PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVEMENT IN THE

ASEEMBLY FLOW-LINE

AZHAR RAJA DURAI PANDI KTH ROYAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Masters in Production Engineering and Management

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Productivity Improvement in the Assembly

Flow-Line

School of Industrial Engineering and Management

Department of Production Engineering

MASTER THESIS

Report done by

Azhar Raja Durai Pandi

Supervisor at KTH

Daniel Tesfamariam Semere

Supervisor at FAIVELEY TRANSPORTS

Vinayagam

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Abstract

As the material feeding system has the great impact on the assembly flow-line which enhances

the productivity thereby improves company’s profit. The purpose of this thesis is mainly focused

on the flexibility usage of the material handling/feeding system into the line which helps in

improving the productivity. The new design for the material handling trolley was designed and

also came up with the additional concept of kitting and palletizing the parts in the newly designed

trolley which helps in easy handling for the operators and improves the productivity as well. The

appropriate analysis and comparison corresponding to the productivity time was done with the

existing material handling trolley and with the newly designed trolley. In addition to this,

proposed ideas for enhancing the assembly flow line and successfully proved that material

handling system, kitting and palletizing plays a very important role in productivity improvement

of the assembly flow line.

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Abstrakt

Eftersom materialmatningssystemet har stor inverkan på aggregatets flödesledning som förbättrar

produktiviteten förbättrar därmed företagets vinst. Syftet med denna avhandling är huvudsakligen

inriktat på flexibilitetsanvändningen av materialhanterings- / matningssystemet i linjen som

hjälper till att förbättra produktiviteten. Den nya konstruktionen för materialhanteringsvagnen är

utformad och har även tagit fram ytterligare konceptet med kittning och palletering av delarna i

den nybyggda vagnen, vilket hjälper till att hantera operatörerna enkelt och att förbättra

produktiviteten också. Den lämpliga analysen och jämförelsen som motsvarade

produktivitetstiden gjordes med den befintliga materialhanteringsvagnen och med den

nyutvecklade vagnen. Utöver detta har förslag till idéer för att förbättra sammansättningsflödet

och framgångsrikt visat att materialhanteringssystemet, kittning och palletering spelar en mycket

viktig roll i produktivitetsförbättring av aggregatets flödesledning.

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Acknowledgement

First of all I would be much more gratitude to Department of Production Engineering and

Management, KTH Royal Institute of Technology for giving me this thesis opportunity. I

thank Mr. Lasse Wingård, Department head, Mr. Per Johansson, Mr. Ove Bayard, who rendered

his full support for this thesis work. I like to express my sincere and special gratitude to my

supervisor Mr. Daniel Tesfamariam Semere who supported me with the patience and guided me

well during my thesis work and helped to do this challenging task easily.

I am thankful and also express my gratitude to Mr. Vinayagam, General Manager, PED, Mr.

Saravanan, Assistant Manager, PED, Faiveley Transports – A Wabtec Company for assistance

and encouragement who are my supervisor to accomplish this assignment and their valuable

guidance and supported me to present this thesis report in a success manner. Also to Mr.

Somasundaram, Human Resource, Faiveley Transports – A Wabtec Company and also few

industry persons for giving such attention and time for supporting me with this thesis work.

Finally, the last but not least my happy gratitude goes to my parents and family members and

all of dear friends who directly or indirectly helped me to complete this thesis report

successfully.

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Table of Contents

Abstract........................................................................................................................... 3

Abstrakt .......................................................................................................................... 5

Acknowledgement ........................................................................................................... 7

Table of Contents ............................................................................................................ 8

Abbreviations ................................................................................................................ 10

List of Figures ............................................................................................................... 11

List of Tables ................................................................................................................. 12

1. Company Introduction .......................................................................................... 13

2. Background ........................................................................................................... 14

2.1 Problem Description ......................................................................................................... 14

2.2 Limitations ....................................................................................................................... 15

2.3 Problems Identified in The Assembly Line ......................................................................... 16

3. Methodology .......................................................................................................... 18

4. Literature Review .................................................................................................. 19

4.1 Material Handling System ................................................................................................. 19

4.2 Continuous Supply............................................................................................................ 20

4.3 Batch Supply .................................................................................................................... 20

4.4 Kitting .............................................................................................................................. 21

4.5 Benefits of kitting ............................................................................................................. 21

4.6 Palletizing ........................................................................................................................ 22

5. Bogie Brakes .......................................................................................................... 24

5.1 TBU Assembly .................................................................................................................. 24

6. Production Lean Tools ........................................................................................... 27

6.1 Value Stream Mapping ..................................................................................................... 27

6.1.1 Current State ..................................................................................................................... 27

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6.1.2 Analysis of Current State ................................................................................................. 27

6.1.3 Proposed Improvements ............................................................................................... 28

6.1.4 Result .................................................................................................................................. 28

6.2 5S .................................................................................................................................... 31

6.3 Kaizen .............................................................................................................................. 31

6.4 Toyota Way 14 Principles .................................................................................................. 32

7. Current Material Handling/Feeding System ............................................................. 33

7.1 Effects Of Current Material Feeding System ...................................................................... 34

7.2 Current Trolley ................................................................................................................. 35

7.3 Current Workbench and Bin trolley ................................................................................... 36

7.4 CAD Modelling ................................................................................................................. 38

7.5 Kitting Concept ................................................................................................................. 39

7.6 Palletizing Concept ........................................................................................................... 39

8. Discussion .................................................................................................................. 44

8.1 Operators Feedback ......................................................................................................... 44

8.2 Revision of the Design ...................................................................................................... 44

8.3 Selection of Materials ....................................................................................................... 45

9. Market Study for Suppliers ....................................................................................... 46

9.1 Benchmarking and Suppliers for Material Handling Trolley ................................................ 46

9.2 Evaluation of Suppliers and Outcomes .............................................................................. 46

10. Reconsideration of the Design.................................................................................. 48

11. Analysis and Result ................................................................................................. 50

12. Future Development ................................................................................................ 53

13. Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 56

14. Reference ................................................................................................................. 57

Appendix ....................................................................................................................... 60

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Abbreviations

MHS - Material Handling System

VSM - Value Stream Mapping

TBU - Tread Brake Unit

PP - Poly-Propylene

HDPE - High Density Poly-Ethylene

SMH - Standard Man Hour

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List of Figures

Figure 1: Flowchart of the Methodology ................................................................................. 18

Figure 2: Principles of MHS ...................................................................................................... 20

Figure 3: Current layout of workstations in TBU assembly line .............................................. 26

Figure 4: Current state of TBU assembly line (service brake).................................................. 29

Figure 5: Future state of TBU assembly line (service brake) ................................................... 30

Figure 6: Effects of current MHS .............................................................................................. 35

Figure 7: Current trolleys for TBU assembly line ..................................................................... 36

Figure 8: Current trolleys for TBU assembly lin ....................................................................... 36

Figure 9: Current workbench and bin trolley. ......................................................................... 37

