| Client
Profile:
Systems
Electro-Coating (SEC)
Established in 2003, Systems Electro-Coating (SEC) is a small, 55
employee, minority owned tier one supplier to Nissan, the largest
automotive manufacturer in Mississippi, situated in the Central
Mississippi Industrial Park in Madison, MS.
Situation:
Systems Electro-Coating recently determined that to participate
in Nissan’s 2007 truck model production it would have to expand
its existing 50+ team member operation.
Solution:
SEC
President Toni Cooley requested technical assistance from the Manufacturing
Extension Partnership of Mississippi (MEP.MS) partner CAVS Extension
(Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems Extension), Mississippi State
University’s automotive engineering center. In response, a
simulation model of SEC’s electro coating operation was developed
by the CAVS-E engineering group. The simulation model provided an
objective third party analysis of current and future electro coating
capacity. The project was funded in part by the economic development
arm of Entergy Corporation.<br>Specifically, the MEP project’s
purpose was to assist SEC with: 1) Determining existing equipment
and process efficiencies; 2)Ensuring that the proposed equipment
modifications would achieve increased capacity; 3)Demonstrating
that the proposed changes to the physical plant, equipment and processes
would meet the projected increase in business volume; and 4) Developing
a sound business case and written plan for use to secure expansion
dollars from financial institutions. <br>The model involved
simulating the number of cranes, crane routes, inventory lanes,
lane speeds, and pallet movement, as well as testing various network
algorithms. The overall objective was to understand how these and
other parameters impacted the plant’s current and proposed
capacity-volume relationships.
Results:
Through this MEP.ms project, SEC was able to use the simulation
models of its proposed expanded plant in its dialogue with Nissan
for additional business. Ultimately, SEC persuaded Nissan to use
them for its source of electro coated frames for the proposed 2007
model production.
Testimonial:
“The
CAVS Center, through projects like ours, links small manufacturers
with cutting edge technology developed by leading experts housed
within our public universities and local extension services. …Certainly,
in the realm of engineering, CAVS-E Center provides a cost effective
means of gaining access to resources, such as advanced engineering
tools, that smaller manufacturing companies, like SEC, do not have
internally. At the end of the day, these resources help us build
the human capacity within our local organizations and communities.”
Mr. Toni Cooley
President
Systems Electro-Coating
|
|