Title: Production lead time improvement through lean manufacturing

Authors: Amdework Gochel; Sisay G. Gebeyehu; Muluken Abebe

Addresses: Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia ' Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia ' Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

Abstract: The study presents the application of a lean manufacturing system in Hibiret Manufacturing and Machine Building Industry (HMMBI). The aim of the research is to improve the production lead time by minimising non-value adding activities. Both qualitative and quantitative data are used. The movement of production activities is drawn by the spaghetti model. Value-added and non-value added activities are identified using value stream mapping (VSM). Minitab quality companion and SigmaXL tools are employed to draw VSM and generate the value of performance indicators respectively. After identifying the bottleneck areas, suggested measurements are taken. As a result, work in process time is reduced by 50.37 hours, waiting time reduced by 50.37 hour, process cycle efficiency is enhanced by 8.6% and the travel distance is reduced by 951 metres. Finally, production lead time is improved by 50.361 hours. Thus, it is concluded that the research has found a significant benefit for HMMBI and similar manufacturing industries.

Keywords: lead time; lean manufacturing; value stream map.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISE.2022.121045

International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering, 2022 Vol.40 No.2, pp.147 - 156

Received: 24 Oct 2019
Accepted: 10 Jan 2020
Published online: 23 Feb 2022 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article