Figure 10: New trolley design for MHS .................................................................................... 38

Figure 11: Shoe holder pallet ................................................................................................... 41

Figure 12: Housing pallet ......................................................................................................... 42

Figure 13: Parking unit pallet ................................................................................................... 43

Figure 14: Final design A .......................................................................................................... 48

Figure 15: Final design B .......................................................................................................... 48

Figure 16 : 2D drafting of final trolley design .......................................................................... 49

Figure 17: Current analysis of TBU assembly line (service brake) ........................................... 51

Figure 18: Future analysis of TBU assembly line (service brake) ............................................. 51

Figure 19: Before implementation of new MHS ...................................................................... 54

Figure 20: After implementation of new MHS ........................................................................ 54

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List of Tables

Table 1: SMH time for service brake assembly ....................................................................... 25

Table 2: SMH time for parking brake assembly ...................................................................... 25

Table 3: MHS time study ......................................................................................................... 33

Table 4: Part list for shoe holder pallet .................................................................................... 41

Table 5: Parts list for housing pallet ........................................................................................ 42

Table 6: Parts list for parking unit pallet ................................................................................. 43

Table 7: Selection of materials ................................................................................................ 45

Table 8: Cost of trolley and pallets (in PP) in inr .................................................................... 46

Table 9: Cost of trolley and pallets (in HDPE) in inr .............................................................. 47

Table 10: Cost of trolley and pallets in sek.............................................................................. 47

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1. Company Introduction

Faiveley Rail Transport India Limited is one among the leading manufacturer & exporter of

huge variety of train and metro rail products, developing trust for the customers by providing

the best quality with lot of comfort, managing best safety systems in the train, better

management of the electrical and electronic in the platform and also proving more services.

Faiveley Rail Transport India Limited Transports (FTIL) has become the global leader in terms

of designing and manufacturing of huge variety of products which are used in the rail industry

and the products that are included are like, advanced braking systems, doors and doors

electronic systems, brake panels, coupler systems and more electronic products. The industry

in India, the company manufacture and supplies the products like, brake control panels, air

conditioning product, and service & parking brakes and couplers as well for the country's rail

network. The company supplies their product to many customers across India, they are, Delhi

metro Rail Corporation, Kochi Metro Rail Corporation, Chennai Metro Rail Corporation and

also to Indian Railways. Most of the orders for the company is from the Delhi Metro Rail

Corporation. In addition to designing complex systems for the Indian rail market, the highly

trained team of engineers at FTIL also support their five global centres of competence for

various design and development works [1].

FTIL is the rail industry that works under the Faiveley Group, which is in France and also the

company’s headquarters and has their operations in around 13 countries across the world. On

30 November 2016, Wabtec Corporation acquired a 51% majority ownership of Faiveley

Transport, after completing the purchase of the Faiveley family’s stake. The strategic

combination of Wabtec and Faiveley Transport creates one of the world’s largest public rail

equipment companies, with revenues of about $4.2 billion and a presence in all key transit and

freight rail markets worldwide [1].

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2. Background

The project is about strategically planning and improvising the production line and also

balancing the flow line by using line balancing techniques and implementing kaizen

(continuous improvement) in the production line. This particular thesis work is well suitable

for the Production Engineering and Basic Manufacturing Technology skill set.

2.1 Problem Description

The problem description of this particular Thesis Work is,

the company being a manufacturing company has a production line, which is used to assemble

of braking systems for normal trains and also for metro trains. We have an existing production

line but since it is not optimized, this thesis work would be focused on improving the efficiency

of the production line thus optimizing production. An important and challenging task in this

thesis work would be, kaizen or continuous improvement which tends to productivity

improvement. Although this is a challenging task, this is something that the company has been

working on and we would the thesis work to come up with specific methods as to how this

could be implemented and implement it in the company. Further the purpose of the thesis work

should completely have focused on the material handling systems which helps in enhancing

the productivity such that all the parts which are required for the particular workstation have

to be loaded in a single material handling trolley and it has to done for three major workstations

of the TBU line. Besides these mentioned areas for improvement of the thesis work, the work

has to come up with better solutions to improve the productivity. In addition to this the

company has designed the new layout in which the possible proposal ideas for the productivity

improvement can be proposed considering the appropriate production lean tools.

The major problems are as follows,

• The existing production line is not well organized.

• The Material Handling System (MHS) is not well planned and designed (i.e the parts

feed into the assembly line through material handling trolley)

• Too much of manual operations.

• Non-value-added time during the Material Handing has impact on productivity

thereby increases the time for assembly process.

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2.2 Limitations

As this is the master thesis which is the most important course which added the value to the

master degree student to fulfil his degree that is linked to the master program course. A few

limitations have to be made in order for this project to be feasible one.

Productivity improvement in the bogie brakes assembly. There are three assembly lines in the

bogie brakes assembly which includes TBU assembly line, Actuators assembly line and

Calipers assembly line. The project is to enhance the productivity in the TBU assembly line by

improving the better material feeding system. The TBU assembly lines has five major assembly

workstations. They are, shoe holder assembly, housing assembly, parking assembly,

suspension/support-arm link assembly and main assembly. Then followed by the testing,

inspection, storage and dispatch. There are three variants of products that are assembled in this

line, (i) Indian Railways, (ii) Riyadh Metro and (iii) Kochi Metro (KMRL). The TBU assembly

line consists of assembling of two products such as (i) service brakes and (ii) parking brakes

for all the three variants. Limited to work with Thread Brake Unit (TBU) assembly line and

further again limited to work on Service TBU . Trolley Design for both Service & Parking TBU.

In current scenario, there are two to three operators working for the five major assemblies

depends on the demand needed such that one person has to do the entire job of these five major

assemblies that are mentioned above. In a day there are two shifts, each shift has 8 hours in

which 45 minutes is for lunch and tea breaks. Each individual operator is managing to assemble

two complete TBU assembly in one shift. Whereas the actual plan is to complete 10 numbers

but they are assembling only 4 or 6 per shift based on the man power. The operators are walking

around 10 to 20 seconds for picking up the one part which is required for the assembly as the

trolleys are placed 3 to 3.5 meters from the workstation. On the whole, the operators are

walking around 15 minutes approximately for the material handling. Also, there are mixed up

of parts in the trolleys for different workstations. The reason behind this is, few parts are

coming from the paint shop and few parts are coming from the stores and the parts are of

different shapes and sizes. Then they are brought in separate trolley near to the workstation.

Each particular assembly consists of many small child parts which are stored in the bins in bin

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trolley in front of the workstation. The tools required for the assembly operations are kept in a

rack below to the workbench.

For this case, the engineers in the process engineering development has designed one new

layout and in which they need this thesis work to be more focused on material feeding system

that helps in productivity improvement. In the new layout, the trolley is approximately around

0.8 meters from each workstation. The constraints for the new trolley design should be in such

a manner that, one trolley should hold almost all 10 complete assemblies’ A and B class parts

which are required for the appropriate workstation and the trolley should be more flexible and

easy for the operators to handle ergonomically and perform their job easily. Also, the cost of

the trolley should be very cost effective.

