In the context of centralized procurement, the production volume of several winning varieties in our factory has greatly increased. Taking the example of a winning variety currently produced in our workshop, the monthly production volume has increased from 30 million pieces to nearly 100 million pieces. Although the production has increased, the profit has not significantly improved. It is almost the same as before we won the bid. Currently, the workshop is operating at full capacity, and almost all positions are running at full load. There is no room for improvement.
The current status of our production equipment in the workshop is that all the equipment was purchased more than a decade ago and officially put into operation ten years ago. At that time, the equipment was relatively efficient and fully imported. However, before the centralized procurement, we did not operate the equipment at full capacity to meet the annual production tasks. But now, the production tasks of only two winning varieties have made our equipment operate continuously throughout the year, and there is no time even for major maintenance. The so-called major maintenance is not repairing when it breaks down, but preventive maintenance. When the running time of the equipment reaches the point where maintenance and replacement of worn parts are needed, we used to have a planned major maintenance for some equipment every year. It involves systematic inspection, testing, and replacement of spare parts to prevent functional failures and maintain the equipment's condition. Therefore, major maintenance of the equipment definitely takes time, which inevitably affects the production volume. However, if we never conduct major maintenance, the consequences of sudden equipment failure cannot be estimated. So, this situation is not a sustainable solution.
To ensure production volume, we can only start by increasing the capacity of the equipment. The leader responsible for our factory's equipment has come up with the idea of replacing a more efficient production equipment to see if further improvement is possible. They require us to quickly optimize the product line and equipment utilization rate to identify which process is causing the stagnation of production capacity and focus on improving that specific area.
The main production processes in our workshop can be divided into weighing and preprocessing, batching, tablet compression, coating (capsule filling), primary packaging, and secondary packaging. Let's analyze each process individually.
The weighing and preprocessing position fulfills the demand of subsequent positions by weighing batches every day. The most time-consuming process is crushing, but currently, there are not many materials that require crushing. Most of them are directly fed or sieved. The second weighing position is mainly operated during the day shift, and if the workload increases, night shifts can be arranged. So, the weighing positions do not need to consider capacity improvement for now.
In the batching position, the processes can be divided into wet granulation, dry granulation, one-step granulation, and direct mixing. Among them, the equipment for wet granulation is not being used at the moment (it was purchased more than ten years ago but never used). The main products are produced using one-step granulation and direct mixing processes. The daily production capacity can meet the requirements, and there are no night shifts in the batching position. Occasionally, a couple of extra hours are worked in the afternoon based on production arrangements.
There is an issue in the batching position with the total mixing hopper being insufficient. The fast clamp-type mixer used in the total mixing position pushes out the mixed materials directly from the hopper, which serves as both a mixing container and material storage. Sometimes, cleaning cannot be completed, or the materials occupy the hopper, mainly due to heavy occupation by downstream processes. It is suggested to consider purchasing twenty additional hoppers to eliminate the problem of insufficient hoppers.
The tablet compression and filling position currently lacks production capacity. This position operates round the clock throughout the year, producing only one batch pe...
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