Lean manufacturing applied to a complex electronic assembly line

Silva, F. J. G.; Baptista, Andresa; Pinto, Gustavo Filipe; Correia, Damásio

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/14789

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Authors

Silva, F. J. G.

Baptista, Andresa

Pinto, Gustavo Filipe

Correia, Damásio

Abstract(s)

Manual assembly lines are usually deeply studied before implementation. Nevertheless, several problems upsurge when the product needs to be slightly changed. This is very common in complex electric and electronic devices usually produced in small batches, where the customers are demanding more and more features and the product needs to be continuously updated. However, these updates sometimes create huge difficulties for the previously installed assembly line, generating as well, line unbalancing and wastes of time regarding the initial situation. In this chapter, a deep study of an adjusted assembly line of electronic devices was carried out using Value Stream Mapping (VSM) method to fully understand and document the different tasks and operations. The Lean Line Balancing (LLB) was also applied in order to reduce the line bottleneck by balancing the line, becoming the Cycle Time (CT) lower than Takt Time (TT) in each workstation and the workers are not overburdened with their task. Standardized processes and standardized work were also applied. During the line layout development stage, assembly fixtures, wastes reductions and visual management techniques were applied as well, different concepts were generated and proposed and, finally, the best solutions were selected. Throughout the study, many benefits for the studied manual assembly line were found, which can be considered as a strong motivation to apply Lean Manufacturing (LM) tools for better line efficiency and production rate. The implementation of Lean methodologies endorsed an increase in the productivity of approximately 10% maintaining the same workforce, only modifying workstations and work methodologies. This chapter describes the importance of Lean manufacturing concept in modern industries.