Process Improvement Techniques (Coursework Sample)

PROCESS IMPROVEMENT TECHNIQUES By Name of Student: Code+ course name Professor’s name University name City, State Date Process Improvement Techniques Summary This paper looks at machine data on radiators and heat exchangers of a company. Based on the data, a specialist with a wealth of experience in radiators and heat exchangers looks at the problems that can be deduced from the data. The paper then looks at different ways of improving efficiency, based on the problems identified. Some of the problems identified include larger tube diameters and cooling efficiency. The paper looks at possible ways of improving output, the available technology, its cost of implementation, and the different ways in which they will be important to the company. The paper also looks at different organizational structures that the company can employ to ensure that the problem of low efficiency is addressed. It also looks at motivation of employees, what must be done and how to do them so that employees are motivated. Motivation of employees is important to organizations. A motivated workforce delivers good results. Motivation is important for the company under consideration, as it allows workers to give their all to the company. It helps to improve output for companies. Overall, the paper talks about improving output at radiators and heat exchangers companies. Causes of wastage Some of the problems include transportation, inventory, motion, waiting time, over production, over processing and defects. A brief description of how each leads to wastage: Transport Due to problems in transportation products take a long time to be transported to their required destination. This leads to wastage along the way. Problems of transportation can be improved by enhancing better and faster transportation means. Inventory There are problems of registration at the companies. The company needs to have efficient records of its products, in terms of what moves and what does not. This helps it concentrate only on the products that move, while ignoring products that do not move. Motion Slow motion decreases productivity; it decreases efficiency and output in the long run. In order to deal with the problem of motion, the company ought to improve efficiency at the production plant. Improved efficiency enhances output. Waiting time Time is wasted waiting for material and equipment. This can be reduced by ensuring that production backlog at the production center is reduced. It can be reduced by using better technology, technology that is more efficient and ensures that less time is wasted in the overall production. Over production Over production leads to wastage, as it creates a scenario where more products are produced, yet little of it is used. In order to deal with the issue, it would be important for the management of the company to match supply and demand, only producing a sufficient amount of material that can be sold in the market. Over processing Over processing means more material and even energy than is necessary is used. It leads to wastage in energy and manpower. Over processing will also imply engaging in processes that re completely unnecessary. These processes are completely unnecessary the company can do without them. Defects Defects are wastes. They are products a company produces yet they re defective. They cannot be used gainfully. They represent loss for a company. Defects occur when a company does not follow the right procedures in producing substances (Casson 2007). The internal combustion system has heat exchange system. A circulating fluid, engine coolant, cools the engine as it flows through radiator coils. On the other hand, radiators transfer thermal energy across different media. They are used for cooling and heating. Most radiators are designed to function in buildings, electronic and automobiles. Radiators release heat into the environment. From the data studied, the major problem was that electronic devices used at the radiators and the heat exchangers were smaller. This presented a problem of dispersing heat (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers 2005). Usually, smaller radiators known as heat sinks convey heat across electronic components. The heat is conveyed from electronic components and released into cooling air stream. In order to improve output of the heat exchangers and the radiators, the company should consider limitation in design for various heat exchanger types. Cost is a primary criterion that they should consider, but they should not consider it at the expense of performance. Future expansion Currently, the company is using larger-diameter coil technology. These are not as efficient as the small-diameter coils used by major radiation and heat exchangers. They do not have better heat transfer capabilities; their rate of heat transfer is quite low. This is not good enough. As it is, evaporator coils with aluminum and copper tubes are the standards used in HVAC industry. Small diameter coils have the capability of withstanding higher pressures. This is line with the evolution of the new environment-friendly refrigerants. The best recommendation for the company is use of microgroove and the aluminum micro-channels. These have improved efficiencies, and the company should consider using them, instead (Creative Education Video 2005). There are different heat exchanger types in the market with improved capabilities that the company should consider using in order to improve efficiency. Some of the heat exchangers and radiators that I would recommend for the company are kettle HX for cooling, double pipe HX and optimum requirements. It is also important that they vary heating requirements and operation environment. They can optimize these factors for best outputs for their company. Equally important is the realization that commercial heat exchangers can be tracked by an overall heat transfer coefficient. Usually, this coefficient varies due to fouling. The coefficient is given by the relationship U=Q/AΔTlm . Monitoring and maintenance The company can calculate heat transfer coefficient from temperatures and heat exchanger flow rates. From the calculation, they can estimate instances when the heat exchangers are economically attractive. Integrity inspection is also important. The tubular and plate exchangers can be tested by helium gas methods or through conductivity. The methods are very reliable in that they confirm integrity tubes of or plates (Society of Automotive Engineers & World Congress 2008). By confirming the integrity of the tubes and plates, quality engineers at the in radiator and heat exchanger companies can prevent contamination across terminals used in the processes. It can also help to check the conditions of gaskets used in the reactions. Monitoring mechanical integrity of heat exchanger tubes can be conducted by eddy current testing (Society of Automotive Engineers & World Congress 2008). Fouling is a terminology used in radiators and heat exchangers to mean occurrence of deposits of impurities on surfaces of heat exchange. When these impurities are deposited on the surfaces, they decrease effectiveness of heat transfer with time. Deterioration of wall shear stress, low and high fluid velocities, precipitation reactions and dissolved impurities causes fouling. Generally, to reduce fouling, the recommendation for the company would be that they check the reactants that they use for impurities. This may involve purification of the reactants. Crude Oil Exchanger Fouling Commercial crude oil refinery involves heating crude oils from room temperature to 343 degrees Celsius. This is prior to the heated substance entering distillation columns. Tube and shell heat exchangers are used to exchange heat between oil streams and crude oil streams. The crude oil is heated to 260 degrees Celsius before being transferred to the heating furnace (Casson 2007). Fouling occurs due to insolubility of asphalting. Cooling water has higher impurity content. Sometimes, wall temperatures become higher than fluid temperatures. A low fluid velocity allows suspended solids to settle on the surfaces of heat exchangers. This reduces efficiency. In order to avoid this, it is important for the company to improve purification of the substances that they use at the plant and the refinery systems at the company. The company should ensure that the cooling fluid velocity is in excess of 0.9 m/s (Society of Automotive Engineers & SAE World Congress 2008). The temperatures should also be maintained at less than 60 degrees Celsius. Application of anti-scale chemicals and biocides can also be used to control fouling. Another recommendation that works is periodic lab testing of chemicals the company uses. This can be costly, but for overall efficiency and effectiveness of output, the company must consider testing the chemicals it uses. Maintenance Maintenance of radiators and heat exchangers involve periodic cleaning and disassembly of plate heat exchangers. From the analysis of the tube data the company presented, it would be in order that the company cleans tubular heat exchangers through acid cleaning, high pressure jets, drill rods, sandblasting and bullet cleaning. Where the company has large-scale systems for cooling, addition of chemicals to treat water used in the process is highly recommended. This ensures that fouling is reduced. Fouling is a problem that causes inefficiency and ineffectiveness of radiators and heat exchangers (Ho 2012). Electric water treatment may also be used to purify the coolant. Corrosion of heat exchanger surfaces may also occur. In order to prevent corrosion, it would be important that less corrosive material is used for the surfaces. This may involve coating the surfaces with alloys that are not susceptible to corrosion. Another technology that is recommended for fouling is water borne oscillations technology. This technology p...