Industrial Engineering & Management

Integrated application of lean manufacturing is used for the identification of critical drivers in production of automobile hose. Company’s historical performance is reviewed to enlist problems like overtimes, low productivity, low production line efficiency and suboptimal utilization of resources. To cope with the aforesaid impediments, system constraints were identified through process flows, time study, work element analysis and identification of value added and non-value added activities which were making production line fragile. Constraints were exploited through drum identification, current line balancing of hose assembly line, current targets, manpower requirements analysis, and current line balancing efficiency. The constraints were further elevated through ECRS technique, set-up time reduction, optimized layout, and resource levelling through largest candidate method. Non-Constraint processes were subordinated through largest candidate method of resource levelling. Constraints were further elevated by induction of New Crimping Machine. As a result of this study; production were increased from 365 to 630 Systems per day and overtime was reduced from 315 man-hours/month to zero man-hours.