Manufacturing Process Improvement Projects

Solving Manufacturing’s Toughest Challenges

Following are examples of Manufacturing Process Improvement projects EFI Group has completed:

Design and project planning for anode cover blending and transport systems – Two separate plants
Investigate and provide design for offloading and containment problems for aluminum tri-fluoride
Investigate and improve design for cable tensioning for ship unloading “clam”
Design improvement of blades for proprietary crushing machine
Investigate and implement anode positioning system
Reconfigure the hot oil/pitch system for green mill
Analyze “Arc Flash” report and develop Implementation Plan and capital cost estimate
Investigate and develop options for capture of alumina “super fines”
Investigate numerous large screening installations to improve maintenance and dust collection
Process flow and development of sizing & drying sand as Fracking Proppants
Wet resizing process development and project scoping for high purity silica
Design of custom extraction system for feldspar dewatering vats
Reconcile and improve performance of a flash tube and a fluid energy dryer
Evaluate and recommended improvements for dust collection system for fluid energy dryer
Raymond Mill throughput analysis
Develop strategy and system for balancing and maintaining the inventory of thickener tanks
Investigate substitution of HF acid for proprietary process
Investigate and develop approach for improving liquid ring vacuum blower installations
Design and installation of an 80 tph dense phase pneumatic conveying system
Determine improvements to dust collector bags to improve overall performance
Redesign of various portions of a continuous processing shingle line – entry and exit end
Redesign and replacement of Cooling Section including drive and controls upgrades
Investigate and reconcile the performance of fluidized hot oil limestone heater – Two lines
Designed and installed many sizes of “Fourdriniers”
225 in paper machine rebuild including the wet end and the winder
Paper machine building ventilation evaluation and improvement
Optimize stock preparation for color changeover reduction
Improving/upgrading paper control systems including: Bleach Plant; Top Lip; Liquor extraction; Clothing Guide controls; etc.
Designed and installed synthetic liquor system
Development of operating procedures and a training manual for a custom printing process for food packaging
Investigated and modified pulper to achieve reduced cycle time
Designed powered top lip adjustment mechanism
Investigate automated steel carrier roll cleaning mechanism
Investigated and installed upgraded dust collector for “coating kitchen” for coater
Designed and installed numerous floor roll dollies
Design of a narrow web converting line expansion to improve tension control, die registration, and machine flexibility to produce different products
Failure mode analysis of chilled roll system
Investigate sanitizing procedures/methods
Designed and installed dust collection system for dry blending
Investigate and configure central vacuum system
Configuration of numerous palletizers and pellet baggers – Six installations
Developed coal handling/storage configuration
Developed automated feed for two stoker type boilers
Developed solutions for containing dust for fly ash loading into trucks
Design of a potassium chloride storage, conveying, screening, and packaging system
Restore proper operation of large existing dust collection system – Two systems
Constraint analysis and recommendations for improving sugar distribution to various packaging equipment. Improved productivity by 10%
Ion Exchange Project Development including: Plant Layout and Process Flow; Environmental requirements; Preliminary Cost Estimate and Preliminary Justification
Conveying equipment design analysis to improve total product flow and equipment reliability
Numerous plant layout projects for packaging systems including sugar delivery systems and the configuration of structural towers and mezzanines.
Performed FMEA and developed a repair method for vibratory screener supports
Investigated, evaluated, and installed moisture sensing transducers
Develop the configuration and mechanical design details required to implement chemical suppression and isolation equipment on dust collectors, powder mills, and bucket elevators.
System and collection point design and equipment layout including elevated enclosure for several new dust collectors
Investigate and solve process problems for two large hydronic systems
Investigate and estimate altering process
Designed mixing and bottling station associated with a plant expansion
Investigate, design, and implement upgrade of biomass filter used for odor control
Investigate low line utilization for high speed bottling line
Investigate dust capture for proprietary cryogenic grinding process
Investigate and design of proprietary sauce production line
Equipment selection, line layout, and cost estimate for product conveying, case sealing, palletizing, and wrapping equipment
Problem/Opportunity resolution on Rice Vinegar filling line resulting in 45% rate improvement
Process Improvements for beverage concentrate filling line
Develop process and scope of work for power distribution to support additional flavor manufacturing cell
Investigate, design, and execute HVAC upgrade for pilot plant clean room
Investigate, design for the heating and cooling for purified water storage system
Design and manage installation of load cells for gravimetric batching
Design FDA environmental chamber
Replacement of processing tanks
Design of flammable storage room
Removal/replacement of alcohol storage tanks
Specify, source and start up reagent filling line
Investigate and detailed design for two kiln cart transfer systems
Designed automated insulator cut-off operation
Investigate and develop design changes for alignment fixtures
Design and implementation of new scrap handling system
Reconfigure warehouse/packing area
Investigate, configure, and design proprietary cement mixing area
Design of proprietary bend testing machine
Redesign of tooling for proprietary shaping hardware
Design and implementation of a custom manipulator
Design and implement hydraulic systems for retrofit onto existing manipulator arms
Design of new drive and bearing arrangement for pug mill and extruder
Design and implementation of a custom cable driven dumping cart for loading an extruder
Develop system requirements, design, and implement a closed loop cooling system for extruder and liquid ring vacuum blower
Mechanical design of various fixtures as well as redesign of failed mechanical components
Automation of laminate samples manufacturing
Renovation of hydraulic system for large laminate press
Repair of large high pressure high temperature hot water system
Plant wide lockout documentation
Installation of replaceable floor mounted rails
Analyze and redesign large traveling vertical lift
Relocate and reconfigure finishing operation
Design and implement modifications to reverse roll coating machines and liquid delivery systems
Implement new tension control and web guiding systems on Kraft paper machine
Drive replacement and tensions control improvements to an existing coating machine
Investigate noise reduction for shot peening equipment
Design of conveying belt in high temperature heat treat oven
Evaluate paper unwind improvements for continuous process
Design of fabrication facility for engineered stone product
Process investigation to reduce yield loss
Configure and design relocation of finishing line
Investigate installation of thermal oxidizer
Analysis and design for new plant wide compressed air and process sparging air system
Perform plant water balance for use of public water resulting in $700,000 credit
Design and installation of PLC based process and safety control systems
Design and installation of environmental control equipment and systems
Investigate alternate source of combustion air for rotary kilns
Investigate and arrange for trial test for new source of neutralizer
Perform feasibility study for proprietary process
Develop concept for reading bar code labels
Investigate wire forming problems for paint can handles
Investigate wash/rinse water treatment for discharge to public sewer
Investigate de-palletizing improvements
Designed and complete manufacturing consolidation and reorganization
Develop swarf handling solutions for numerous horizontal trenches
Reconfigure small parts manufacturing process
Design actuated enclosure openings for large shot blaster
Investigate improvement and implement for waste water treatment plant
Investigate site utility consumption
Investigate numerous machine guarding improvements
Design proprietary vessel drying system
Design proprietary vessel pressure testing system
Develop basic system design, equipment specifications, and cost estimate for a pressure test station
Multiple steel coating line projects for expansion and improvements
Investigate and design process controls for high drying oven w/flammable solvent
Analyzed production growth plans; Developed warehouse and shipping work processes and storage arrangement to improve Lead Time and Customer Service
Rupture disk selection and design for multiple mixers including catchment tank design
Design and implement mixer inerting sensing system
Design and implementation of inert solids transfer system for mixers
Investigate configuration of compact winding system
Reconfigure laboratory electrochemical plating line
Improve ergonomics of releasing a frozen ingredient from a fiber drum and design proof of concept solution
Project management and machine/structural design for new dredge machinery
Preliminary design of pump test facility
Develop alternate production line concepts
Revise and reconfigure arrangement for existing process lines
Prepared P&ID’s for Process Safety Management documentation
Site expansion Planning including “Critical Area” requirements
Installation of truck scales
Investigate handling problems in mix room
Establish NFPA rating for compounding room
Develop process hardware for proprietary process
Develop mold release process for proprietary product
Design of custom ventilation systems for large electric motors for compressor stations – multiple locations
Design storage warehouse storage arrangement for raw materials and finished goods in support of a plant expansion
Investigate de-bottlenecking of proprietary slip casting operation
Design for installation of a ceramic kiln
Develop process and costing for emergency handling of Powder River Basin coal storage
Design of fuel distribution system
Process development and cost development for the manufactur of NiAl catalysts
Process flow, site plan and costing for the operations to manufacture fluid cracking catalysts
Establish plant wide configuration of tube forming, base printing and screen printing to improve efficiencies and reduce costs and WIP
Develop procedures for recover of waste plastic from a blow molding operation
Site Selection, Relocation & Start Up of warehouse and assembly operations
Industrial engineering documentation and configuration of work cells
Designed and installed venturi scrubber system to capture acid mist
Designed and supervised installation of a 35 acre industrial waste landfill
Developed the design concept and final design for pH control for waste water systems
Designed custom machine guarding for custom for high speed paper and film handling equipment
Custom machine guarding for numerous milling machines and grinders used in the manufacture of industrial air conditioning systems
Locker room improvement study tied to the conversion to company provided work uniforms.

