Value stream management and balance of the production line to increase productivity: A case study of 4Q00 production process of An Automotive Company Limited
Abstract:
The objective of the research was to study the efficiency of value stream management and the adjustment of the balance of the production line to increase productivity by using 4Q00 production process in an automotive company limited. The study was a qualitative research that used the interview principle, and the experimental research was the instrument for collecting data from the staff and 4Q00 lineproduction. The findings revealed that the assessment of the efficiency of value stream management was done by comparing the time cycle of the work process before and after the improvement. From the application of lean manufacturing by using identifying and eliminating 7 wastes, Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), inventory management and control,5S management method, and the adjustment of the balance of the production line, it was found that there was the reduction in the production time. Actually, this could be done by eliminating wastes, so 8,925 seconds which was the time spent for the past production was reduced to 7,341 seconds. In other words, it was reduced by 238 seconds. This was done by adjusting the sewing process to be simpler. Moreover, 1,691 seconds of non-value added time of the previous production process was reduced to 1,346 seconds. This was reduced by 345 seconds. The reasons why there was decrease in time were clear allocation, in the department responsible for checking materials, and TotalProductive Maintenance, that made everyone involved in reducing the time wasted when the machineryhad problems. In fact, the chief maintenance officerhad to make a maintenanceplanto checkand maintain machinery, and there was improvement in handling the vehicles that transported material to fabric sewing production line. After the use of 4Q00, there was the increase in the efficiency of the production of car seat covers. In fact, before using it, the company could produce car seat covers for 396 cars per day, but after using it, the company could produce car seat covers for 576 cars per day. The increase of the efficiency was 45 per cent. By the use of 4Q00 production line with the same number of 13 staffs and the same amount of production input, the efficiency of the production increased from 69 per cent to 95 per cent.