Trolleys

Trolleys are a natural application for LeanTek and Lean Manufacturing.

As components become increasingly complex, so the need for greater safety increases.

Only a highly modular structure can respond to such demands without increasing design costs.

LeanTek takes an active role in eliminating the hidden Muda of engineering waste, because when traditional rigid structures are used, your engineers have to devote considerable amounts of their time to trolley or line side trolley design and validation.

Rigid systems leave no margin for design error, because any such error would mean starting all over again, resulting in major cost increases and missed deadlines.

LeanTek helps reduce development time and costs.

Illustration of how to eliminate the muda caused by transport.

Nothing is more economical than manually-operated LeanTek trolleys or line side trolleys to transport components from the supermarket to the line-side.

Kaizen progressively reduces the distances travelled by components within the plant, to the point of eliminating small motorized trains, where this is a feasible option.

LeanTek trolleys or line side trolleys adapt to suit every type of industry.

For example, some applications require ESD conductivity to remove static electricity, whilst others need extra protection against dust.

The flexibility of LeanTek means that trolleys or line side trolleys can evolve to cope with varying conditions by delivering extra strength, vibration damping, etc.

The structural tubes are available in a wide range of colours.

In addition to complying with your company corporate identity manual, this can be very useful in the visual management required by the Lean Manufacturing method.

For example, red is used for rejects, and yellow for hazardous areas.

Trolley used to transport glazed components. Here, the LeanTek tubes are clad in removable 100 MP protective foam. Impacts are minimized and the products are transported securely.

There is no need to create oversize structures where the products to be transported are light in weight. These composite material door panels are being transported using a lightweight manual LeanTek trolley or modular trolley, which is the most economical structure in terms of material costs and design time.

Line-side trolleys.

Used to present sound insulation components at the line-side, this application contrasts with the usual container-based method: less components piled on top of each other, but more frequent deliveries made by small trains.

Line-side presentation of centre consoles in the automotive industry. Previously, these products were presented in large numbers contained in big steel containers. The use of LeanTek modular trolleys enables the application of Takt Time because the configuration of the trolley is defined by the pace of production.

Addressing JIT and the Muda caused by reject products: LeanTek trolleys or modular trolleys resolve the problem of bulk components. Instead of piling components one on top of the other in a large container, this multi-level LeanTek trolley or modular trolley brings all the transported products within easy reach of the operator.

The advantages of this solution are FIFO and a lower reject rate, because the components are separated onto different levels.

Illustration of 5S in action: these rolls of plastic film have a dedicated LeanTek transport structure. Transport, sorting, storage and use are all made much easier as a result. The rolls also stay clean, because they are no longer stored on the floor.