Productivity enhancement and waste management through lean philosophy in Indian manufacturing industry

Abstract

Value Stream Mapping has the reputation of uncovering waste in manufacturing, production and business processes by identifying and removing or streamlining value-added steps and eliminating non-value-added steps. The various process times for manufacturing a mono block pump were obtained from a pump manufacturing industry. A flow diagram showing the process is drawn to reflect the current state of the operation. The non-value actions are identified in each step and between each step by their waste of time and resources. The process is analyzed for opportunity to drastically reduce and simplify it to the fewest actions necessary. By reducing wastefulness the proportion of value adding time in the whole process rises and the process throughput speed is increased. This makes the redesigned process more effective (the right things are being done) and more efficient (needing fewer resources). The reengineered process is flow charted in its future state with process steps and information flows redesigned, simplified and made less expensive. This paper addresses the application of lean manufacturing concepts to the pump manufacturing industry.