33993 Praxisreport engl

Martin H. Liefrink, Senior Buyer, Philips Domestic Appliances and Personal Care (DAP), Drachten (NL)
The all new Philishave
Cool Skin challenges the SFS Plastic Division
The complex miniature components
are moulded to exacting tolerances and
assembled automatically without further
processing.
One of the critical elements of this revolutionary
innovation is the tiny pump which delivers the
shaving gel. Though the manufacture and assembly
of this device were undoubtedly in the vanguard of
current technology, Philips DAP decided to buy in
the pumps complete. A combination of know-how,
a very workmanlike approach, highly-developed
communication skills and a willingness to take calculated risks were the key factors in the nomination
of SFS as the single-source supplier.
Philips DAP Drachten, with 1800 employees the
world’s largest manufacturer of electric shavers, has
many years of experience in manufacturing top quality
electric shavers, but the new polypropylene pump
system was not something we wanted to produce
ourselves. Like the gel, it is a consumable, and had
to be marketed across a wide spectrum of outlets.
The fact that between sixty-five and seventy percent
of men still wet shave, using foam and razor blades,
was the stimulus for Philips DAP, the world’s largest
manufacturer of electric shavers, to come up with an
innovative idea to win over more men to their products.
The Philishave Cool Skin combines the advantages of
wet and dry shaving in one unit. A distinctive feature
of the shaver is the brightly-coloured button which,
when pushed, releases a drop of gel onto the skin,
“relaxing the skin and providing a closer, fresher shave”
as the advert goes.
It was more or less by chance that we heard that the
Swiss Ego plastics company had joined the SFS Group.
We were looking for a single-source supplier for the
pumps, and we had enjoyed long-standing business
links with SFS. We paid a visit to the plastics site as
soon as we could, and were very impressed. We
were able to see highly automated assembly of pretty
demanding products. We were also very favourably
surprised by the amount of detail in the offer they
presented for the manufacture and assembly of the
five-piece unit. The highly rationalized production concept presented boosted our confidence still further;
especially as we already knew how willing SFS were
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The SFS Plastics Division steps in
The sixteen cavity hot-channel tool
with slides used for the manufacture of
the housing.
The two project
managers:
Martin Liefrink of
Philips DAP (left) and
Peter Savoie from
SFS Plastics Division.
Tight costs and high quantity targets
Given the tight costs and high production quantities for this consumer product, the approach had
to be ready-to-assemble, tightly toleranced mouldings and a highly automated assembly line, explaines Peter Savoie.
We decided on 16 cavity dies with hot channel
systems for all three plastic parts, including the
two-piece part. As the parts were so complex,
and due to their small size, we were talking about
very exacting tooling. Every component assembly, from whichever cavity the individual parts
came, had to fulfil the same requirements for
dimensional accuracy and leak-tightness. The only
way to guarantee that was through extremely
tight tolerances in the tools.
The most important process parameters of each
moulding machine are automatically monitored
and documented. If any parts deviate from the
tightly toleranced limits imposed, they are separated into a sideline. Any enduring or major
deviation results in the process being interrupted
and the operators being informed.
to invest wherever necessary. Once we started the
detailed planning with the SFS experts, we were left
in no doubt at all that we had chosen the right partner
for this very important and demanding supply contract.
Difficult tasks and tight schedules
The task was enormous: to produce five intricate
miniature components, and to assemble them automatically with an integrated 100% functional check.
The whole project was, moreover, subject to extreme
time pressure. SFS provided us with highly detailed
activity timing plans, which enabled us to continuously
monitor the progress of the project. Our communication links with SFS were quick and efficient, and the
project plans were fully achieved.
Full series production started on time, just eight
months after the initial order. Apart from the usual
teething problems during the fine tuning phase,
we have had no quality problems or delivery delays
whatsoever to this day; over four million pump units
later. SFS Plastics has our absolute seal of approval.
1.5 seconds to assemble, check and pack a
pump
The key requirement of the automatic pump
assembly was the cycle time of just 1.5 seconds,
which was very much at the limit of current technology. Also important to note is that, as well as
the three plastic parts, there was an O-ring as an
adapter on the gel sachet, a precise amount of
special oil to produce the vacuum and a PET film
stamping to form the vent, all to be assembled.
To achieve the zero-defect requirement, every
unit had to be functionally checked and individually packed during the assembly process.
The smooth communications with our contacts at
Philips DAP helped tremendously in achieving the
very tight time limits that were agreed. By way
of example, the complete quality management
concept was developed from our process FMEA
in a video conference.
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