Productivity improvement of production floor using line balancing: A case study at a manufacturing company
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American Society for Engineering Management, 2015. The manufacturing of medical devices involves a complex network of interactions and material flows. These complex interactions are very likely to lead to wastes and overlaps in the processes, thereby adding cost and inefficiency in the overall manufacturing process. This paper presents the case of a biomedical manufacturing focusing on productivity improvement. The Six-Sigma DMAIC approach is used to identify wastes and improve the processes. Initially, several time studies are conducted to measure the work content of the selected assembly line by including any personal allowances and unavoidable delays. The productivity improvements are made by preparing the balance sheets that visually map work content in order to meet customer demands and identify improvement opportunities. Furthermore, our findings suggest that sustaining a culture of lean manufacturing or continuous improvement can be difficult after the enthusiasm of the transformation fades. Therefore, in order to sustain the real productivity gains the process improvement, an organization has to ensure come that it becomes everybody's job to find opportunities for improvement rather than the domain of a specialized few.
