Optimization of Product Development Time Through Lean Manufacturing

摘要

Physical redesigns of a factory or a production unit to improve the production efficiency without planning may involve huge costs without giving the optimum results. Thus, planning is a vital step before the redesign of a manufacturing unit which can be attained through lean tools. This helps in determining the impacts of the change before implementation and transforms an organisation into a lean one. This paper describes the implementation of Value Stream Mapping (VSM) which is a key tool of lean manufacturing in a piston manufacturing industry as a LM improvement initiative. This involved the mapping of the activities of the firm, finding opportunities for improvement and then undertaking with the firm an improvement programme. The main objective of this paper is to optimize product development time in valve pocket machining processes by using VSM which can act as a blue print for transformation. VSM presents a good picture of the time consumed and operations performed for the production of a product within a manufacturing facility. In the current machining process, generation of manufacturing code for valve pocket milling in piston consumes more time. This results in more time for product release and cost. In the proposed machining process, code generation for valve pocket milling in piston is generated using Computer aided Manufacturing (CAM) tool and thus product development time is optimised (minimized). Now, current state map is developed to show the existing position and problem areas. Future state map is developed to describe the proposed improvement action plans.