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Application of Assembly Line Balancing in Manufacturing Industry

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Application of Assembly Line Balancing in Manufacturing Industry Application of assembly line balancing in manufacturing industry A case study on assembly line productivity MAIN FIELD: Industrial Organization & Economy, Logistics and Management AUTHOR: Julia Eriksson SUPERVISOR: Roy Andersson JÖNKÖPING 2020 June Acknowledgements I would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone that made this final thesis possible. A big thank you to all project group members at Husqvarna Group in Orangeburg, for the support and valuable input throughout my thesis. Especially thanks to Mrs. Cristina Rhea, for your involvement and devotion. Thank you to all other employees at the case company, for your hospitality and continuous flow of positive energy. Thank you, Dr. Roy Andersson, for being my supervisor and guiding me in my writing. Finally, I want to thank my study colleagues for all your advice and for being by my side throughout the entire thesis process. I could not have done this without you! This final thesis has been carried out at the School of Engineering at Jönköping University within Industrial Organization & Economy, Logistics and Management. The author is responsible for the presented opinions, conclusions and results. Examiner: Leif-Magnus Jensen Supervisor: Roy Andersson Scope: 15 credits Date: 2020-06-07 Postal address: Visiting address: Phone: Box 1026 Gjuterigatan 5 036-10 10 00 551 11 Jönköping Abstract Purpose – The purpose of the study is to explore how productivity can be improved in an assembly line in manufacturing industry. In order to fulfill the purpose, following three research questions have been formulated: 1. How can an assembly line be designed? 2. Which potential improvement areas can be found in an assembly line? 3. How can assembly line balancing be used to improve productivity? Method – A case study was performed in order to answer the research questions. A combination of quantitative and qualitative data have been collected. To build an understanding of existing theories and research within the study area, a literature study was conducted which formed a theoretical framework. Parallel to the literature study, empirical data was collected through a case study. Data collection methods included observations, document studies, time measurements and focus group meetings. The reviewed theories and the collected data were later analyzed and a result was generated. Findings – In order to improve productivity, Theory of Constraints enabled the identification of potential improvement areas. To address the improvement areas, Assembly Line Balancing was found an appropriate method. Through the case study it was found that through Assembly Line Balancing, a reduction of takt time can be achieved which opens up the possibility to increase the production volume. Also, when re-allocating operators between work tasks, a reduction in numbers of operators is possible which results in lower costs. By lowering costs and increasing production volume, improved productivity is achieved. Implications – This study presents an application of the two improvement methods Theory of Constraints and Assembly Line Balancing in a manufacturing industry. Therefore, the thesis can be used as a basis when performing improvement work related to reduction of takt time in other manufacturing industries, to gain a better understanding for the implementation of the studied methods. Limitations – One limitation of the study was the pandemic Covid-19, which enforced restrictions on the case company. This disturbed the conduction of the case study since less focus group meetings were conducted, and suggested improvements could not be tested. Another limitation was the limited study time frame. Consequently, the collected time measurements were relatively few and the study scope was delimited to only packaging activities. To increase reliability, a more extensive time frame is necessary. The analysis has been adopted to the situation at the case company. The conclusions may hence be biased, which could restrict to what extent the study can be generalized. Keywords – Assembly Line Design, Assembly Line Balancing, Productivity, Takt Time, Improvement Work, Manufacturing Industry, Packaging Table of contents 1 Introduction .............................................................................. 1 BACKGROUND ......................................................................................................................... 1 PROBLEM STATEMENT ............................................................................................................. 1 PURPOSE AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS ...................................................................................... 2 THE SCOPE AND DELIMITATIONS ............................................................................................. 3 DISPOSITION ............................................................................................................................ 3 2 Methods and implementation ................................................. 4 LINK BETWEEN RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND METHODS ............................................................ 4 WORK PROCESS ....................................................................................................................... 4 APPROACH ............................................................................................................................... 5 DESIGN .................................................................................................................................... 5 DATA COLLECTION .................................................................................................................. 6 2.5.1 Literature study .......................................................................................................... 6 2.5.2 Document study .......................................................................................................... 6 2.5.3 Observations ............................................................................................................... 6 2.5.4 Time measurements .................................................................................................... 7 2.5.5 Focus group ................................................................................................................ 7 DATA ANALYSIS ...................................................................................................................... 8 VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY .................................................................................................... 9 2.7.1 Validity ....................................................................................................................... 9 2.7.2 Reliability ................................................................................................................... 9 3 Theoretical framework .......................................................... 11 LINK BETWEEN RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND THEORY ............................................................ 11 ASSEMBLY LINES ................................................................................................................... 11 ASSEMBLY LINE DESIGN ........................................................................................................ 12 POTENTIAL IMPROVEMENT AREAS ......................................................................................... 13 3.4.1 Theory of Constraints (Bottlenecks) ......................................................................... 13 3.4.2 Takt time and Cycle time .......................................................................................... 13 ASSEMBLY LINE BALANCING ................................................................................................ 14 4 Empirical data ......................................................................... 16 CASE COMPANY DESCRIPTION ............................................................................................... 16 RQ I – HOW CAN AN ASSEMBLY LINE BE DESIGNED? ............................................................ 16 RQ II – WHICH POTENTIAL IMPROVEMENT AREAS CAN BE FOUND IN AN ASSEMBLY LINE? .. 18 RQ III – HOW CAN ASSEMBLY LINE BALANCING BE USED TO IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY? ...... 19 5 Analysis .................................................................................... 20 RQ I – HOW CAN AN ASSEMBLY LINE BE DESIGNED? ............................................................ 20 RQ II – WHICH POTENTIAL IMPROVEMENT AREAS CAN BE FOUND IN AN ASSEMBLY LINE? .. 21 RQ III – HOW CAN ASSEMBLY LINE BALANCING BE USED TO IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY? ...... 22 6 Discussion and conclusion ..................................................... 25 RESEARCH QUESTION I .......................................................................................................... 25 RESEARCH QUESTION II ......................................................................................................... 25 RESEARCH QUESTION III ....................................................................................................... 25 DISCUSSION OF METHODS ...................................................................................................... 26 THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL CONTRIBUTION ..................................................................... 27 LIMITATIONS ......................................................................................................................... 27 CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................................................................
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