Annual Report 2004 - HL Display

the company’s products. This means that these products can be
produced at higher speeds which creates cost reductions.
Quality and reliability
HL Display operates an ambitious quality programme at all production
facilities. Detailed quality targets are set for each factory,
production process and product, and these are followed up on an
ongoing basis. All production facilities now maintain a high level
of quality, and work focuses mainly on continuously implementing
further improvements.
At present there are quality assurance systems at all production
facilities, structured in accordance with the international quality
standard ISO 9001. In due course all production facilities will also
be certified in accordance with this standard. The plants in Sundsvall
and Falun were already certified in accordance with ISO 9001.
In 2004 the Karlskoga factory was also ISO 9001-certified.
Delivery performance, lead times and the percentage of claimed
items are important quality yardsticks for HL Display. The average
delivery performance in 2004 for HL Display’s two largest production
plants, Sundsvall and Falun, was 97.6 and 92.8 respectively.
This is in line with the company’s targets of 98 per cent in Sundsvall
and 93 in Falun. The target for Falun is lower, due to the fact
that the production process there is more complex. The average
lead time for the Sundsvall plant was 9.75 days in 2004, which is
slightly above the target of 9 days. The average lead time for the
Falun plant was 14 days. Falun now also has a lead time target
of 9 days. The successful lead time project conducted in Falun
during the year enabled the company to meet its target of 9 days
in September.
The number of claimed items in proportion to total orders was
on average 0.7 per cent in Sundsvall and 0.9 per cent in Falun.
HL Display believes that there is potential for improvement in this
area, and initiatives are underway to reduce the number of claimed
items in 2005.
HL DISPLAY’S PRODUCTION FACILITIES
Sundsvall, Sweden HL Display’s biggest production facility, specialising in
the extrusion and injection-moulding of medium-sized products such as
the HL Datastrip and components for the Optimal shelf divider system.
Karlskoga, Sweden Specialises in the injection-moulding of HL Display’s
biggest and smallest products, such as floor stands and coupon spears.
Falun, Sweden Specialises in cold-bending and hot-bending of plastic as
well as screen-printing. Shelf talkers are one example of products manufactured
in Falun.
Falkenberg, Sweden Specialises in panel-bending and wire-bending,
punching and the assembly of aluminium profiles. Poster frames are one
example of a product manufactured in Falkenberg.
Shipley, UK Specialises in cold-bending and hot-bending of plastic.
Lesjöfors, Sweden and Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, USA Factories owned
jointly with Trion Industries. The Lesjöfors factory specialises in wire-bending,
while the one in Wilkes Barre specialises in the extrusion of products
intended for the North American market.
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Nozzle used for extrusion of datastrips.
Yield per machine is an important measure of operational reliability
for HL Display. This means the time a machine is effectively
in production. The remaining time includes time when production
results in scrap, changeover times between batches and when
the machine is not running for other reasons. The average yield in
the two most important production techniques, injection moulding
and extrusion, was 90 per cent and 89 per cent respectively. HL
Display’s objective is to increase the yield in injection moulding to
93 per cent and in extrusion to 91 per cent.
PRODUCTION TECHNIQUE FACTS
Extrusion A production technique that involves molten plastic being forced
through a nozzle. The nozzle’s profile determines the form of the product’s
cross-section. Products are manufactured in strips that are cooled in a
water bath and then cut to the required length. The Datastrip is one example
of a product that is manufactured using this production technique.
Injection-moulding A production technique that involves molten plastic
being injected into a hollow mould. The form of the hollow determines
the product’s shape. Frames and shelf dividers are examples of products
manufactured using this production technique.
Cold-bending and hot-bending A production technique that involves a sheet
of plastic being bent into the desired shape with the aid of a bending tool.
Shelf talkers are one of the products manufactured in this way. In hot-bending
a hot bending tool is used, and a cold one for cold-bending.
Vacuum forming A production technique that involves a sheet of plastic
being heated and moulded around a tool by means of a vacuum process.
Shelf trays are examples of products manufactured using this production
technique.
Screen printing A flexible printing method for printing on surfaces made of
various materials, formats and thicknesses. This method combines high
capacity, high quality and strong colours in both four-colour printing and
PMS printing. Shelf talkers and dividers for open freezers are examples of
products for which screen-printing is used.
PRODUKTION
HL DISPLAY ANNUAL REPORT 2004