Track: Undergraduate Student Paper Competition

Abstract

The Philippines is one of the largest exporters of shoes in the market. Shoe manufacturing companies are distributed throughout the country, with a significant base in Marikina City (Making the Philippine Footwear Industry Future Ready FINEX, 2023). This study focuses on enhancing the productivity and efficiency of a shoe manufacturing company through the application of queuing theory. The upper-making section, being the largest and most complex part of the company, frequently encounters significant product queuing due to various issues such as unproductivity and inefficiency, leading to delays and production defects. The study aims to boost company productivity through queuing theory and improve worker performance in the upper-making section. Various analytical tools were utilized to identify problems and develop solutions. MATLAB simulations revealed that the average processing time for a unit in the current system is 219.5129-time units, while the proposed system reduces this to 69.7298-time units. Additionally, the waiting time in the queue decreased from 93.9226 to 7.3584-time units, demonstrating that the proposed simulation would significantly enhance productivity. The study recommends several solutions, including worker training, workplace organization, and improvements to the company's production cycle, to enhance productivity and efficiency, reduce delays, and improve product quality.

Keywords

Queuing Theory, Operational Research, Productivity, Efficiency, Upper Making.