As mentioned, there are several different sizes of the parts which have to be loaded in the

material handling trolley. In this project, the focus is limited to develop the new material

handing trolley design for 3 major workstations. Apparently the productivity improvement

through the better solutions of material handling system includes a lot of processes and parts,

the focus will be towards the most time consuming processes which comes under non-value

activity such as walking and searching of parts. These processes are mainly concerning the

very basic processes of the activities carried out in the assembly line. Therefore, this project

focuses mainly on above mentioned parts with the given constraints.

2.3 Problems Identified in The Assembly Line

The detail study of the whole TBU assembly line and also all the possible details necessary for

the material handling system was done successfully. From the above mentioned case study,

there are many risks and problems are identified and also got the feedbacks from the operator

such that the risks they are facing with the current material handling trolleys.

The following risks and problems that are identified in the assembly flow-line are as

follows,

• The parts are loaded in the three different trolleys like, painted parts in one trolley,

other stores parts in another two trolleys and child parts in bin trolleys. By this there

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is no standard trolleys for particular workstation and operators take more time in

searching of parts to pick up.

• Most of the operations are performed manually which tends to very time

consuming.

• The material feeding system is not standardized and its time consuming.

• Non-value activities such as walking and searching for tools & parts.

• Picking up the tools are in the rack below the workbench which is not ergonomic.

• Lifting of heavy parts manually from the major 3 workstations to the main assembly

workstation which is also not ergonomic.

• In some cases, if the unavailability of parts which is required for the appropriate

workstation then the entire line stops as the whole assembly operation is done by a

single operator.

• Child parts in bin trolleys are not loaded with sequence of the assembly order which

results in confusion and time consuming.

• MHS is not standard and also not flexible.

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3. Methodology

This is the methodology to be followed for the successful completion of the project.

Figure 1: Flowchart of the Methodology

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4. Literature Review

The literatures which are closely related to this thesis is taken as reference and also those

literature helped to finish this challenging thesis work in efficient way.

4.1 Material Handling System

Surinder Kumar et al [2] examined about the material handling system (MHS) and in which it

is clearly seen that the material handling system (MHS) in the assembly line plays a vital role

among the performance and the productivity of the assembly line. So that, MHS should be

properly planned and designed and also it should be placed at right time, right sequence and so

on.

Art Smalley [3] investigated about the Toyota's New Material-Handling System that shows

TPS's Flexibility states that Toyota Motor Corporation has introduced a new material-handling

system based on kitting to reduce complexity and improve quality in assembly areas. Also the

kiting concept helps in minimizing three-forth the time of the MHS.

Seran Akincilar et al [4] have planned to design an in-plant MHS that could be more ergonomic

and improves production efficiency. In recent modern industries, the scenario is that in order

to stay competitive in the industrial market, companies need to achieve the quality in both

customer satisfaction and cost reduction in production operations. Material Handling Systems

(MHS) is the place to achieve this challenging goal, as such it have the direct impact on

production.

Vieira, G. B. B. et al [5] focused on improvements in internal materials handling management,

approaching the high profile company like the automotive industry. Materials handling system

and the production flow are well co-related in general. Due to this, transit time, resources usage,

and service levels were having high impact through MHS. The authors’ objectives were,

evaluation of the impact based on materials handling management over the internal customers’

perceptions of cost, safety, service, agility and satisfaction which is a systematic approach.

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Johansson [6] analysed about the materials feeding has the important role in identifying the

right principle, and which will suits well for feeding the materials to a workstation or an

assembly line. have categorised some various principles upon feeding materials to a

workstation or an assembly line which includes continuous supply, batch supply and kitting.

These are shown in Figure 1 as follows, and the categorised principles are based on,

• Selection of part numbers or all part numbers

• Sorted by part numbers or assembly object.

Figure 2: Principles of MHS

4.2 Continuous Supply

Johansson [6] gave the description about continuous supply such that the materials are

distributed to the assembly stations in units suitable for handling for an assembly operation and

where these units are replaced when they are empty. There is no replacements of different part

numbers rather than that all parts are available at the assembly station at every time for the

assembly of products. Reloading of parts are often done by store person, either in bins, or in

trolleys.

4.3 Batch Supply

Johansson [6] gave the brief description on Batch Supply such that the materials are supplied

for various products to be assembled. The batch of materials can be a batch of required part

numbers or in fixed batch quantities. Apparently it differs from the continuous supply such that

only less part numbers which are required for the batch assembly have to be loaded and stored

near the work station.

BATCH CONTINUOUS

KITTING -

SELECTION OF PART NUMBERS

SORTED BY PART NUMBER

ALL PART NUMBERS

SORTED BY ASSEMBLY OBJECT

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4.4 Kitting

In most of production/manufacturing companies, the loading of parts required for sub-

assemblies and major assemblies operation to the shop floor in pre-determined numbers that

are placed near workstation either in bins or trolleys is known as kitting.

Johansson [6] view on kitting states that for one complete assembled product, the parts which

are required for that product will be collected and kept as a kitting parts near the work station.

Also the kitting is completely different from the batch supply and also kitting helps in

productivity improvement. Further the kitting is then discussed in detail.

Jimesh M. Gajjar [7] demonstrated that the material feeding/handling principle of kitting

across the in-plant the material supply in the assembly line. With this principle, parts are loaded

very close to the appropriate workstation to perform the assembly operations in pre-sorted kits,

such that the each kit containing parts for one complete assembly of the part of that particular

workstation.

Johansson [8] examined the kiting concept in which a kitting process is well-suited for

parallelized flow in an assembly line, product that assembled with many part numbers, quality

assurance products and parts of high value.

Ding et al [9] describes the concept of kitting which plays a key role in industries which

includes electronics industry, which co-relates with small parts and performs assembly

operations repeatedly, JIT-system which manages larger parts to be assembled has more

benefits from kitting concept.

4.5 Benefits of kitting

Bozer Y.A. et al [10-13] analysed about the benefits of kiting. The kitting the most effective

principle in MHS has some benefits which are as follows:

• Saves shop-floor space in manufacturing/production plant

• Reduces assembly operators’ walking and searching times which are non-value added

activities

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• Controls production time at every workstations in assembly line and reduces Work In

Progress (WIP).

• Reduces or facilitates material delivery to workstations by eliminating the need to

supply individual component containers.

• Increases product quality, reducing the frequency of wrong parts in the end product or

missing parts in the end product.

• By reducing operators search time for parts through kitting which becomes very flexible

for assembly operations and makes easy for training the new employees.

4.6 Palletizing

In manufacturing/production industries, the loading and unloading of parts or components to

or from pallets are basically known as palletizing.

