Ed Fontana was invited to talk at an Emerging Communications conference since he is an ‘Android Developer’. As is the case with most O’Reilly conferences, IT Conversations recorded it. I have no idea how his talk related to Android, but I did learn about SMED (Single Minute Exchange of Die), so it is worth writing is.

  • SMED provides a rapid and efficient way of converting a manufacturing process from running the current product to running the next product. This rapid changeover is key to reducing production lot sizes and thereby improving flow (Mura (Japanese term)) The phrase “single minute” does not mean that all changeovers and startups should take only one minute, but that they should take less than 10 minutes (in other words, “single digit minute”) – wikipedia
  • There are a lot of things that could be done before shutting down the factory, and those things get moved outside the interval
  • SMED implementation steps
    • Separate internal from external setup operations
    • Convert internal to external setup
    • Standardize function, not shape
    • Use functional clamps or eliminate fasteners altogether
    • Use intermediate jigs
    • Adopt parallel operations
    • Eliminate adjustments
    • Mechanization

And there were a few other sound bites of interest:

  • At the back end of a baby boom, society is not efficient at reallocating resources
  • Any time you see adjustment going on, there is an opportunity to do something more efficiently
  • How fast, how agile, are you at changing customers?
  • know-to-show – duration between when customer knows what they want to the point where it is delivered
  • Merchants care about release triggers, consumers care about arrival triggers