Implementation of Lean Tools in an Automotive Industry for Productivity Enhancement - A Case Study

Abstract

Value stream mapping has the reputation of uncovering waste in manufacturing, production and business process. This helps in identifying and removing or streaming value added steps and eliminating non value added steps. In this study the process was analyzed to find an opportunity to drastically reduce the number of actions and to simplify the same. By reducing waste the proportion of value adding time increases in the whole process and the process throughput speed could also be increased. This makes the redesigned process more effective and more efficient. The reengineered process was flow charted in its future state with process steps and information flows re-engineering, simplified and economized. The current layout was analysed to identify and eliminate the non value added activities through lean tools like 5S, VSM and line balancing in a manufacturing industry. From the observed results, it was concluded that the non value added time could be reduced by about 13% while the process cycle efficiency could be increased by about 10%. Virtual simulation was conducted to verify and validate the existing situation as well as to propose the results and the effectiveness of lean principles in a systematic manner with the help of ARENA.