John Crane UK Limited

About John Crane UK Limited

European Arm of John Crane International Owned by TI Group, an international engineering group Manages the EMA region, generates 30% of JCI s

revenue

Market leader-manufactures 64% of the seals in EMA

region

Manufactures Mechanical seals

COMPANY PRODUCT
Mechanical seals
1.

These seals are used around the propeller shafts of the submarines to prevent the sea water from the leakage .

2.

It also used in the water pump of the auto mobile to contain the coolant in the pump drive shaft .
It also provide a barrier between two regions through which a common shaft rotated .

1.

EXAMPLES OF PRODUCTS

CUSTOMERS
Three clear categories of customers:
Projects : Building large scale plants, few projects, highly competitive, future
sale of spare parts. E g. Oil rig, chemical plant

Original Equipment Manufacturers:

For installing in equipment for sale, reliable delivery required , large and stable volumes, competitive market, discounts, replacement. E g. ( Pump manufacturers )

End User: Largest fraction. For manufacturing plants, swimming pool

filtration pump, sale of seals and replacement, large users-reliability , small users Prompt replacement. E g. MNC

COMPETETORS
Sealing solution providers : Companies like John Crane Low variety, high volume producers : Limited product range,

can not serve customers with varied demand servicing companies

Local Market competitors : Companies which began as seal

Imitators/ Fakes : Sell sub standard products as a Crane

genuine

PLANTS
Slough factory having 170 employees and producing

35% of make to order and small volume components.

components.

Havant Factory producing medium volume

Reading factory problems: Movement of components

between departments was complicated because of machines of same type grouped at one department and long processing, long lead times and low effectiveness.

STAGES OF DESIGN

CATEGORIES OF COMPONENTS
ComponentProduction MTO/MTS Assembly Overall : Assembled to Order Firm

Reading Factory :Manufacturing Process 1981-82

High volume components produced Machines arranged functionally Components had to visit different departments Flow of components very complicated Very long lead times: 3 months in Made-to-stock and 6 months in Made-to-order

Shop loading aimed at maximising utilisation

Rush orders meant resetting machines and thus loss of productive time

Reading Factory : Changes in Manufacturing Process 1982-83

Havants production transferred to Reading Division into Stock shop: MTS components Non stock shop: MTO components Grouping components with in the factory Lead time for non stock components was reduced from 26 weeks to 12 weeks . Flexibilty introduced by labour training to operate multiple machines In 1981 , Computer model used CAN Q for better production

Impact at Reading: Some learnings

Lead time for non stock components was reduced from

26weeks to 12weeks

CAN-Q model showed the effect of changes in the system Loading work onto the shop was a big problem Training provided to labourer s to increase flexibility reduced

lead time for MTS to 6weeks

CNC ( COMPUTER NUMERICALLY CONTROLLED ) IN READING

Gibbion decided to install a new system to improve

the production ( CNC )

This helps the system to know all the need to make a

part .
In 1983 , crane looked the prospect of flexible

manufacturing system .

Computer Integrated Manufacturing

Integrating information to be used by various parts of the company Better control by top level through information flow and a holistic view CIM became the central theme at Crane

Eight foundation projects recommended to implement CIM and achieve

desired ends

E g. Expert system AI technique to embody expertise of sales engineer.

Analyzed user requirements to suggest seals according to standard methods

Computer Aided Design

Traditional design office - boards with pencils and erasers Problems - drawings were a bottleneck and better response to customer

demands was required due to increased competition

CADAM introduced in 1983 -Benefits available

Short-cut features to avoid time-consuming geometric constructions . Option of editing existing design Avg. time to produce design halved to one week . Subsidiaries could access designs and interact faster with design office

CONCLUSION

Should john crane join CAD CAM

SUGGESSTION
Shop flour operators have skills but lack a

comprehensive know how.

The fundamental problem is lack of integration.

Therefore the programs should be written by the production engineers. In doing so, shop flour operators should participate to reduce incompatibility problems. Proper link has to be made between the cells. This also solves the programs disliking of some of operators.