Lean Concepts Stream Mapping of Gear Manufacturing

Abstract

India has increasing demand for wind energy. The potential energy that can be generated by using wind energy is around 15000-20000 MW but now only 600 MW is utilized. The demands of wind turbines are significantly high in the present market scenario. Lead time of the producing wind mill components is a most critical in satisfying customer demands. This project is an attempt to apply lean principles and methodologies in the component section of a wind mill gear box manufacturing industry and to identify non value added activities and to eliminate them and to improve the productivity and profit of the industry by reducing the lead time of the component. Hansen drives limited, a case study industry created with a goal to become the global benchmark for quality wind mill gear box by using recent technology, effective processes for meeting customer demand. The industry was not able to meet the customer demand due to the increasing cycle time of the individual process. More processing time occurs in torque arm component and planet shaft component section of the production unit that results in increase in production time and inventory. The machine shop of a wind mill component manufacturing section in gearbox manufacturing industry is analyzed by using value stream mapping tool to identify the waste present in the current process and to eliminate them from the manufacturing process by using required lean tool for the future improvements in reducing the lead time of the product and to improve the productivity to meet customer demands