Rahul. V. Mahajan et al [14] explained about the palletizing systems plays a key role in flexible

way of material handling system to enhance productivity. Palletizing system is a concept which

is designed concerning the performance and flexibility of the productivity in the

assembly/manufacturing line. In recent scenario, palletizing system and its installation and then

its integration with material handling system within the in-plant are the parameters to concern

highly for the good industrial engineer.

Adsavakulchai S (2014) [15] describes that palletizing play a vital role in

manufacturing/production industries in flexible transportation in shop-floor. Palletizing helps

to enhance fast transport of parts and reduces transport cost and helps to optimize space in

shop-floor and also carries heavy load capacity.

4.7 Polymers (HDPE Vs PP)

Sihama E. Salih et al [16] has investigated various effects of the blend ratio of HDPE : PP and

LDPE : PP with its mechanical properties and the end results of this particular investigation

are: (i) The mechanical properties of HDPE : PP blends resulted with the higher values when

compared to mechanical properties of LDPE : PP blends. 2) Mechanical properties that

includes Tensile strength, Fracture stress, Young modulus, Bending modulus, creep modulus

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and hardness of both HDPE : PP and LDPE : PP blend are clearly seen that its mechanical

properties increases based on the increment of PP weight percentage. But there is the

exceptional on elongation which seems to be decreased.

Barbara O. Calcagno et al [17] described that the HDPE and PP polymers are basically

processed by injection moulding. They are highly useful in many applications and it has a wide

range of industrial and household applications. Polypropylene (PP) and high-density

polyethylene (HDPE) are known as semi-crystalline polymers which are widely used in

industrial applications such as packaging, coatings, composite materials, and house and

automobile functional parts. HDPE generally a tough polymer with low strength and stiffness,

high elongation at break and also less dense than other polymers. Coming to PP, the properties

of PP reveals that it has high dynamic loading capacity and higher strength and stiffness

compared to HDPE.

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5. Bogie Brakes

All brakes which are used in railways are generally air brakes. They use fail-safe brake system

(even the brake fails it manage to apply the brake). Different types of bogie brakes, in that

1)TBU (Tread brake unit)

2)WMD (Wheel mounted disc brake)

3)AMD (Axle mounted disc brake)

4)BMBE (Bogie mounted brake equipment)

5.1 TBU Assembly

TBU work based on the Pneumatic - Mechanical operated brakes (A mechanism which

pushes the brake shoe to tread of wheels driven by compressed air). It is based on fail brake

system. One bogie consists of 8 Service TBU and other 4 are Parking TBU. It has the

capability for the speed of 120 kmph.

Productivity improvement in the TBU assembly line is the main goal of this thesis work. There

are three assembly lines in the bogie brakes assembly which includes TBU assembly line,

Actuators assembly line and Calipers assembly line. The project is to enhance the productivity

in the TBU assembly line by improving the better material feeding system. Then the TBU is

categorized into two types of brakes such as service brake and parking brake. The TBU lines

has four major assemblies with three workstations. The four major assemblies are, shoe holder

assembly, housing assembly, suspension/support-arm link assembly and main assembly. The

above mentioned four assemblies are combined to for TBU service brake and for parking brake

there is one more workstation is included and apparently the assembly so called parking unit

assembly. Then the assembly line of TBU is followed by the testing, finishing work, inspection,

package and dispatch. There are three variants of products that are assembled in this TBU

assembly line, which are as follows

(i) Indian Railways,

(ii) Riyadh Metro and

(iii) Kochi Metro (KMRL).

As discussed above, the TBU line consists of assembling of two products such as service brakes

and parking brakes which are same for all the three variants. The Standard Man Hour (SMH)

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for the complete service and parking brake of TBU unit assembly are tabulated as shown below.

For all three variants, the SMH time are found to be same.

The SMH time for the service brake of TBU unit assembly is done with average time study

which is tabulated in table 1 as follows.

SL NO TASK SMH (MIN)

1 Housing Assembly 110

2 Shoe Holder Assembly 70

3 Main Assembly 35

4 Testing 45

5 Finishing Work 30

6 Inspection 10

Table 1: SMH time for service brake assembly

The SMH time for the parking brake of TBU unit assembly is done with average time study

which is tabulated in table 2 as follows.

SL NO TASK SMH (MIN)

1 Housing Assembly 110

2 Parking Unit Assembly 80

3 Shoe Holder Assembly 70

4 Main Assembly 35

5 Testing 45

6 Finishing Work 30

7 Inspection 10

Table 2: SMH time for parking brake assembly

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The current layout of workstations in TBU assembly line is shown in figure 3. It is seen clearly

that the assembly line consists of 4 workstations and main assembly fixture where main

assembly is done and a test rig. The yellow checked box denotes the bin trolley and KT denotes

the Kanban trolley which feeds the parts to all work stations for the TBU assembly line. And

there is one big rectangular box denoted by KT near the storage area is the trolley only used

for suspension link arm part for the Indian Railways which is used in workstation 1. On the

whole, the layout is not well designed and optimized and therefore the company also needs

some improvement over this issue.

Figure 3: Current layout of workstations in TBU assembly line

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6. Production Lean Tools

Many production lean tools like VSM, 5S and so on helps in to do the possible improvements in the assembly line and are as follows.

6.1 Value Stream Mapping

VSM is the production lean tool to find out the value and non-value activities in the production flow and helps in eliminating the wastes which improves productivity. It is done for only Service TBU assembly.

6.1.1 Current State

The company faces a number of challenges with their current production layout. To enhance

their profitable production of TBU line assembly some of the problems need to be identified

and then have to be eliminated. The problems are as follow.

• Not standard material handling system

• The customer orders are pushed through the production control system. Further, which

results in increase with the lead-times.

• Sometimes parts are not available in stock when the order comes in and has to be

ordered from the supplier, further increase with the lead-times.

• There is no proper organization of shop floor. Operators often can’t find the parts

needed, and WIP are kept near the shop floor. These WIP occupies more floor space.

6.1.2 Analysis of Current State

The company mainly focus on MHS which has the high impact on productivity growth. And

the assembly flow line seems to be push system. There are many inventories before the starting

of assembly line and also before inspection, packing and shipping processes. On the whole the

waiting time seems to be 1 to almost 3 days. The total lead time for each product is sound to

be under 4 days and 17.5 minutes (i.e 0.5 minutes = 30 seconds), while the time for which

value is added to the product is found to be 390 minutes. (Note: two operators are working the

same assembly process for shoe holder, housing and main assemblies)

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6.1.3 Proposed Improvements

As this thesis work is focused more on MHS, the new trolley is advisable to design with kitting

of parts in the pallets. And also kitting of child parts that is C class parts are also can be made

as kitting type so as to improve productivity which in turn reduces cycle time and also reduces

MHS time. The parts stocks will be managed by the production control through the new

automatic reorder technology system, with the safety inventory parts that lasts for two working

days. Hence, there will be a safety parts which will be on stock that manages till the reorder

time. Production control will send orders each morning to all the workstations as earlier and

finally the finished products are shipped at the end of 2nd day, so as to manage transportation

cost.

