Nidheesh M & Sajan M P
(Department of mechanical engineering, RIT KOTTAYAM)
Abstract
Lean manufacturing system is currently being viewed as an important managerial strategy by companies since it focuses on reducing the non value added activities along with meeting customer demands. In an electronic parts manufacturing company; assembly line of a certain cable which is a high priority, high demand product is unable to meet the required production output. The main objective of the study is to improve the productivity of the assembly line by applying lean manufacturing techniques and discrete event simulation (DES). It mainly includes identifying and eliminating the non value added activities. The proposed methodology includes root causes analysis, identifying bottlenecks using DES, simulation of current and proposed assembly lines. Line balancing the new assembly line and a feasibility study to be performed if required. Line balancing of the current assembly line is conducted to identify the need for in depth study. The current assembly line selected for study showed a lower efficiency of 42.4% and 52.4%. Lean tools namely, fishbone diagram, 5 why analysis, spaghetti diagram were used to identify and analyse the existing non value added activities. Bottlenecks were identified which caused excess inventory and waiting in line, unwanted motion due to layout and extended lead time for transportation between plants were identified as current problems. Simulation of the current line and proposed line was conducted. Proposed model showed an efficiency of 83.10% and 83.98% without addition of additional labour and a payback period of 15 months for investment proposed. Few suggestions were proposed based on the gemba walk.
Keywords- Lean manufacturing, Assembly line balancing, Ranked position weighted method, Simulation, productivity improvement