Managing industrial operations by lean thinking using value stream mapping and six sigma in manufacturing unit

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to cover the significance of lean thinking using value stream mapping and six sigma methodology in managing industrial operations. Design/methodology/approach Lean manufacturing is an efficient approach for identifying and eliminating waste through a continuous improvement via flow of the product/service at the pull of customer in chase of exactness. This study has been carried out in a manufacturing unit of Northern India that was suffering from high production lead time and work in progress (WIP) inventory. Findings The current state and future state maps for the critical product have been prepared. On comparison of both current and future state maps, it was observed that lead time has been reduced by 14.88 percent, processing time by 14.71 percent and wastage of material movement by 37.97 percent. As proposed in model, the WIP inventories have been reduced by 17.76 percent and workforce by 17.64 percent. Further it would lead to the profit of Rs161,800 per annum. Six sigma projects have been carried out to reduce rejections of the critical product P-19 under study. The total length of the product was undersize of the critical product. Root cause analysis technique has been used through strategic DMAIC implementation. Results of investigation demonstrated net savings of rupees 145,560 annually. Originality/value The paper demonstrates the practical application of lean thinking, showing how it can bring real breakthroughs in saving cost in the manufacturing industry.

A lean proposal: development of value stream mapping for L'Oreal's artwork process

“…The goal is to eliminate all of the nonvalue adding activities and to optimize the value-adding activities (Kale and Parikh, 2019; Jacobs and Chase, 2017; Hines and Rich, 1997). According to Singh et al (2019) eliminating nonvalue activities helps organizations to provide quality that satisfies the demands of business-to-business customers.…”

An Improved Value Stream Mapping to Prioritize Lean Optimization Scenarios Using Simulation and Multiple-Attribute Decision-Making Method

“…VSM is a door-to-door demonstration for visualizing a production process at the plant level rather the single-process level and illustrating the flow of materials and information in the entire supply chain rather than for separate manufacturing plants [9]. Thus, it includes information related to production times, as well as to inventory levels, and offers a reflection of systemic vision maintaining local details of process by diagrammatically linking material-flow, information-flow and timeline [16]. Moreover, by using operating parameters such as takt time, which determines the production rate at which each processing stage in the manufacturing system should operate, VSM links product planning and demand forecasts to production scheduling and flow-shop control.…”

Development of Value Stream Mapping from L’Oreal’s Artwork Process

“…The goal is to eliminate all of the non-value adding activities and to optimize the value adding activities (Hines and Rich 1997;Jacobs and Chase 2017;Kale and Parikh 2019). According to Singh et al (2019), eliminating non-value activities helps organizations to provide quality that satisfies the demands of B2B customers. VSM has not been explored and applied to a marketing process such as L'Oreal's AP; however, Solaimani, Talab, and Rhee (2019) conclude that VSM can be applied to any business activity and can be expanded upstream or downstream.…”