6.1.4 Result

On the whole, by the implementation of these proposed improvements the lead time can be

reduced nearly 4 days and 17.5 minutes to 1day and 17.5 minutes approximately (i.e 0.5

minutes = 30 seconds). By the implementation of new material handling system, the company

gets profit by improving their productivity which shown in the chapter of analysis. By the new

MHS, the cycle time can be reduced from 390 minutes to 380 minutes by eliminating few nan-

value added activities. The non-value activities which includes the operators walking and

searching of parts time and so on.

The current state map and future state map and done successfully using VSM tool in Microsoft

Visio and are shown in figures 4 and 5 as follows.

29

Figure 4: Current state of TBU assembly line (service brake)

PROD

UCTIO

N CON

TROL

SUPP

LIER

CUST

OMER

SHOW

HOLD

ER

ASSE

MBLY

HOUS

ING A

SSEMB

LYMA

IN AS

SEMB

LYTE

STING

FINISH

ING W

ORK

INSPE

CTIO

NPA

CKIN

G

C/T =

70 M

INS

AVAIL

ABILIT

Y = 0.

95

OPER

ATOR

S = 1

MHS T

IME =

6 MI

NS

C/T =

110 M

INS

AVAIL

ABILIT

Y = 0.

90

OPER

ATOR

S = 1

MHS T

IME =

7 MI

NS

C/T =

35 M

INS

AVAIL

ABILIT

Y = 0.

95

OPER

ATOR

S = 1

MHS T

IME =

2 MI

NS

C/T =

45 M

INS

AVAIL

ABILIT

Y = 0.

95

OPER

ATOR

S = 1

C/T =

30 M

INS

AVAIL

ABILIT

Y = 0.

95

OPER

ATOR

S = 1

C/T =

10 M

INS

AVAIL

ABILIT

Y = 0.

95

OPER

ATOR

S = 1

C/T =

300 M

INS

AVAIL

ABILIT

Y = 0.

90

OPER

ATOR

S = 2

C/T =

180 M

INS

AVAIL

ABILIT

Y = 0.

95

OPER

ATOR

S = 3

35 M

INS

17.5

MINS

55MI

NS17

.5 MI

NS22

.5 MI

NS

12 HO

URS

15 M

INS

1 DAY

5 MIN

S

1 DAY

150 M

INS

4 DAY

S 17.5

MIN

UTES

390 M

INS

90 M

INS

1 DAY

12 HO

URS

DAILY

SCHE

DULE

ORDE

RS FR

OM

CUST

OMER

ORD

ER

DAILY

CU

STOM

ER

ORDE

RS

1 PIEC

E

CURR

ENT S

TATE

MAP

1 DAY

2 DAY

S2 D

AYS

SHIPP

ING

35 M

INS

17.5

MINS

55MI

NS17

.5 MI

NS22

.5 MI

NS

12 HO

URS

15 M

INS

1 DAY

5 MIN

S

1 DAY

150 M

INS

4 DAY

S 17.5

MIN

UTES

390 M

INS

90 M

INS

1 DAY

12 HO

URS

30

Figure 5: Future state of TBU assembly line (service brake)

PROD

UCTIO

N CON

TROL

SUPP

LIER

CUST

OMER

SHOW

HOLD

ER

ASSE

MBLY

HOUS

ING A

SSEMB

LYMA

IN AS

SEMB

LYTE

STING

FINISH

ING W

ORK

INSPE

CTIO

NPA

CKIN

G

C/T =

65 M

INS

AVAIL

ABILIT

Y = 0.

95

OPER

ATOR

S = 1

MHS T

IME =

1 MI

NS

C/T =

105 M

INS

AVAIL

ABILIT

Y = 0.

90

OPER

ATOR

S = 1

MHS T

IME =

2 MI

NS

C/T =

45 M

INS

AVAIL

ABILIT

Y = 0.

95

OPER

ATOR

S = 1

MHS T

IME =

2 MI

NS

C/T =

45 M

INS

AVAIL

ABILIT

Y = 0.

95

OPER

ATOR

S = 1

C/T =

30 M

INS

AVAIL

ABILIT

Y = 0.

95

OPER

ATOR

S = 1

C/T =

10 M

INS

AVAIL

ABILIT

Y = 0.

95

OPER

ATOR

S = 1

C/T =

300 M

INS

AVAIL

ABILIT

Y = 0.

90

OPER

ATOR

S = 2

C/T =

180 M

INS

AVAIL

ABILIT

Y = 0.

95

OPER

ATOR

S = 3

32.5

MINS

17.5

MINS

52.5

MINS

17.5

MINS

22.5

MINS

15 M

INS

5 MIN

S

1 day

150 M

INS

1 DAY

17.5

MINU

TES

385 M

INUT

ES90

MIN

S

DAILY

SCHE

DULE

ORDE

RS W

HEN

REOR

DER P

OINT

RE

ACHE

D

DAILY

CU

STOM

ER

ORDE

RS

1 PIEC

E

FUTU

RE ST

ATE M

AP

SHIPP

ING

1 day

32.5

MINS

17.5

MINS

52.5

MINS

17.5

MINS

22.5

MINS

15 M

INS

5 MIN

S

1 day

150 M

INS

1 DAY

17.5

MINU

TES

385 M

INUT

ES90

MIN

S

31

6.2 5S

Yamagar A.C [18] studied about a lean tool 5S and its importance. 5S is a system which helps

to reduce waste and optimize productivity through maintaining an clean, safe, standard,

organized workplace and helpful to achieve the consistent operational results. The 5S is

generally defined as Sort(Seiri), Set in Order(Seiton), Shine (Seiso), Standardize (Seiketsu),

and Sustain (Shitsuke), provide a methodology for organizing, cleaning, developing, and

sustaining a productive and well organized work environment. 5S encourages workers to

improve their work standard and provides them the knowledge in how to reduce waste,

downtime, and inventory due to process failure and lack of parts. 5S helps the line to sort and

set the process in sequence and use standard procedures and make a clean environment around

the workbench and thereby improve the productivity.

6.3 Kaizen

Kitano et al [19] studied about the continuous improvement and explained about its importance

in industries. The Japanese word for continuous improvement is mostly termed as kaizen.

Kaizen is most frequently used where there is the essential need for the continuous

improvement. From the Japanese work ‘kai’ which means ‘change’ and ‘zen’ means good and

on the whole it means to the term known as improvement. Masaaki Imai [20] elaborates that

Kaizen is an essential needs required always for the MHS which is the key role for the

production growth. There are many kaizen proposals for this assembly line such as

improvement with the trolley, also improvement with the workbench, using fixtures for the

workstation for easy operation, automatic torque tool can be used and so on.