We hired EFI Group to help us figure out a project and scope it, and I felt confident they would keep a keen eye on it. They had to deliver quickly and they did it well. They are especially good at project management when you don’t have the resources to do it internally. Reliability is the word I would use to describe EFI Group.

— Coatings Industry Professional

EFI Group is timely. We’ve had a lot of situations when we’ve been in a time crunch and they’ve responded very quickly. They are detail oriented and efficient. They’re a good group of people who also have a lot of strength in pre-engineering — the thought process to get to preliminary design and making sure we’ve investigated all the potential asks of a project to ensure we didn’t miss anything. They have great attention to detail up front which is very important to any project because having that detail-oriented deep dive into the pre-engineering phase sets the stage for the success of the rest of the project, making the process smoother and making it much easier to keep the project on schedule and on budget.

— Mike Quigley, Engineering & Maintenance Manager, Food Industry

I’ve worked with EFI Group for a while, so I know they have a good, knowledgeable staff. We know we’re going to get the results from them we expect. From my interactions with all the different EFI team members I’ve worked with, I know they have knowledge across many industries. Equally, I never have to follow up with EFI Group and, in some cases, they keep me on track.

— Ryan Fredsall, General Manager, Pacer Minerals LLC

We view EFI Group as a team that can dimensionalize our capability to execute projects. We can articulate what it is we want to do and they can take that input and run with it without much intervention from us. They’re able to move a project along independently and only engage us when it’s time to bring us up to speed or get more input to drive a project to conclusion. That’s one of the reasons I view them as an excellent contractor.

— Environmental Engineering Industry Professional

EFI Group has good engineers and good customer service. We know when we get an EFI engineer on a project, we’re going to a get a good job from them and it’s been a productive relationship for both of us — I genuinely like the people.

— Corporate Director, Project Management in Food & Flavors Industry