SMED Cart Examples

Submissions from 12 MAPP members

Mold change carts are one of the continuous improvement efforts that instantly increased efficiency. The carts have large wheels for ease and three wheel locks for safety. All items on the cart have a place and are labeled. Each cart has a bench vise and bench grinder with a large work area on top including electrical outlets for easy access for hand drills, grinding and dremels. Mold cleaner and saver are stored on the cart and nozzle tips are cleaned on the wire brush and stored on magnetic holders for easy access.

All-Plastics

We were able to reduce our set up by more than 50% on most machines. The cart has everything you need to pull and clean a machine and set up the next job.

Blow Molded Specialties

This SMED cart was a great way to boost our output, increase the responsiveness to customer demand, and building Pride as a Set Up team Continuous Improvement Project. Color coding / labeling are visual tools that provide immediate results training mold change teams to become self-sufficient, raise individual skill levels and deliver more manufacturing uptime to the bottom line.

DeKALB Molded Plastics

Our SMED cart contains all essential tools and equipment to perform a mold change in an efficient manner.In addition to the physical tools it also acts as a wireless information center. The SMED cart is restocked and prepared for the next mold change after every use.

Deluxe Plastics

Our tool carts were laser cut and include tapped holes for nozzle tips, a location to hold mold clamps and ejector rods, the Falcon Plastics Logo was also laser cut into the sides. Our carts use Kaizen foam to hold tool, mold cleaner, mold release, and are all color coded

Falcon Platics Inc.

We decided to implement a more 5S approach to our SMED cart to increase the ease and accessibility of a mold swap for our technicians. Our cart is lean, efficient, compact, durable, and has all the tools required for basic mold swap procedures. We believe in keeping things simple.

Greenleaf Industries

Including an electrical feature, this well-organized cart can be wheeled to any area of the plant with ease. Complete with wrenches, a variety of hammers, and thread checks, each item placement has a plastic label with reorder info, making it easy to replenish mold release, etc.

Jackson Manufacturing, Inc.

Metro Plastics Technologies believes in doing it right the first time over doing the job fast. Our portable setup tool cart has all the necessary tools and all the tools have a place including a wireless tablet that contains the information to set a job up including the processing parameters.

Metro Plastics Technologies

Our cart has a few benefits that I assume most setup carts have but probably to a higher level. The back has jumper hoses of every possible length needed along with 200 and 300 series fittings. This way the guys can quickly replace leaking hoses and get our mold up time increased. Obviously all of the necessary set up tools are present and organized properly, but in addition we keep all necessary pipe fittings, plugs, O-rings, and job change paperwork on our cart. This is also our sample cart so on the side we have a large variety of sprays and lubricants which are often needed for those first shots.

Microplastics, Inc.

SMED Cart Goal: Never leave the changeover once it has started. (Pre-stage). Each Cart needs identical tools in identical locations. Presses that require special tools are either converted so they can use the standard tools or the tool(s) is stored at that press. We keep an abundance of extra supplies in each cart including nozzle tips, hose clips, pipe tape, mold sprays, O-rings, etc. (Eliminate Scavenger Hunt). The tools and master tool checklist are also color-coded.

Nicolet Plastics

PMT’s state-of-the-art SMED carts are a one-stop shop for the production department’s employees, built for ease-of-access and eliminating unnecessary travel. Our newly designed carts decrease mold setup time by 50 percent while increasing cost savings. Standardized tool sets are readily available, with all extra equipment now centrally located.

PMT Inc.

Our SMED Cart was thought of and designed by our set-up crew. Our goal was reducing our SMED time by having the right tools available when needed. We’ve been using our carts for 18 months and have seen a 60% reduction in SMED time over the last 12 months.

Viking Plastics