Productivity enhancement through introducing lean principles in multi-model assembly line

Abstract

Many organizations are now interested in a lean manufacturing principle and its implementation to show their presence in the competitive globalization market. Lean consist of several tools and techniques to eliminate the waste present in current system. Lean practicing organizations need to select right tool and technique for their own application. The basic idea of lean manufacturing is to provide a product of quality while ensuring that the product does not cost the customer too much. Lean philosophy based on customer centric with high product variety in existing manufacturing systems. Assembly lines have become more complex in terms of components and their storage space requirements. This results in handling the larger inventories against limited storage space and subsequent increase in cost. In this work a detailed study has been made at heavy equipment manufacturing industry to enhance their productivity in assembly line. The current state mapping (VSM) at heavy equipment manufacturing industry reveals that the Non-Value Added (NVA) are spread over the entire process such as extra processing, searching of material, inventories, etc., The main objective of this project is to resolve or reduce waste present in system through lean principle and to improve the productivity in assembly line. The benefits of introducing lean principle in assembly line include lead time reduction, manpower reduction, reduction in material handling, reduced space utilization, reduction of shortages and overall Productivity has increased to 30%.