Continuous improvement in industries is essential to maintain optimal profitability and remain competitive in the market. Lean tools are techniques that help the metallurgical industry improve production and grow in a highly competitive environment. The following study is based on a company that manufactures cast and machined parts for the cement industry. Through diagnostic assessments to identify improvements to implement, it was found that the company has a very low OEE compared to the sector. Thus, using the VSM diagnostic tool, it was determined that the molding area has long mold setup times and low performance, in addition to low machine utilization. Lean tools such as 5S were employed to ensure everything is easily assessable and to establish a systematic order, SMED to reduce mold changeover time, and TPM, which helped increase machine availability and thereby improve overall machine performance. Improvements have been achieved following the successful implementation, such as increasing machine availability from 89.96% to 96.66% and yield from 80.86% to 83.18%, resulting in a 7.79% improvement in OEE.

Keywords

OEE, SMED, TPM, 5S, Productivity, Simulation.