Development of a lean model for enhancing productivity in an automotive spare parts manufacturing company

Abstract

Productivity is a buzzword in manufacturing as it satisfies the stakeholders from all domains of the supply chain whenever it is attained. There are a plethora of tool and techniques that are available for improving productivity in an organization. The implementation of those tools consumes a lot of time, effort and money. However, quite often, the results of these mammoth efforts will not be as expected due to various constraints. One important constraint is material flow. Material flow is an essential activity in transforming the raw materials into the finished products in manufacturing. Materials flow through several stages of manufacturing processes to reach the final shape of a product. While flowing through its path, the materials witness the five factors, namely place, man, machine, process and materials. These are the factors which contribute to the stream of flow by making the product out of a material as per the customers requirement. Any variation in material flow leads to lean wastes, which captivates huge amount of time in doing unnecessary activities. Unless those factors are controlled, reducing lean wastes and improving material flow would not be possible. In order to control those factors, it is required to continuously monitor and document the current state of the production line before making any changes. In the present work, a framework for the material flow was constructed to show how a material would flow through those factors and the effects of those factors on the material flow. The framework has five different levels in the form of a pyramidal shape to define each factor one by one with respect to material flow. Controlling these factors poses a real challenge to the managers, so they anticipate a world-class technique to curb them. One such technique is lean manufacturing. The present work is all about enhancing productivity by effectively controlling the material flow factors with the help of lean tools and techniques. Implementing lean manufacturing is a long term process and it involves several phases. The researchers and lean practitioners proposed different strategies f newline