Implementation of lean manufacturing improvement methodologies in a small agricultural business.

摘要

This thesis explores the implementation of some lean manufacturing techniques in a non-manufacturing environment: a small business that deals with the agricultural industry. Through the use of: Value Stream Mapping (VSM) to identify bottlenecks and potential kaizen events, 5S to organize a storage room and cost analyses to identify savings and benefits, improvements in the process can be achieved. Five key problems were identified, analyzed and improved on in a South American based company. Recommendations for further improvement and other likely areas that needed it using the previously mentioned methods were presented to the company.