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- Implementation of Lean Methodologies in the Management of Consumable Materials in the Maintenance Workshops of an Industrial CompanyPublication . Pombal, Tomé; Ferreira, Luís Pinto; Sá, José Carlos; Pereira, Maria Teresa; Silva, F.J.G.During the course of the 21st century, companies have constantly had to adapt to change. The solution resides in increasing operational efficiency, quality and productivity, while simultaneously reducing costs and establishing the waste-free organization. The objective of this work lies in the implementation of lean methodologies in the management of consumable materials in the maintenance workshops of an industrial company by adjusting/reducing the volume of materials and reorganizing their placement. It further explores the potential to eliminate waste and create value-added tasks in the maintenance activities involved. The development of this work allowed for an improvement in the organization of the consumable material cabinet through the implementation of 5S methodology, as well as a reduction in the time required to locate the consumable material by using visual management (in the order of 70%). Improved control of stock was also achieved through the reformulation of kanban (approximately 30%); a reduction in the time required to replenish material in the consumables cabinet was ensured by means of the mizusumashi (with an expected improvement of 50%).
- B Impact Assessment as a Sustainable Tool: Analysis of the Certification ModelPublication . Silva, Vítor; Lima, Vanda; Sá, José Carlos; Fonseca, Luís; Santos, GilbertoCurrently, certification is an essential tool for a company’s sustainability and a seal of trust for the stakeholders. The B Corporation (B Corp) certification system is in line with the leading indicators of sustainable development and social responsibility published by the general assembly of the United Nations, namely: environment, community, workers, customers, and governance. Nevertheless, it is essential that academic research should empirically assess the B Corp model’s reliability for its validation and legitimization. In this study, we address the results of the B Impact Assessment of 2262 companies certified by B Corp from the beginning of 2017 to March 2021. The main objective is to analyze the B Impact Assessment, verifying the robustness and consistency of the model to measure and improve the economic, social, and environmental impact of companies. We analyzed the construct’s validity through a confirmatory factorial analysis using AMOS statistical software. The results allowed us to identify some weaknesses and limitations of the B Impact Assessment. This certification system reflects an unadjusted model where the main assessment indicators have problems with regard to the measurement scale. The governance and customer indicators are the most vulnerable. The findings also allow us to state that there are apparently no minimum values established for each of the parameters evaluated, which may cause imbalances in the sustainable development process of B Corp companies. This research contributes to enhancing B Impact Assessment as a sustainability tool, highlighting areas for improvement concerning the indicators’ measurement scales and the assessment process, including the monitoring of evaluators.
- Improving efficiency in a hybrid warehouse: a case studyPublication . Freitas, Andreia M.; Silva, F.J.G.; Ferreira, Luís Pinto; Sá, José Carlos; Pereira, Maria Teresa; Pereira, J.Logistics has assumed a determining position in the supply chain of each organization. This paper concerns the work carried out in a bus manufacturing organization with the aim of improving efficiency in its hybrid warehouse. A hybrid warehouse could be considered as one that mixes several different activities (reception, storage area, picking, shipping, supply to production lines and production preparation tasks) and brings together many different materials or raw materials and components. This factor led to the appearance of innumerable management methods to improve employee performance. These are intended to meet the needs of their customers, from the motto "do more with less". The work developed in a hybrid warehouse allows to detect logistic complaints related to communication failures between employees, the reduced efficiency in the activities like the check of raw materials or components and respective picking, the lack of space for their reception and storage, and the non-compliance of the FIFO stock management system. It is imperative that organizations can redefine internal spaces and flows, generating a more efficient and intuitive work and admit an opportunity for improvements in terms of space and content management, and hence, cost savings for an organization. The combination of Lean tools was implemented, and the results have been checked, showing a significant impact in the hybrid warehouse, with annual gains through the optimization of several activities: employee turnover (decrease by 50%), check and picking times (decrease about 75 minutes/picking) and better working conditions for employees.
- A DMS to Support Industrial Process Decision-Making: a contribution under Industry 4.0Publication . Pereira, Maria Teresa; Silva, A.; Ferreira, Luís Pinto; Sá, José Carlos; Silva, F.J.G.This paper presents the development of an Information System (IS) an automotive manufacturing.The system was developed to reduce waste and increase productivity, through better decision-making. The used methodology to implement it was the Business Process Management (BPM). A DMS (Document Management System) for decision making support was built, reducing the action time and providing faster maintenance of all needed data. As a result, the users time decision making and the administrator maintenance was reduced by a total of 26 minutes, corresponding to a 1.61 € reduction per unit built, which means an efficiency of 41%. The present work fits in the company’s strategy for Industry 4.0 and a more sustainable environment, being a positive driver of Industry 4.0 implementation and transformation.
- Improving the Machining Process of the Metalworking Industry Using the Lean Tool SMEDPublication . Monteiro, Carlos; Ferreira, Luís Pinto; Fernandes, Nuno O.; Sá, José Carlos; Pereira, Maria Teresa Ribeiro; Silva, F.J.G.The project here presented was developed in a metalworking company, where several areas requiring improvement were identified. The study addresses the elimination of waste and increase of productivity in the machining sector of the company. To this purpose key processes were identified and mapped using flowcharts and VSM (Value Stream Mapping). Achieved improvements involved decreasing setup times by resorting to the lean tool SMED (Single Minute Exchange of Die). Setup times were reduced in 40% on the vertical milling machine of the company, and in 57% on the horizontal milling machine.
