Lean on Time & Production Efficiency

Abstract

Introduced by Toyota, Lean is a technique applicable across any industry-small, medium or large scale. Scope of improvement persists throughout the life of an organisation; in its products and policies as it is rightly said that only constant in any system is continuous change for improvement. This paper focuses on the scope of Lean in assembly process of an aircraft manufacturing company which is also an exporter to Boeing. The case study identifies the areas of implementation of Lean which would help the company benchmark its production process and achieve reduction in costs. An observational study revealed that the assembly suffers the menace of non-availability of parts which leads to considerable employee idle time and this in turn hints at the need for improvement in Supply Chain function of the organisation. Time study conducted at the assembly gives the management an insight into the excess manpower employed for the assembly process which adds to the cost and recommends the management to revise the standard rate fixed time for different operations which would help eliminate the overtime working, reducing cost.

Keywords: Lean, Supply Chain, Idle Time, Time Study, Continuous Improvement

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