32

6.4 Toyota Way 14 Principles

Liker [21] gave the summary on The Toyota Way 14 Principles, in that the principle 6 is more

helpful to perform standard trolley and pallet designs in new MHS of this thesis work. Principle

6 -‘Standardized tasks and processes are the foundation for continuous improvement and

employee empowerment’. With this help the principle 6 the standard procedure for MHS and

standard design of trolley size and pallet size and then it should be documented which will be

beneficial for new employees to work easily.

33

7. Current Material Handling/Feeding System

The material handling/feeding system is very much important for the operators who are

working in the assembly line. Also the material handling system plays a vital role in

productivity improvement which should be made easy for the operators in performing their

jobs. The current material handling system, in which the trolleys are placed is found out to be

approximately 2.5 to 3 metres from the the workstation and the bin trolleys are placed in front

of the workstation which is easy reach of the operators hands. The parts are categorised into

three class such as A, B and C class parts. The A class parts are the painted parts, those are

kept in a separate trolley (1 trolley) and B class parts are the parts from the stores, those are

kept in another separate trolley (2 trolleys) and finally the child parts know as C class parts are

also from the stores, those are kept in bin trolley (2 bin trolleys). The above mentioned parts

are not kept according to the particular workstation rather than that they are kept in accordance

to A, B and C class parts. Because of this there were confusion in identifying the parts and also

it affects the performance and the productivity of the TBU assembly line.

The MHS time study is on average and tabulated as shown in table 3 below. A simple stop

watch is used for the study. It is noted visually that picking one part from the trolley and placing

it in the workstation, the operator takes approximately 15 to 20 seconds.

Sl No Workstation MHS - time

(Trolley) in mins

MHS – time (Bin

trolley) in mins

Total MHS

time in mins

1 Shoe holder assembly 5 1.2 6.2

2 Housing assembly 4.33 3 7.33

3 Parking Unit assembly 3.67 3 6.67

Table 3: MHS time study

This thesis work helps in designing the trolley according to the specific workstation and also

helps in kitting of the parts which helps in improving the performance and the productivity of

the TBU assembly line.

34

7.1 Effects Of Current Material Feeding System

From the data that were collected during thesis work is to analyse the current material feeding

system in assembly line. Parts quantity, inventory plans are the very useful data which became

easy for analysis. The effects of current material feeding system are described and shown in

figure 6 below.

Part Shortages in MHS is defined as the major issue in the assembly line being affected was

because of lack of getting right part at right time. This is due to the parameters like, supplier

delays, improper inventory control.

Poor Kanban Quantity in MHS is defined as the storage is not managed in the proper balanced

condition. Some parts will be stay fixed in the inventory at line side. This tends to waste

according to lean production system.

Unstandardized Work in MHS is defined as the parts picking is done manually by the operators,

they started collecting parts in batches required for one shift and this affected their standard

work procedure which in turn leads to affect the production.

Jimesh M. Gajjar [7] gives the review on material handling system (MHS) in the shop floor.

As continuous supply from stores is being practiced, all parts were loaded and stored at line

side such that even few parts were used less frequently. This lead to occupy more shop floor

space. This results in time consuming activity for the operators to walk and search for parts

required for assembly operation. Therefore, there is no 5s is strictly practiced in the line. This

affects the production rate apparently. Also the current MHS is tough to handle by the operators

which is also not in the ergonomic way

35

Figure 6: Effects of current MHS

7.2 Current Trolley

Parts from stores are known as B class parts and parts from the paint shop are known as A,

class parts are loaded in the tow different trolleys as shown in the figures 7 and 8 below. These

are the parts which are required for all work stations in the TBU assembly line. But

unfortunately, the parts are not kept according to the workstation which further tends to make

the confusion and searching of parts for the operators to work with. Also, this trolley is not

standardized which tends to the lot of time consuming for the production.

EFFECTS OF CURRENT

MHS

NO STANDARD RULES TO FOLLOW

TOUGH TO HANDLE

NOT ERGONOMIC

POOR KANBAN

QUANTITY

PARTS SHORTAGE

36

Figure 7: Current trolleys for TBU assembly line

Figure 8: Current trolleys for TBU assembly lin

7.3 Current Workbench and Bin trolley

The workbench and the bin trolley for the TBU assembly line is show in figure 9. The

workbench is not much ergonomic for the worker to perform their job as there are no fixtures

to hold the parts in one position. Also, the tools are kept under the rack below the workbench

as shown in figure which is also not ergonomic and tends to time consuming with the handling

of these tools. Further, it results in affecting the productivity of the TBU assembly line.

37

Coming to bin trolleys, the child parts are not kept in the sequence order according to the

assembly instruction and they are all meshed up which results in confusion for the operators to

work with that leads to time consuming in production and affects the productivity.

Figure 9: Current workbench and bin trolley.

38

7.4 CAD Modelling

Figure 10: New trolley design for MHS

The new trolley is design shown in figure 10 was designed according to the given constraints.

The constraints for the new trolley design should be designed in such a manner that, one trolley

should hold almost all 10 complete assembly parts which are required for the appropriate

workstation and the trolley should be more flexible and easy for the operators to handle and

perform their job. Also, the cost of the trolley should be very cost effective.

For which the design ends up with a new concept of kitting of the parts and store it in one pallet

such that one complete assembly can be done in that particular workstation. Also, the new

trolley design can able to hold 12 complete assembly parts. Considering there are 12 numbers

39

of complete TBU assembly part is required for the one bogie and also the design has meet that

requirements successfully. From the above design two assemblies are merged to a single

workstation which is shoe holder assembly and suspension/support-arm assembly. The design

of the new trolley is of standard size for the three-assembly workstation such as shoe holder

assembly, housing assembly and parking unit assembly. Also, the pallet design is of standard

size and only the partitions in the pallets are different for different assembly workstation.

The following picture gives the clear pictorial representation of the new trolley design. The

design and assembly is done using CatiaV5 and Pro-E Creo software. The new trolley design

has 4 racks and in which three pallets can be placed in one rack and totally there will be 12

pallets placed in the trolley. The yellow color pins are known as safety stopper which ensures

the pallets to be supported in its place.

7.5 Kitting Concept

The kitting plays an important role in this thesis work which has great impacts on MHS, as the

existing MHS of the assembly line is not flexible and it is very time consuming. Hence, the

kitting of parts has more advantageous things for the operator as well for the productivity

improvement.

In this thesis work, the kitting of parts are made based on the requirement of parts of that

specific workstation. Now the both A and B class parts necessary for the assembly of the

specific workstation are kitted and placed in the pallets and then the pallets are placed in the

appropriate trolleys.

7.6 Palletizing Concept

The pallets are designed in such a way that it holds all the A and B class parts of all three

variants mention earlier. The pallets are designed using a software CatiaV5. The pallets also

have some design constraints such that it should hold all the parts for one complete assembly

for particular workstation. Another constraint is that the pallets should be be designed such that

it should hold both the parts of normal train and metro trains, as the size of the parts are

40

different. For instance, one pallet is designed in a such a manner that it holds all the A and B

class parts for that particular workstation and also for both normal trains and metro trains.

