Lean Manufacturing - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... Current process The present procedure is one with an 8 hour shift for 20 days in a month, with both Fridays and Saturdays observed as off-days. The details of the 11 current operations being run can be seen in figure 1. Initially the present VSM or Value Stream Mapping has been developed. VSM is basically is a method to understand the dense relationship between each of the operations. It depicts time elapsed, non-conformance number, inventory and the flow of information between operations. The following advantages of VMS have been elaborated by Tapping, et al. (2002): a) Envision all of the flow of information and material used. b) Envision the relationship between operations and production control. c) Point out the waste sources in the system. d) Identify bottleneck operations. Afterwards statistical charts like bar chart, pie charts and waterfall charts are constructed. For this purpose, all the activities in the operation that that value or non-value added, must be highlighted. Value added activity is one which creates value, as customers perceive it. On the other hand, non-value activities are those, for which, the customer will not be liable to pay for. For this reason all non-value activities should be removed from the process immediately. In this scenario, cycle time is a value added activity whereas the set-up time and waiting time are tagged as non-valuable activities. Reason behind future state The immediate target of the future plan is to nullify all non-valuable activities and wastes. Waste is described as the process that does not help in cost reduction and also as a process that doesn’t add to the product value. In total, waste can be categorized in seven parts: 1. Waiting 2. Needless inventory 3. Flaws 4. Transportation 5. Overproduction 6. Incorrect processing 7. Needless motion Nevertheless, another waste which is also considered in this list as the eight waste is over-employment, which means employees, whose services are not fully utilized. This disease can only be curbed by the input of the employees in the company with innovations and better working ideas. Three major motives are involved in the consideration of lean manufacturing in the very first place. First and foremost is the expanding of the market at a global stage. Then comes, the higher demands of the customer in relation to quality and a better cost. Lastly, the old school methods are no longer accepted, for e.g. once a month delivery of the products to the customer. Lean manufacturing is an outstanding approach to achieve better operations, quality and cost wise. It is a sluggish process but contributes heavily to lessening of wastes. Additionally, it is more prone to increasing the quality of the process. The major motives behind VMS are listed and elaborated as follows: 1. TAKT time and bottleneck station TAKT is the essential element that has to be considered in lean manufacturing to meet the requirements of the customer. According to Carreiera (2005), TAKT is defined as “the frequency with which your customer consumes a unit of product”. In simple words, it can be established about TAKT time that, it is the time available for producing a product which is parallel to the needs of the customer. TAKT time can be calculated by the following formula: If the time of the process is less than the ...Download file to see next pagesRead More