- Improving The Order Fulfilment Process At A Metalwork CompanyPublication . Dias, José António; Ferreira, Luís Pinto; Sá, José Carlos; Pereira, Maria Teresa; Silva, F.J.G.This article describes the 14 measures implemented at a company in the metalwork sector with a view to improving its order fulfilment process. Based on Lean thinking, each of the actions, as well as their potential impact on the process, is explained. Despite the constraints encountered during implementation, and the fact that manufacturing processes are invariably different, the overall results achieved were satisfactory. As a result of the interventions, internal functions were revised and processes simplified. There was also a reduction of 25% in budgeting time, as well as an improvement in communication systems and production management. One additionally was achieved the reorganization of storage spaces, a reduction in logistic operation times of about 20% and a decrease in the time spent accessing tools in near 61%. Far more important than the first results obtained is the company’s current commitment to the pursuance of these measures, allowing the different actions to generate synergies and produce improvements, which will undoubtedly set the company on the course of Lean culture.
- A model of integration ISO 9001 with Lean six sigma and main benefits achievedPublication . Sá, José Carlos; Vaz, Sílvia; Carvalho, Orlancina; Lima, Vanda; Morgado, Luísa; Fonseca, Luís; Doiro, Manuel; Santos, GilbertoThe main purpose of this article is to depict the integration of Lean tools with requirements of ISO 9001:2015 standard as an operationalisation and support tool for a Quality Management System (QMS). The research was carried out through a questionnaire, which was sent to 2040 Portuguese companies. From the two hundred responses, 77 of them were validated (companies certified by at least one quality management system and which simultaneously have lean six sigma (LSS) tools and/or techniques implemented) corresponding to the sample of this study. Additionally, the research was also based on a case study in a footwear company where the model was applied. This research proposes a model for integrating Lean tools and requirements of ISO 9001:2015. This integration allows the QMS to become more practical and dynamic, reinforcing the creation of value for the organisation. As main benefits, we can highlight, among others: improvement of problem solving, waste reduction, improvement in internal communication, and increase in productivity. Thisarticle aims at becoming a relevant contribution to business management as it displays the main tools and methodologies to implement and sustain a QMS.
- Lean Management “Quick-Wins”: Results of Implementation. A Case StudyPublication . Rodrigues, Jorge; Sá, José Carlos V. de; Ferreira, Luís Pinto; Silva, Francisco; Santos, GilbertoPurpose: This study comprised two main goals. The first goal demonstrates how LT (Lean Tools) allows the highest impact during the implementation phase.The second goal consisted of introducing procedure changes based on the Management of Human Resources through Lean Leadership tool. The target for these two objectives is to achieve an increase of 5% in machine occupancy rate and a reduction of 10% regarding the costs of defective products per hour. Methodology/Approach: The research methodology is a Action-Research/Research-Action developed by Professor Kurt Lewin of MIT that goes through cycles of five stages: Diagnosis; Planning; Implementation; Evaluation, Conclusions. Findings: Regarding the two objectives above mentioned, it was observed an increase of 8.5% in machine occupancy rate and a reduction of 27.9% regarding the costs per hour of defective products. It was created an additional motivation in the employees and very satisfying results in every production. Research Limitation/implication: The study is limited to a Portuguese Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) in the metalworking sector. Originality/Value of paper: Lean tools can be rapidly and easily implemented and quickly understood by the workers. With that implementation, the occupation of the machines has increased and the defects and their costs have decreased, so the added value grows.
- Optimization of the cold profiling process through SMEDPublication . Vieira, T.; Sá, José Carlos; Lopes, M.P.; Santos, G.; Félix, M.J.; Ferreira, Luís Pinto; Silva, F.J.G.; Teresa Pereira, MariaIn a more and more competitive and industrialized market, it is essential that companies realize that the way forward must go through the optimization of their production processes, reducing the costs and increasing product quality. Nowadays it’s necessary to adopt innovative management models that can provide increased productivity at minimal costs, such as the Lean thinking. The metalworking industry is integrated into one of the most competitive existing markets in Portugal. Given this, it’s fundamental to reduce the waste in all sectors of the production process, using the good Lean principles and practices, such as the Single Minute Exchange of Die, also known as SMED methodology. This paper presents a project of implementing the SMED methodology in the cold profiling process, in a population of five different profiling machines. The results of the SMED implementation show an average OEE improvement of 10,8%.
- SMED methodology applied to the deep drawing process in the automotive industryPublication . Vieira, A.M.; Silva, F.J.G.; Campilho, R.D.S.G.; Ferreira, Luís Pinto; Sá, José Carlos; Pereira, Maria TeresaThe automotive industry has evolved, becoming increasingly demanding. Thus, it becomes necessary to increase the availability of equipment, reacting efficiently to be able to respond to customer requests. Nowadays, the strong development of this industry is based on three main pillars: competitiveness, product quality and response time to requests. The focus of this work is to increase the availability of a deep drawing machine with extremely high setup time, with the main objective of reducing the average setup time by 20%. This reduction is even more important when it comes to the internal setup time, the time the machine is stopped. Thus, the Single-Minute Exchange of Die technique was applied and work standards were improved to reduce the equipment setup time, increasing the machine availability, leading to a production increased output. As a result of this work, it was possible to standardize setup, reducing 38% of total machine setup time, 53% of internal setup time and increasing 7.7% of OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) availability.