Safety Knights

There is all kinds of stuff out there! Google "SMED", "Single Minute Exchange of Dies!" You can YouTube it too. Back in the early 80s in the auto business we were blind-sided by the Japanese and some by the Europeans in the car business. They were kicking our as___, massive layoffs! In desperation we started to copy a lot of "Japanese" manufacturing techniques! We called it World Class Manufacturing, One was technique was SMED to maximize up time! I remember going to a seminar at GM Oldsmobile in 1985 in Lansing. WE had what is now called a Kaizen in Lean. Our goal was to reduce the set-up time on 3 2000 ton transfer presses that stamped the entire side of the old boat models, Olds 98 and 88. Pre seminar it took over 72 (3 days) hours to change the 98 dies to the 88 dies or back the other way! After a week working with the set-up and skilled trades people we came up with a system that reduced the total set-up time to 16 minutes! One of the secrets was getting all the tools, fasteners, and dies all to the machines before they were shut down! We also tried to put "quick connectors" on the dies as few bolts as we could. If I recall correctly we used pneumatic clamps for the dies in the ram and beds. SMED is used today and is a very important part of Lean techniques, the new WC Mfg!
Note. In the 80s we also tried to make guarding quicker to remove. Light curtains and PSDs were not yet around. Then OSHA came down hard on things like Wing Nuts and fasteners that were easy to remove. You now must use a tool especially on guards on Mechanical Presses! Make sure you understand 1910.217 and ANSI if you are messing with guards in any way!
One of the tools that is essential in SMED is video! Video you present setups. Slow down the video and look for opportunities! Make sure you understand Ergonomic principles and build them into your process! Run a Kaizen and involve your employees! Make it their idea! I