Efficiency from technical improvements at Composite Plant

The Composite Plant has 3 workshops, the mold workshop, the forming workshop and the finishing workshop which process, shape and finish composite components, churning out 38,000 sets per year. Like other plants, in seeking to improve productivity, product quality, and working environment, and most of all eliminate waste, since the beginning of 2023, the factory has applied 41 improvements to production, saving more than VND500 million.

Some notable projects of the factory included making lifting and lowering equipment for seat mattress frames, integrating pneumatic cylinder into molds to remove large-sized and complex products, manufacturing equipment to remove panel walls and large-sized cold air ducts.

Previously, in dismantling and checking the tightness of seat cushion molds, 4-6 people were required to lift, rotate and flip the mold which weighs 150-200 kilograms, which is a difficult and labor-consuming task. To fix this, the team including Nguyen Chi Linh, Tran Minh Hung, Nguyen Sau from the plant have worked together to design and manufacture a mold lifting equipment which incorporates a U-shaped frame (bearing weights up to 500 kilograms) which can remove many types of molds with different weights, mold lifting parts (two pneumatic cylinders fixed on both sides of the frame, can lift objects within 600mm at maximum), mold turning parts (two supports mounted on two cylinder heads, rotating axles, control knobs and mold lock to adjust to mold size). In addition, there are 4 wheels to lift and move the mold to the alignment positions. The project has succeeded to reduce labor costs, i.e. only one person is required to perform the task, improve productivity, ensure labor safety and save nearly VND120 million VND in buying cranes.

Integrating pneumatic cylinders into molds to remove large-sized and complex products was also one of the projects that brought about high efficiency to the factory. In removing products from the mold at the Hand Lay-up production line, 4 workers have to use a lot of efforts to separate the mold edges, which could result in errors and reduced mold life. Mr. Ngo Van Linh, the Hand Lay-up line manager in the Forming workshop took advantage of the used jigs to manufacture pneumatic cylinders to support the mold dismantling process depending on the size of each product. The project was also a success, helping to reduce labor, enable convenient operation, improve product quality and mold life, and saving the costs of manufacturing pneumatic cylinders in molds VND30-90 million per set.

Mr. Tran Van Vinh, the Forming workshop manager noted, “Improving productivity and product quality, optimizing processes and saving costs are the top priorities in production and business. In the coming time, we will put up an "Innovation and Improvement Inbox" and have teams to gather and screen ideas, analyze and propose solutions for effective implementation.