Production systems redesign in a lean context: A matter of sustainability

Abstract

Production systems are often kept unchanged for long periods of time despite changes on both the marketplace and on the management model. Over relevant timeframes, this stagnation causes an accumulation of inefficiencies and wastes that leads to unproductive production systems. This paper presents a number of case studies on the redesign of production systems within the context of Lean Production. The findings revealed that fresh graduates in industrial engineering conducting their Master's project, acquainted with different production paradigms, are able to identify a number of problems and the respective need for the redesign of the production system. A number of benefits were observed among the companies that enabled the required changes, namely an improved productivity and flexibility as well as a reduction on the shop floor Lean' wastes.

Lean Production in small and medium sized companies from the Free Economic Zone of Manaus: a reality or just fiction?

“…This result is consistent with the aforementioned perception that most participants have knowledge of the subject. Concerning the low implementation rates of some tools, possibly it is linked to lack of knowledge of some of the respondents or lack of knowledge of the designation used here, for example, One-Piece Flow (OPF) or, at least, the preference for smaller lots, is usually, implemented when cells are implemented (Alves et al, 2015).…”

How Industry 4.0 can enhance Lean practices

“…The book "The machine that changed the world" [15] is pointed out as being responsible for the popularization of the term "Lean" frequently used everywhere to classify any production approach that is inspired by TPS. Lean has been gaining reputation for making a positive impact in manufacturing systems, meeting costumer's requirements, while supporting the increasing efficiency and performance based on incremental continuous improvements [16]. However, nowadays the use of "Lean" approaches can be found not only in industry but in any activity sector such as services, construction, healthcare and education [17].…”

A symbiotic relationship between Lean Production and Ergonomics: insights from Industrial Engineering final year projects

“…After a first successful project that had been developed two years earlier, based on the reconfiguration of five assembly lines into two assembly cells, the company was so satisfied with the results that decided to reconfigure other assembly lines of a different product into assembly cells. The advantages of reconfiguring assembly lines into cells are well documented in the literature, showing the importance of this reconfiguration for waste elimination but also for ergonomic advantages [10,[49][50][51]. P16 was a project developed in an elevators company that was very motivated with its lean journey initiated by a consulting company.…”

“…This approach was applied in many of the reported projects, namely, P2, P7, P8, P15, P9, P26, P27, and P35. The benefits achieved by these projects can be found in the literature [50], as well as the causeeffect relationship of working in a lean cell layout [10,71]. Nevertheless, the decision to redesign production systems is not always straightforward and easy [72].…”