ThaiScience
ThaiScience
ENGINEERING JOURNAL CHIANG MAI UNIVERSITY
Volume 25, No. 02, Month AUGUST, Year 2018, Pages 55 - 66
Improvement of chassis production process of truck factory
Pathomchai Phichitphajongkij
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This paper presents techniques used in a process improvement of a truck chassis assembly line. Lean principles and line balancing process were employed in the line to reduce wastes occurring in the process. Waiting-time, transport, and inappropriate processing wastes were taken into account for the lean manufacturing philosophy in this study. Wasting time was used as an indicator for this tool. After implementing lean manufacturing, the current layout was redesigned using line balancing process. The key goal indicators of this line balancing were to seek the best layout in terms of cycle time, line efficiency, and productivity rate. The methodology started with collecting all the process steps and time spent in each step to define and clarify the real related problems causing waste times. Once the root cause was analyzed, a lean tool, Eliminate, Combine, Rearrange, and Simplify (ECRS), was used as a guideline for success to reduce wastes. After that, tasks were assigned to workstations using a Ranked Positional Weight (RPW) method. The study results indicated that the two tools could help perform its process effectively and led to a reduction in wasting time from 1,707.52 to 726.21 minutes. In addition, the implementation led to better timely and more effectively control of the production process with a cycle time reduction from 767.81 to 524.48 minutes and a higher efficiency from 60.64% to 88.49%, respectively. Moreover, the productivity rate was increased from 1 to 1.84 pieces per person
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Published by : Faculty of Engineering Chiang Mai University
Contributions welcome at : http://researchs.eng.cmu.ac.th/?name=journal
