Fouch knew that automated sensors could help by identifying the environmental causes of the perforation problems, for example, but with so many possible options to try, he didn't know where to start. “The worst thing you can do, especially in a smaller company, is go through pilot purgatory, hoping to find a viable product,” he says. “If someone else has done it before, he or she knows the feasible path and can save you time and costs.”
That's exactly what three executives and managers from Apple's engineering and operations teams offered when Fouch and Quinn Shanahan, who oversees Polygon's medical device and specialty products manufacturing, visited the manufacturing academy in October and November, respectively. Over the course of Fouch's estimated five hours, Apple employees assessed Polygon's challenges and applied Little's Law's industrial engineering equation (which can identify capacity bottlenecks) to come up with solutions.
The result was a detailed strategy that mapped out sensors and software that could affordably track production and alert to anomalies. Polygon can now count the number of passes the tube makes through the grinder, and will soon be able to understand whether an overheated motor or other factors could explain the failed perforation, Shanahan says.
If all goes according to plan, Polygon will have implemented a working system to address key bottlenecks for as little as $50,000, compared to the $500,000 an automation consultancy might have charged, Fouch said. The Apple team is visiting Polygon to discuss other upgrades. “They've been down these paths before,” says Fouch. “Without their help it will take much longer.”
Apple's Herrera says that helping small manufacturers understand the benefits of automation and other technologies could ultimately lead them to work with consultants and invest in more expensive systems.
Two other academy participants tell WIRED they haven't received extensive help from Apple — Herrera says it comes down to which companies have created a “problem statement” that Apple can help with — but they are working to bring what they've learned to their factories. Jack Kosloski, a project engineer at Blue Lake, a plastic-free packaging startup, says it was an eye-opener for him to hear about the depth of Apple's product testing.
