Advance principle in lean manufacturing
PROD10214 Advanced Principles in Lean Manufacturing Referred/Deferred coursework 2021
Refer to the case study data (below) and:
i) Draw the current state map for the Value Stream. (30 marks)
ii) Outline the major questions which should be asked, and answered, when developing a future
state map. (20 marks)
iii) Use your answer to ii) to develop and draw a Future State Map, outlining the improvements
made by implementing a lean manufacturing strategy in this organisation. (30 marks)
iv) Produce an outline implementation plan for the transformation. (20 marks)
Case Study Data
Medway Manufacturing Ltd produces hand tools for DIYbase, a major national retailer. One particular line produces scissors in left-handed (LH) and right-handed (RH) ergonomic versions.
Production Processes
The line’s manufacturing process involves cold-forging scissor halves from steel, grinding the blades,
assembly and packaging.
The finished scissors are boxed and shipped to the customer’s distribution centre daily.
50 rods of steel (raw material) are delivered by the supplier, 2 times each month.
Customer requirements
500 pairs of scissors per day. Of which:
o 400 are right handed
o 100 are left handed
Scissors are to be shipped on cards of 25 pairs per card.
The customer orders in multiples of cards.
One daily shipment is sent to the customer by truck.
Work time
20 working days per month
1 shift of 8 hours per day, one 1⁄2 hour break for lunch, and two 10 minute coffee breaks per day.
Production Control
MRP system.
Customer emails demand forecast each week to cover the next quarter year.
Fax monthly order for raw material to supplier
Customer emails daily firm order
Issues weekly schedule to forging, grinding and assembly processes
Issues daily shipping schedule to despatch Process information
The processes occur in the following sequence and each workpiece passes through all the processes.
1) Cold-forging
Cycle time = 2 seconds
Change-over time = 65 minutes
Inventory in front of the process = 50 rods of raw material (equivalent to 10 days worth)
Uptime = 90%
1 operator
2) Grinding
Cycle time = 40 seconds
Change-over time = 15 minutes
Inventory in front of process = 4000 RH sets, 1000 LH sets
Uptime = 85%
1 operator
3) Assembly
Cycle time = 56 seconds
Change-over time = 10 minutes
Inventory in front of process = 3200 RH sets, 800 LH sets
Uptime = 100%
2 operators
4) Packaging
Cycle time = 2 minutes per card
Changeover time = 30 seconds
Inventory in front of process = 2000 RH pairs, 500 LH pairs
Uptime = 100%
1 operator
5) Shipping
One shipment per day, typically of 20 cards
Inventory before shipping = 480 cards of RH pairs, 120 cards of LH pairs