Maier Manufacturing specializes in manufacturing replacement parts for motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles. Facing the challenge of increasing sales but normal production failing to meet the demand, after weighing various options, Maier decided to renovate its equipment. Unexpectedly, Maier recovered the investment in the renovation within only 9.2 months and its productivity increased by 76%. 
      Maier Manufacturing is a medium-sized thermoforming product manufacturing enterprise, specializing in the production of replacement parts for motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles. Founded in 1972, the company has 55 employees and a total of 45,000 square feet of office, manufacturing and storage space. Its products are sold throughout the United States.
       Maier has two double-station thermoforming machines and two single-station machines. The template sizes range from 32" X 48" to 48" X 75". Challenge
    Sales are increasing, but Maier's normal production cannot meet the demand (this is a problem that every manufacturer may encounter). Due to the increase in demand, overtime work becomes the second shift. Maier was forced to evaluate three options:
· Purchase a new machine priced at $100,000; 
Change the operation mode to two full shifts. 
·Refurbish the existing machines to enhance productivity.
    The new machines not only cost $100,000 to purchase but also require additional operators, electricity, increased floor space and extra maintenance. The plan to add a second shift will need additional workers and managers, increase management costs and bring more troubles. 
     Solution
    After weighing all the options, Maier Company decided to renovate the equipment. The renovation mainly involved replacing the heaters, control devices and power switch devices. Maier learned from past experience with Heartland thermoforming machines that using the panel heaters from Solar Products could significantly increase productivity compared to the existing metal jacketed tube heaters. The specifications of the heaters were 15W per square inch, totaling 108 kilowatts. The old bottom heaters were a total of 50 kilowatts. The old heaters operated in a cycle between 80% and 100%. The new heaters operated in a cycle between 30% and 60%.
     The decision was made to increase the available power to meet the future needs of product processing and material handling for more electricity. The selected control system was a Cutler-Ham programmable logic controller (PLC) model D100A, with 32 outputs per area. The timer/counter interface module facilitated quick programming of the heater cycle time. The power switch equipment was upgraded from mechanical contactors to mercury relays, which is very common for sheet feeding equipment.
     The complete upgrade cost was $15,000. This included the bottom heaters with an installation frame, a touch screen PLC, an electrical enclosure, 32 mercury relays, control cabinet wiring, a new high-voltage equipment power supply device, 120 hours of manpower, a larger vacuum tank, and all the running costs required for such a project.
        Effect
    The heating time for ABS and polyethylene sheets was reduced by an average of 84%. It used to take 5 days, but now it can be completed in 2.84 days. Although the available power increased by a factor of 2, the actual electricity consumption decreased by 10%. Another benefit is that the heat on the sheet is more uniform, so the molding and stretching are also more uniform. This also ensures that the material has fewer shrink lines.
       The productivity increased by 76%.
   The productivity increase was based on the fact that the daily production of ABS sheets increased from 45 to 80, an increase of 77.7%, and the daily production of polyethylene sheets increased from 40 to 70, an increase of 75%. The average productivity increase was 76.26%. The machine output increased by 43%, and it used to take 5 days, but now it can be completed in 2.84 days, so the availability of the machine increased by 43%. Labor costs decreased by $62.21 per day, and electricity costs decreased by $13.33 per day. The electricity consumption was 0.07834 kilowatts per hour. The calculation is as follows: 15,000 / (62.21 + 13.33 / day) = 198.5 days or 9.16 months to recover the initial investment, calculated based on 40 hours of work per week. The actual savings may vary depending on local utility rates, labor costs and renovation costs.

    More earnings
·Due to the reduction in production costs, the profit from manufacturing parts has increased. 
·Reduce waste and save related materials and time.
·Over time, the efficiency of the panel heater will not decrease.