on the environment my team and I went to EHS department to verify all issues related to the new oil, and after all fallow up in the manufacturing I concluded that the new oil has not impact to the company.

(9) I created a quality plan to check every step in the process, checking the dimensions before and after machining, daily oil inspection, microstructure analysis of the material, quality of surface of the part, how many times the tool needed sharpening. For keep a good data quantity, some items were controlled with specific analysis as microstructure of the material machined verified by metallographic analysis, oil concentration using refractometer and PH meter to check the water, all of this just to make sure the new oil is a good choice. Aside from this quality plan I used a FMEA (Failure Modes Effects Analysis) and made assumptions of what could occur in the process in order to be ready for some unforeseen events and waste.

(10) I had a good contact face to face with the operators and always asked about the performance of the production, feelings, doubts, and opinions developing in my career a great interpersonal experience. All operators involved in this project were trained by me and my group in the production line. During the follow up in the production I could realize that the machine was cleaner than before as you can see in the pictures below.
Integral Oil
Integral Oil
Soluble Oil
FLUCOR 405e
(New cutting fluid)
Soluble Oil
FLUCOR 405e
(New cutting fluid)

(11) Chlorinated paraffin
Integral Oil Annual Forecast
Chlorinated paraffin
Integral Oil Annual Forecast One of the main points was the cost, and after 4 months I collected the consumption per month in liters and with all information I calculated the quantity used per liter/price. The integral oil always worked mixed with another kind of oil called chlorinated paraffin, very aggressive to the environment by the way, and making the usage of integral oil expensive. Analyzing all data, I created a tendency graph representing the cost of the oils yearly as you can see below.

Summary

(12) As a conclusion, I considered this project the biggest challenge in my career until then, it was a big decision that broke a big paradigm in the production line where always used integral oil as a cutting fluid for shaving process. In those four months whereas I increased my skills to manage a project I developed my interpersonal skills, booking and leading meetings, and follow up face to face with all departments involved.

(13) The results were great, any constraint related to environment or safety, the approvals went smoothly and any impact was found in the process. Afterwards, I could make one of the main comparisons related to the usage cost, which showed a value of R$10.367,60 for integral oil per year and R$6092,31 for soluble oil (Flucor 405e), giving the conclusion that the Flucor 405e is a great idea.