Title: Productivity improvement in a paper manufacturing company through lean and IoT - a case study

Authors: K.R. Shriram; S. Kishore Karthiban; A. Charan Kumar; S.K. Mathiarasu; P.G. Saleeshya

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Amrita School of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Amrita School of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Amrita School of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Amrita School of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Amrita School of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore, India

Abstract: Industries implemented lean techniques experienced a saturation of leanness after a certain period of time. This forced them to look out for optimised lean models. The combination of lean and the internet of things (IoT) promise astonishing advances in the improvement of leanness. This paper focuses on the improvement of leanness with the aid of IoT systems. A case study was performed in a leading board paper manufacturing industry. Fuzzy logic-based lean assessment model assessed the leanness of the industry. Lean tools like value stream mapping, root cause analysis, Jidoka, etc. were performed to identify and eliminate the lean wastes. IoT-based systems were modelled. Leanness of the industry was computed before implementation, after lean implementation and after IoT implementation. The results were used to contrast the improvements shown by lean practices and IoT systems individually, and proved that the combination of lean and IoT have a greater potential for industries in the future.

Keywords: lean manufacturing; leanness; lean index; fuzzy logic; digitalisation; internet of things; IoT.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBSR.2023.127714

International Journal of Business and Systems Research, 2023 Vol.17 No.1, pp.97 - 119

Received: 13 Aug 2020
Accepted: 20 Nov 2020
Published online: 15 Dec 2022 *