Enhancing total agility level through assessment and product mapping: A case study in the manufacturing of refrigeration air dryer

Abstract

The world’s manufacturing community has been questing for ways to face the onslaught of competition. One of those ways is the adoption of agile manufacturing (AM) paradigm. AM paradigm enables a company to quickly respond to the customers’ dynamic demands. In order to implement AM paradigm, a model named “model for enhancing total agility level” (METAL) is proposed in this paper. METAL enunciates the assessing of the total agility level (TAL), identifying the weak AM criteria and subsequently strengthening them. The practicality of METAL has been explored in an air dryer manufacturing company. During this case study, refrigeration air dryer was considered as AM capable product. After assessment, three weak AM criteria were identified. Proposals were drawn to strengthen these three weak AM criteria. These proposals envisage the strengthening of the weak AM criteria through the removal of nonvalue adding activities, utilization of mathematical models, and creation of web portal. The reassessment has indicated the possibility of enhancing the TAL value in the above company through the implementation of these proposals. The experience of carrying out this research has revealed that the deployment of METAL would facilitate the contemporary companies to systematically infuse AM paradigm and enhance their TAL values.