Abstract
Nowadays, Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED) has achieved great industrial popularity. However, it remains unclear to what extent and how SMED implementation at its different stages benefits industries. To address this gap, this research proposes a structural equation model to quantitatively measure SMED effects. The model has six hypotheses that link SMED stages and benefits. To statistically validate such hypotheses, a questionnaire was administered to 373 Mexican maquiladoras located in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. Results show that before starting SMED implementation process, companies must be appropriately familiarized with their production process. Mainly, manufacturing companies in Ciudad Juárez need to focus their efforts on the SMED planning stage (Step 1) in order to identify important internal production activities and turn them into external activities. In fact, SMED planning stage has direct and indirect effects on subsequent stages and SMED benefits.
Highlights
Lean manufacturing (LM), known as the Toyota Production system (TPS), is one of the most popular techniques for quality and productivity improvement in the automotive industry [1], it has been adopted by other industrial sectors, including aerospace, electronics, and services, among others [2]
H3: There is enough statistical evidence to affirm that activities performed at the Separation Phase of Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED) implementation have a direct and positive effect on activities carried out at the Improvement Phase, since when the first latent variable increases its standard deviation by one unit, the standard deviation of the second latent variable increases by 0.34 units
According to data gathered and analyzed from 379 questionnaires administered in Ciudad Juárez, the following conclusions can be drawn regarding SMED implementation in Mexican maquiladoras: (1) Before implementing SMED in their processes, companies must have adequate information regarding their processes, since activities performed at the Identification Phase have a strong effect on activities at Separation Phase
Summary
Lean manufacturing (LM), known as the Toyota Production system (TPS), is one of the most popular techniques for quality and productivity improvement in the automotive industry [1], it has been adopted by other industrial sectors, including aerospace, electronics, and services, among others [2]. LM seeks perfection through continuous improvement and eliminates waste by separating value added activities (VA) from non-value added activities (NVA) [4]. In this sense, LM focuses on different aspects of the production process in order to ensure the value flow. According to the LM philosophy, one of the main production systems inhibitors is process inflexibility. Shingo (1985) pointed out that after company Toyota Amkawa Auto Body Industries K.K. implemented SMED in one of its plants it gained softer production and shorter delivery times. Authors Musa et al [12] argued that SMED reduces both setup times and changeover costs, whereas Deros et al [22]
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