Development of standardized work cell at assembly station of ball valve through Kaizen breakthrough

Abstract

Production plants across the globe strive towards implementation of lean manufacturing techniques to meet increasing demands on their products. Over the years, several lean manufacturing techniques have helped industries to increase their competitive edge and simultaneously get rid of wasteful practices. The purpose of this paper is to implement one of the most powerful lean technique i.e. standardized work at the assembly station of ball valve. The study has been carried out at one of the pioneer valve manufacturing industry situated in north Karnataka, INDIA. The main objective was to identify and measure problems inhibiting the productivity of the plant by introducing standard work cell at ball valve assembly station. Earlier time consuming processes were eliminated through Kaizen blast. Standard work cell was developed by eliminating seven wastes and increasing the value added activities at the assembly station. The manual work tightening of nuts and studs was replaced by pneumatic tool. Testing bed was made safer for workers to operate. The standard work cell also included visuals like Andon’s, SOP and CCTV cameras. Overall cycle time of assembly process was reduced by 12.41%. All these improvements in the assembly process contributed to 30% increase in production of ball valves.Production plants across the globe strive towards implementation of lean manufacturing techniques to meet increasing demands on their products. Over the years, several lean manufacturing techniques have helped industries to increase their competitive edge and simultaneously get rid of wasteful practices. The purpose of this paper is to implement one of the most powerful lean technique i.e. standardized work at the assembly station of ball valve. The study has been carried out at one of the pioneer valve manufacturing industry situated in north Karnataka, INDIA. The main objective was to identify and measure problems inhibiting the productivity of the plant by introducing standard work cell at ball valve assembly station. Earlier time consuming processes were eliminated through Kaizen blast. Standard work cell was developed by eliminating seven wastes and increasing the value added activities at the assembly station. The manual work tightening of nuts and studs was replaced by pneumatic tool. Testing bed w...