Reducing The Costs of Producing Individual Composite Molds While Simultaneously Improving Their Quality

This article presents the process of producing composite molds in a small enterprise (<50 employees). The motive of the research was to improve production and product quality while reducing production costs. For optimization purposes, a very popular KPI was used: OLE (Overall Labor Effectiveness), which assesses the overall efficiency of human work. Using the OLE index, the efficiency of the production process was assessed and beneficial changes were made in four main subprocesses: waxing, gelcoat spraying, laminating, and finishing. Before optimization, the total OLE index for these processes was only 20.39%, indicating that the production process was suboptimal. After the changes, primarily the improvement of workstations, reduced transport and waiting times and influenced the OLE index, which increased to 35.27%. Composites are used as structural materials in many fields of technology. Currently, composite materials can be found in all technologies, from inexpensive structural materials used in construction, to materials for the construction of transportation vehicles, to implants used in medicine.