Producing Better Every Day – Lean at SIGA Production

Using concrete examples, we explain how waste is continuously eliminated in production to manufacture SIGA products from A to Z even more efficiently.

From production staff to fine logistics and machine operation

Originally, production staff were responsible for both operating the machines and supplying the plant with raw materials or semi-finished products. They were also tasked with bringing the finished products to the pickup zone of our logistics partner.

This resulted in the plant not being utilized to its full capacity, rendering it significantly unproductive. For example, when an employee manages transportation and has to move away from the machine, they cannot operate it simultaneously, thereby reducing output.

We have therefore decided to assign production staff to the roles of “machine operation” and either “intralogistics” or “fine logistics.”

The fine logistician is responsible for supplying the machines and transporting the finished products. Additionally, they handle further tasks, such as customizing folding boxes for customer-specific products.

By centralizing transportation and movement tasks in the role of the fine logistician, we continuously work to eliminate waste.

Optimization of the Digital Kanban System 

In production, we deliberately avoid complex planning systems and instead use simple Kanban cards and supermarkets. Kanban cards contain the key information the fine logistician needs to know what material must be transported where. Supermarkets are small, defined buffer stocks between two production steps to, for example, compensate for different production cycle times.

The original system worked as follows: whenever a machine operator needed something from storage, they would place the corresponding Kanban card into a mailbox. The fine logistician then had to regularly check the mailbox to see whether there were any tasks waiting. This led to significant waste—unnecessary movement, empty trips, complicated processes, and waiting times.

The goal of one of our improvement days was to ensure that the fine logistician would only go to the mailbox when a task was actually waiting—and at the same time, make sure that no task would be missed. The result was a mailbox equipped with a light barrier, a relay, and a signal light that could be seen from almost anywhere in the hall.

While this first iteration did reduce waste, it still caused too many unnecessary trips. The fine logistician still had to go to the mailbox to see what needed to be picked up.

That’s why, during a further improvement day, RFID cards, an RFID reader, a mini-computer, and a display (similar to a tablet) were installed. When a card is scanned, the data is read and sent directly to the fine logistician’s tablet—no matter where they are on the shop floor.