Case study
Xizi Otis Elevator
Co. Ltd
China
LVD equipment elevates
productivity for Xizi Group
When Xizi Otis, a joint venture co-founded by the U.S. company Otis Elevator
Co. Ltd, and Xizi Elevator Group in 1997, looked to improve productivity at its
80,810 square metre facility in Hangzhou, China, it too considered brand,
product quality and after sale support when contemplating new punching,
bending and laser cutting equipment. After an extensive analysis of the
market, Xizi’s supplier of choice was LVD. The company uses three LVD PPEB
CNC press brakes, ranging from 80 - 320 tonnes, an LVD Axel 3015 2 kW
laser cutting system and two LVD Strippit CNC turret punch presses, 20 tonne
and 30 tonne configurations.
Xizi Otis purchased the LVD equipment to add capacity to maintain its quick
delivery times. Improving productivity and maintaining flexibility were key
considerations. Justification for the machinery was driven by the increasing
product demand in domestic (Chinese) and export markets.
Xizi Otis employs more than 3,000 workers and reports assets of 4.5 billion
RMB. Its product lines include elevators, escalators, moving walkways and
components. It annually produces 20,000 elevators. While Xizi Otis has felt
the recent strain of the economic downturn, with its business reduced by
10 %, projections for 2009 are strong. According to Mr. Wang, the company’s
production department manager, the forecast is for 25,000 units this year.
Key to the company’s market stronghold is brand strength. Customers will
pay more for a Xizi Otis product recognising that they get what the Xizi Otis
brand delivers. As Mr. Wang comments:
The quality of the product produced is directly tied to the precision
capabilities of Xizi’s equipment.
The company fabricates steel and stainless steel in thicknesses up to 3 mm.
Small batches with a high variety of parts is the norm, hence fast throughput
is necessary to maintain short lead times.
Xizi’s high-speed, high-performance turret punch presses deliver up to
425 HPM on 25 mm centres and feature a flexible 30 and 34 station turret,
generating parts quickly with little operator involvement. Auto indexing
stations accept a variety of indexable Multi-Tools to enhance capability and
flexibility while reducing set-up time.
Xizi Otis’s LVD PPEB press brakes ensure bending accuracy through automated
functions. All axes of the press brake, including the CNC crowning system, are
calculated by the control and are automatically positioned for optimum bending
results from the first part. These automated functions keep part repeatability
and accuracy at a high level. Once a part is programmed, a subsequent set up
takes a few minutes.
continued over
As Mr. Wang reports:
The accuracy of the press brake’s V-axis system for bending long
parts is a key advantage for Xizi. The CNC crowning ensures the
ram and table are parallel during the bending operation. Force and
related deflection of the table and ram are automatically determined
according to the length and thickness of the part, ensuring optimal
results for each bend.
Ease of use and reliability were also factors Xizi considered before making
its investment in LVD equipment. The company operates two shifts a day,
five days a week. Employees are cross trained to operate the LVD punch
press, laser and press brake, so ease of use and a fast learning curve was a
key factor. Mr. Wang reports a smooth startup with the new equipment and
consistently high levels of machine uptime. For Xizi Otis, LVD’s strong local
support is also a plus.
To gauge the efficiency of its equipment, the company uses a system called
OEE, Overall Equipment Efficiency. Xizi Otis measures the success of their
investment as the productivity of the machine, coupled with flexibility, relating
back to the OEE figure.
The overall OEE of the new LVD turret punch presses is 30 % better than the
company’s older punching machines. The laser cutting system’s OEE is at
60 - 70 %. Mr. Wang attributes this figure to the machine’s ease of setup and
shuttle table design, able to handle larger sheet sizes:
Use of modern management systems, such as 5 S and Kanban,
coupled with the efficiency of the new equipment, has helped
Xizi Otis further streamline its production, improving production
capacity by 25 % while reducing floor space consumption
by 1200 square metres.
Today Xizi Otis is now meeting its quick lead times more efficiently than
ever before.
LVD Company nv
Nijverheidslaan 2
B-8560 Belgium
Tel.: + 32 65 43 0511
Fax: + 32 56 43 25 00
www.lvdgroup.com
marketing@lvd.be