A production line, reconsidered

As a Riggs Fellow for Engineering Management, I worked with Ametek Ameron in Baldwin Park, California, to rethink its aircraft oxygen cylinder production line. The project meant looking closely at how materials, inventory, and people moved through the work.

We used Toyota Production System and DMAIC principles to redesign the procedures and layout. The questions were practical: where should materials go, how much inventory is needed, and does the layout help the people doing the work? The engineering was as much about how the line operated as the equipment on it.

Outcomes

My original project record lists the following outcomes:

  • A 25% increase in line throughput.
  • A 66% reduction in overtime.
  • A 58% reduction in inventory.
  • Estimated annual savings of $390,000.

These figures are carried over from my earlier CV and await review alongside this write-up.

Original Ametek Ameron project poster describing the manufacturing line renovation.

Figure 2. The original project poster. Open the image to read it at full resolution.

Further context

The fellowship also took me into manufacturing and material handling at Mission Rubber. I worked with Ametek Ameron on Halon recovery through a separate clinic project, this time using distillation to tackle a purification problem.