Productivity Improvement using Lean Concept in Automotive Welding Fixture Manufacturing Industry
Karikalan R1, Sreeharan B N2, Akilan S3, Rallish Rahuman Khan J4
1Karikalan R, Deputy Manager – NPD, Rajsriya Automotive Industries (P) Ltd. Hosur, India.
2Sreeharan B N, Assistant Professor – II (Mechanical), Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore, India.
3Akilan S, UG Scholar – Mechanical, Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore, India.
4Rallish Rahuman Khan J, UG Scholar – Mechanical, Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore, India.
Manuscript received on 20 August 2019 | Revised Manuscript received on 27 August 2019 | Manuscript Published on 31 August 2019 | PP: 427-431 | Volume-8 Issue-9S2 August 2019 | Retrieval Number: I10910789S219/19©BEIESP DOI: 10.35940/ijitee.I1091.0789S219
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open-access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: In today’s global marketplace, especially the Own Equipment’s Manufacturer (OEM), manufacturing automotive components must be more competitive to compete with competitors, where production cost is an important concern. To increase the productivity and to decrease the production cost, lean thinking can be applied which in turn enables the company to survive in today’s competitive world and to have competitive edge. In one of the Automotive Welding Fixture Manufacturing industry, which manufactures Body in White (BIW), some of the problems were identified which reduces the productivity and increases the production cost. Even though trial and error methods based on the experience were used to address the above-mentioned problems, a systematic lean thinking if applied will produce more effective results. In this aspect, some of the lean tools viz. 4M, bin system and KANBAN system were applied in this work to eliminate / reduce the implications of these problems. By implementing these lean concepts, the welding fixture manufacturing company saves around 33 hours approximately per week which inturn produces a profit of around week.
Keywords: Lean Thinking, Productivity Improvement, Welding Fixtures, KANBAN, Bin System, 4M
Scope of the Article: System Integration