Abstract:
The objectives of this study were to improve the manufacturing process for PET-bottled drinking water product by using Lean manufacturing theory and to increase the overall efficiency of the production line by focusing on eliminating waste, reducing time, reducing head count, and reducing inventory space and transportation of empty PET drinking water bottle.
Initially, there were 4 types of waste in the transportation process of empty PET drinking water bottle which were unnecessary stock, unnecessary motion, unnecessary transportation, and idle time. The improvement in the production process was done by focusing on eliminating waste using Lean manufacturing theory with line automation that conformed to just-in-time (JIT) production.
After the improvement of the transportation process in the production line for empty PET drinking water bottles, the results found that the operation time was reduced 39.51 minutes per shift, the operation officers were reduced by 15 persons per day, and the inventory was reduced to zero inventory. Altogether, the overall efficiency in the production line increased by 9.68% which lead to total cost savings of Baht 15,772,790.56 per year.