1M. Sc. [Engg.] Student, Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, M.S. Ramaiah School of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, 560 058
2Asst. Professor, Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, M.S. Ramaiah School of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, 560 058
3Director, Operations Searock Precision Products Pvt. Ltd, Bangalore
Online published on 18 February, 2020.
In today's high pressure market slashing lead time is the fastest and most powerful approach to profitability improvement, especially for companies who have already realized most of their core manufacturing efficiency improvement opportunities. Lead time reductions will directly impact almost every contributor to costs within the company's operations. With its strategic importance Lead time reduction has become an important element of campaign to increase the competitiveness of manufacturing industry
The objective of the study is to reduce the lead time of the side cover. The initial phase of study included the construction of a macro process map. Macro time study revealed process that has higher cycle time than Takt time. Micro process mapping and micro time study was conducted to look up on wastages in processes. Root cause analysis was carried out to find out the causes of the excess waste. Solutions to the problem were found by implementing a dedicated fixture, tool trolley, SOP, and 5S
The result showed a significant reduction in lead time of the component with an average reduction of 15% of the lead time. The use of the fixture along with tool trolley significantly reduced the process time of the concerned process by about 38%. The implementation of fixture brought in this significant improvement in lead time without the addition of an extra machine or a negative impact on quality. Future recommendation was also provided that would further reduce the total lead time of the process.
Lead Time, Gear Box, Lean Principle
