Lean assemble-to-order manufacturing at Ericsson
by Maria Westin; Diana Chronéer; Anders Segerstedt
International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management (IJLSM), Vol. 15, No. 1, 2013

Abstract: This article describes the findings and results from an improvement project concerning a production line at an Ericsson plant in Sweden. The article is a type of a case study that describes activities and discussions in an improvement project. A value stream mapping showed that only a few percent of the throughput time was really adding value to the customer. In an improvement project the involvements of all employees are important. Interviewing and education of workers/operators lead to that they also contribute with suggestions to improve the production flow. Value stream mapping though often classified as a lean technique is a technique for improvements of most kind of productions, here it is applied to a situation that must be classified more agile than lean. A selection of generated, and rather general, solutions were implemented: reduced buffers; more of a 'one-piece' flow; a reduced waiting time by adding work tasks; a more levelled manufacturing and efficient flow was created by a recombination of processes and a reallocation of work tasks. Our article hopefully stimulates students and practitioners to find improvement activities in similar situations and projects.

Online publication date: Fri, 27-Sep-2013

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management (IJLSM):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com