Abstract:
This study presents a waste reduction in the vacuum carburizing treatment
process in a case study of automotive part manufacturer. It focuses on the delays of
finished-goods delivery. The primary study shows that there was often excessive
inventory (materials, work-in-process and finished-goods) in the production process.
These wastes occur because the production plan does not comply with the due date
regarding the customer's schedule. This study aims to enhance the success rate of
delivery by reducing the production lead-time to the target at 5 days per lot. It applied
Kanban method to manage the workflow and to balance demand across the
processes. The activities in the production process were transformed from a push
system to be a pull system. Furthermore, visual control and re-layout were
implemented to manage the inventory. The results showed that the production lead-
time was reduced from 5.80 days per lot to 4.52 days per lot. It consequently reduced
the inventory of materials, WIP and finished-goods from 168 lots to 100 lots. The rate
of delays was reduced from 15.3% to zero. In comparison to the previous approach,
this study can save the production costs of the company approximately 3,541,120 bath
a year.