Lead time reduction and process enhancement for a low volume product

Abstract

Lead time management plays an important role in a company’s success as reduction in lead time augments productivity and profitability. An efficient lead time reduction tool can reduce manufacturing costs, improves customer satisfaction in the longer run. However, ambiguity always lies in selecting a proper tool for lead time reduction based on the product volume and product mix. Amongst the major tools available for lead time reduction, process mapping, SMED, 5S, Kaizen, Value engineering, Seven-waste reduction are quite versatile and compatible. Nevertheless, for evaluating a product lead time and cycle time Value Stream Mapping probes to be an appropriate tool. VSM faces inabilities in measuring the product with low volume. In such cases, the paraphernalia such as MSOP, process mapping, spaghetti diagram and layout optimization is used to measure the lead time of the product and also account the value added and non value added process in the system, and thereby improve the quality of the product. This paper focuses on an Un-named company which produces low volume parts of caterpillar heavy truck assembly. The goal was to reduce lead time, enhance productivity and reduce the defects in the process by implementing lean tools. In turn, this improves the sales and market shares of the company, leading to better profitability and improve customer satisfaction.