The challenge
Clear covers for instant tickets sold at gas stations and grocery stores showed marks on the side walls every morning. The steel had to be re-polished again and again.
What we found
Tracking when the marks appeared showed they came from how the mold was handled during maintenance on one shift, including tools used on the polished steel.
The fix
Bob changed the maintenance practice at the source rather than continuing to polish out the damage. Everyone who handled the mold learned what careless tool use did to polished steel.
The result
The recurring marks and daily re-polishing stopped.
The lesson
On clear and high-polish parts, maintenance practice is part of quality. Find the cause before you polish the steel again.
Dealing with something similar?
Cycle time, scrap, mold downtime and bottlenecks on tools that are already running.