Track: Digital Manufacturing

Abstract

After the success of Toyota company, post-second world war, many organizations the world over have been trying hard to become lean by implementing lean philosophy. In this pursuit of becoming lean, only a few organizations have achieved success, but many organizations have failed. Some of them have even returned to traditional manufacturing, as they could not successfully manage challenges faced during lean implementation. Even many successful organizations could not reap the full benefits of lean. Tower manufacturing is no exception. To the knowledge of the author, not many have achieved success in lean implementation especially in tower manufacturing. In this context, an attempt has been made in the present research work to study tower manufacturing plants and apply a value stream mapping tool for creating a current state map, for identifying all types of waste and propose a future state map with the objective of elimination of waste. Research work will also elaborate on the lean implementation details including SMED, 5S, Kanban and TPM. Finally, the research paper presents conclusions drawn from the current research work and shows how the productivity of the organization has improved. This research contribution will certainly help both practitioners and researchers.