Track: Lean Six Sigma

Abstract

This research was conducted in a leading textile industry of Pakistan. The focus of the research was the reduction of overall changeover time at Flatbed Printing machine. The machine was facing longer changeover times due to which the overall equipment efficiencies and productivity was affected. Therefore, the aim of this study was to reduce changeover time to improve productivity by applying Lean Manufacturing (LM) technique of Single minute exchange of dies (SMED). The changeover activities were recoreded and analysed. The time & motion study was conducted and internal & external activities were identified. Few potential internal activities converted to external. The remaining internal activities were of optimized by suggesting optimal method. The standardization is suggested for proposed solutions to the bottleneck activities so that the same problem will not occur in the future. It has been observed that the SMED implementation along with 5S leads to decrease in changeover times and waste elimination. The changeover time was reduced from 142 minutes to 117 minutes which in turn increased the overall productivity of flatbed printing machine. It can be further minimized by proper training of concerned workers and creating awareness among them about LEAN environment.

Keywords:

Single Minute Die Exchange (SMED); lean manufacturing; textile; changeover; 5S.