The pallets for easy assembly workstation are shown below in figures and apparently the parts

that the pallets should holds are tabulated below each figure. Also, the partitions in the pallets

have some design constraints, that it should be 3mm thickness minimum.

41

Shoe Holder Pallet is shown in figure 11 below and the parts that it should hold are listed in

the table 4 below as follows.

Figure 11: Shoe holder pallet

SL NO PART NAME QUANTITY

1 Shoe holder part 1

2 Cradle 1

3 Friction spring 1

4 Spindle 1

5 Leaf spring 1

6 Shoe holder cover 1

7 Screws 4

8 Suspension link/Support arm 2

9 Bearing 1 2

10 Bearing 2 2

11 O-ring 4

12 Sleeve 1 1

13 Sleeve 2 1

14 Flexible arm 2

15 Bellow 1

Table 4: Part list for shoe holder pallet

42

Housing Pallet is shown in figure 12 below and the parts that it should hold are listed in the

table 5 below as follows.

Figure 12: Housing pallet

Sl.no Part name Quantity

1 Housing part 1

2 Return spring 1

3 Control socket 1

4 Liner 1

5 Piston spring 1

6 SB Cover 1

7 Spring sleeve 1

8 Bush sleeve 1

9 Yoke 1

10 Bearing pin 1

11 Piston 1

12 Slide ring 1

13 Packing cup 1

Table 5: Parts list for housing pallet

43

Parking Unit Pallet is shown in figure 13 below and the parts that it should hold are listed in

the table 6 below as follows.

Figure 13: Parking unit pallet

SL.NO Part name Quantity

1 Parking unit cover 1

2 Intermediate housing 1

3 Ratchet wheel unit 1

4 Ratchet nut 1

5 Piston 1

6 Spindle unit 1

7 Liner 1

8 Stop sleeve 1

9 Guide sleeve 1

10 Spring outer 1

11 Spring inner 1

Table 6: Parts list for parking unit pallet

44

8. Discussion

Once the new trolley design model and pallets design model are completed, the next step is to

get the feedbacks from the line manager, line supervisor and the line operators of the Bogie

Brake assembly. And also made the literature study for the selection of material for the new

trolley design and the pallets design. Finally got the feedbacks for the material selection for the

newly designed trolley.

8.1 Operators Feedback

The supervisor and the operators were satisfied with the new trolley design and also with the

new concepts of kitting and palletizing. They found it is very flexible MHS which makes them

stress relief from searching of parts and also in avoiding confusion while performing their job.

But they gave few feedbacks which is posted in the appendix. Most of the feedbacks are stated

that the parts for that particular workstation should not miss. Also they were asked for removal

of the suspension link table and that part should be included in the shoe holder pallets. Further

they suggested to select long life materials for the pallets

.

8.2 Revision of the Design

The revision of the trolley is made as per the feedbacks of the operators and the line supervisor.

They were asked for the removal of the suspension arm table and that part to be come within

the pallet of shoe-holder which will be more helpful for them and also it tends to provide much

more space/place in the TBU assembly-line. On the whole, the operators essentially need the

kitting of parts for major parts and also for the child parts. This requisitions are asked due to

they find lot of confusions in searching for the components and it is not flexible for them to

work. Finally, this thesis work gives the better solutions for their requisitions and also some of

the feedbacks. Hence, the new trolley and also the pallets are designed as per the operators’

essential need and gave the good result which is more ergonomic and flexible for the operators

to work. Thus, this new designed trolley completely avoids confusion during work and thereby

help in productivity improvement.

45

8.3 Selection of Materials

The next step is selection of materials for the new trolley design. The following table shown

below shows that the components required for the new trolley design and also the appropriate

materials that can be used for the mentioned components as per the constraints. The material

that are using for this newly designed trolley should have more durability and also must be cost

effective.

Components Required Materials

Body of the Trolley Mild Steel

Wheels 6-inches Heavy Duty Polyurethane

Pallets Aluminum alloy or Magnesium alloy or

Poly-propylene or High density

polyethylene.

Pins/Stopper High Density Polyethylene

Handle Mild Steel

Table 7: Selection of materials

Aa discussed above the selection of material for the pallets came to the end with Poly-

propylene(PP) and High-Density Polyethylene(HDP). PP and HDP are chosen such that the

pallets should hold the heavy loads of the components/parts and also it should be more rigid.

And for rest of the components are same as shown in the table 7.

46

9. Market Study for Suppliers

The market analysis has the high impact and plays an important role before adopting any new

technique or developments in the manufacturing/production industries. The market study of

this particular thesis work was done by analyzing the MANIKANDAN ENTERPRISES and

also other suppliers those who are producing and supplying bins, trolleys, pallets and so on for

industrial purposes. The market research helped in identifying few similar suppliers those who

are producing the things which are beneficial for industrial purposes.

9.1 Benchmarking and Suppliers for Material Handling Trolley

The easy and simple way of understanding about benchmarking is “Improving ourselves by

learning the best qualities from other persons”. The next task in this thesis work is to do

benchmarking for the suppliers who are producing items for industrial purposes. Benchmarked

the supplier known as Manikandan Enterprises who is the leading supplier for this company.

The other suppliers are also found with the benchmark of the Manikandan Enterprises supplier.

And found another superior supplier similar to above mentioned supplier named Right

Engineers.

9.2 Evaluation of Suppliers and Outcomes

The suppliers who are well capable to do this new trolley design are contacted and then had

the meeting with those appropriate suppliers in order to explain the design and finally asked

for the quotations. The quotations from different suppliers are collected and thereby reviewed

in such a manner that it should be cost effective. The above-mentioned quotations are posted

in the appendix.

SL NO SUPPLIER TROLLEY

COST IN INR

PALLET (PP)

COST IN INR

TOTAL COST

IN INR

1 MANIKANDAN 14690 2750 * 12NOS 47,690

2 RIGHT ENGG 15500 3500 * 12NOS 57,500

Table 8: Cost of trolley and pallets (in PP) in inr

47

SL NO SUPPLIER TROLLEY

COST IN INR

PALLET

(HDPE) COST

IN INR

TOTAL COST

IN INR

1 MANIKANDAN 14690 2500 * 12 NOS 44,690

2 RIGHT ENGG 15500 3000 * 12 NOS 51,500

Table 9: Cost of trolley and pallets (in HDPE) in inr

SL NO SUPPLIER TOTAL COS IN

SEK (FOR PP)

TOTAL COST IN

SEK (FOR HDPE)

1 MANIKANDAN 6358 5958

2 RIGHT ENGG 7666 6866

Table 10: Cost of trolley and pallets in sek

On the whole, from the above tables 8, 9 and 10 the Manikandan Enterprises supplier seems to

be very good and cost effective. Hence, the quotation of Manikandan Enterprises supplier is

recommended to give the purchase order for the newly designed trolley and pallets.

