Productivity Increase on Manufacturing Line A

Abstract

In company that shall remain anonymous, Manufacturing Line A was underperforming, often falling back in orders. Therefore, the company decided to put in place a project to look at increasing productivity in this high-mix low volume assembly line. After conducting an analysis of historical data, the high runners were selected for the redesign of the assembly line. Time studies were conducted to identify areas of opportunities, and operator interviews took place. Besides increasing productivity, reducing any potential risks was also considered while evaluating the assembly line. Manufacturing Line A was re-designed and post implementation time studies were conducted to validate the increase in productivity. These time studies demonstrated that the daily production output will be increased by 47% if the proper mix of designs are in the schedule. Also, three risk reduction projects were implemented. For the success of this project in the intended timeline, the collaboration and prioritization from all involved departments was instrumental in addition to including the operators as key members of this project. Key Terms ⎯ Design of manufacturing assembly line, Lean manufacturing, resistance to change, time studies.