Waste Assessment in an Indian Casting Industry: A step towards Lean Manufacturing

Abstract

In today’s era of globalization, it is essential to ensure that Indian manufacturing industries like casting and metal-working industries which work on stringent conditions of varying customer demands and constant adhering to excellent quality standards are able to flourish in the fiercely competitive environment while keeping the production as economical as possible. Hence, the need arises for continuous improvement in the manufacturing phase of the product by assessing, minimizing, and eliminating wastes of any kind. This study adopts and implements a waste assessment model in a casting industry with the purpose of assessment of wastes and hence, proceed towards a leaner manufacturing set-up. Initially, the quantification of direct relationships between the seven types of wastes was done by forming a waste relationship matrix (WRM). Next, a waste assessment questionnaire (WAQ) consisting of 68 questions, was introduced for the allocation of wastes in the industry. The results of WRM and WAQ were integrated to obtain the ranks of the seven types of wastes in the industry, and it was found that waste of defects was the highest-ranked waste followed by wastes of inventory and overproduction. Process Activity Mapping (PAM) received the highest score (482.79) in the analysis done by Value Stream Analysis Tool (VALSAT), thus, it was chosen as the preferred tool in the current situation. The results of Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) of various defects of casting indicated sand inclusions (432) and slag inclusions (336) as the defects having the highest Risk Priority Numbers (RPN).