48

10. Reconsideration of the Design

Figure 14: Final design A

Figure 15: Final design B

49

As the cost of the newly design trolley is very high, hence the reconsideration of the trolley

design was made with the reduction of materials where-ever it is possible to make it cost

effective. Finally, the new design again end up with the L-angle plate can be used replacing

the bracket and plate, and then the centre rod is replaced with two plates in order to with-stand

the whole trolley when it is loaded fully. Also the stopper is kept at the sides with the stopper

holder such that it can be handled easily for loading and unloading of the pallets. And the base

plate thickness of pallet is 8mm. The final design of the trolley is shown in figures 14 and 15.

The finally design of the trolley is shown in 2D drawing with drafting which is shown in figure

16 below.

Figure 16 : 2D drafting of final trolley design

50

11. Analysis and Result

The analysis was done for the process flow of service TBU using the software known as

ExtendSim9. With the help of above mentioned software the simulation was done in order to

find of how much the productivity will be improve by the successful implementation of newly

designed trolley for the MHS.

On consideration of existing MHS time, the new designed trolley with kitting and palletizing

concepts helps in improvement in MHS. In the newly designed trolley, there will be only one

heavy loaded parts which should be handle manually and then the whole pallet can be placed

on the specified workbench. By this the MHS will become easy and fast with much more time

saving and thereby enhances the productivity. The analysis is done by proposing that the trolley

should be within 1 meter far from the workstations and also the child parts should be in

sequential order in the bin trolleys with the kitting of the child parts for each subassemblies.

Finally, the result will be hardly less than 1 minute for the MHS.

For the analysis, considering how much will one operator will able to produce TBU unit

assembly annually with the consideration of 6 working days in a week for one shift which is 8

hours of working/shift. Also analysis is done efficiently with the support of VSM data done

earlier.

In the current state, one operator will end up with the assembly of totally 600 units

approximately annually whereas in the future state he will be able to produce 628 units annually

which is more 28 products additionally. With the comparison mentioned above the productivity

is improved through the material feeding system. There are 2 operators are working, therefore,

in current state they are producing 1200 products and in the future it will be 1256 products

annually which is more 56 products additionally.

The analysis done using ExtendSim9 is shown in Figure 17 and 18 below.

51

Figure 17: Current analysis of TBU assembly line (service brake)

Figure 18: Future analysis of TBU assembly line (service brake)

52

. Finally, it adds more benefits and profits for the company. The results are as follows,

• On the whole, by this thesis work the company can increase the productivity from 1200

to 1254 products annually.

• The MHS for the Shoe Holder assembly and Housing assembly is reduced by 5 minutes

on average.

• As MHS is the part of the cycle time, % minutes of SMH time is saved which enhances

the productivity.

• About 4 to 5 minutes of walking time and searching of parts which are the non-value

added activity is decreased.

• With the VSM, cycle time is saved up-to 5 minutes for shoe holder and housing

assemblies.

• With the VSM, the current state non-value-added time is about 4 days 17.5 minutes (i.e.

0.5 minutes = 30 seconds) which is reduced to 1 day 17.5 minutes in future state.

53

12. Future Development

The future development for after implementation of this particular thesis work in the assembly

line are as follows in order for productivity improvement.

• Picking and placing of pallets can be automated by implementing automated material

handling system such as Articulated Robot or Over Hanging Crane

• The conveyor belt can be implemented in each workstation of the TBU line which also

enhances productivity

• The tools can be organized in the shadow board in front of the workbench which will

be easy reach for the workers and can handle in in efficient way

• The child parts are also placed according to the sequence order of the assembly which

results in easy handling and improves productivity

• The child parts can also be kitted as per the subassembly sequence order which helps

in 75% of time saving in MHS and thereby productivity is improved

• The workbench can be replaced with the aluminium workbench with height adjustment

which will be more ergonomic and also has longer lifetime

• A rotating fixture is suggested to be placed at each workstation for easy operations.

Also the new layout proposal is given during the analysis of current layout. And proposed the

idea to make some changes in the assembly line in order to improve productivity. The proposal

ideas are as follows,

• Allocating one operator for each workstation.

• Housing assembly workstation can be categorised into two namely, housing assembly

1 and housing assembly 2.

• Inspection is combined with the finishing work as a single process/activity.

• Gangway is suggested to be laid at end of the assembly line such that after the material

handling trolleys which makes easier MHS and reduces walking of operators.

The analysis is also done for the above proposed ideas which are shown in figure 19 and 20

below.

54

Figure 19: Before implementation of new MHS

Figure 20: After implementation of new MHS

From the above analysis done, it seems to be that for service brake assembly of TBU can be

able to produce 1841 products annually. Further with the implementation of this thesis work

such that with the new material handling trolley, the company can able to produce 1982

products annually which is more 141 products additionally.

55

M. Alper Corakci suggested the future development of this current thesis topic are as follows.

In my personal opinion the next future research of the kitting concept in some of the following

areas would be more effective. They are,

• Can be implemented in business cases.

• Kitting of larger parts since the literature is mostly on small and medium sized parts for

instance, like electronic parts.

• Elimination of waste from kitting activities since it is known that it’s the never ending

process.

56

13. Conclusion

Thus this thesis work successfully improved the productivity improvement in the TBU

assembly line with the support lean tools of 5s, VSM, Kaizen and Toyota’s 14 principles.

Hence, on the whole the productivity improvement resulted in the company’s benefits from

this particular thesis work. The new MHS proposed with this thesis work has been a very huge

impact in productivity improvement of the assembly line. Also the concept of kitting and

palletizing as well which also gives the added advantages for the new MHS proposed with this

thesis work. On the whole, by this thesis work the company can increase the production rate

from 1200 to 1982 products annually which is more 782 products additionally. Whereas with

this new MHS the company can additionally able to produce 56 products annually. It is proved

that the MHS has the great impact and more essential thing for the productivity growth.

On the whole, by this thesis work the company can increase the production rate about 4.5%.

Approximately 85% of non-value-added activity time such as walking and searching of parts

were decreased. From the feedback of the employees in the company, the design is done good

and also with more flexibility to use. The concept of kitting and palletizing as well which gives

the added advantages for the new MHS proposed with this thesis work. It is proved that the

MHS has the great impact and more essential thing for the productivity growth. Also from

VSM, saved about 5 minutes of cycle for each assembly through new MHS. Further, the current

state non-value-added time is about 4 days 17.5 minutes (i.e. 0.5 minutes = 30 seconds) which

is reduced to 1 day 17.5 minutes in future state.

Finally, from this thesis work, the MHS proved that it has great impact on cycle time of the

assembly process and apparently helps in enhancing the productivity.

57

14. Reference

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59

[20] Masaaki Imai, 1991, ”Kaizan”, International Edition, McGraw Hill

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60

Appendix Operators Feedback:

61

62

Quotations of supplier 1:

63

64

65

66

Quotations of supplier 2:

67

68