Title: Lean manufacturing implementation in an automated production line: a case study

Authors: Jaiprakash Bhamu; Ankit Khandelwal; Kuldip Singh Sangwan

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani (Rajasthan) – 333031, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani (Rajasthan) – 333031, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani (Rajasthan) – 333031, India

Abstract: The paper aims at improving production performance of an automated production line by lean manufacturing implementation. The production performance has been improved in an Indian industry by identifying and eliminating non-value added activities through value stream mapping. An increase in the production rate per day by 10.37%, decrease in production lead time by 10.51%, and reduction of non-value added time by 4.00% have been observed. Production levelling has been done to meet the increased customer demand without investment. The present case study will provide the managers an approach to improve productivity even in an automated production line.

Keywords: production rate; production levelling; value stream mapping; VSM; lean manufacturing; automated production lines; performance improvement; India; productivity improvement.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOM.2013.054883

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2013 Vol.15 No.4, pp.411 - 429

Published online: 28 Apr 2014 *

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