A case study on the improvement of production line at automotive industry

Abstract

This project is on “a case study on the improvement of production line for side member at automotive industry”. Traditionally operated industrial industries are facing problems like low productivity, longer production lead time, high rework and rejection, poor line balancing, low flexibility of style changeover. These problems were addressed in this study by the implementation of Six SIGMA tools like standard manufacturing line, single piece flow, work standardization, just in time production. Some of the key benefits entail production cycle time decreased, number of operators required to produce equal amount of production is decreased , rework level reduced by, production lead time comes down to one hour from two days, work in progress inventory stays at a maximum of 400 pieces per shift.This study is conducted in the production section of an automotive manufacturing company. Study includes time studies, the conversion of traditional batch production into single piece flow and long assembly line into small work cells time shortage and lack of information providing attitude was the major limitations. In some cases restrictions in taking photographs and in getting specific documents were also mentionable limitation. Thus there is a challenge of the industries to manufacture goods of right quality and quantity and at right time and at minimum cost for their survival and growth. This demands the increase in productive efficiency of the organization. Industrial Engineers are going to play a pivotal role in increasing productivity. Various industrial engineering techniques are used to analyse and improve the work method, to eliminate waste and proper allocation and utilization of resources.