Workstation Optimization By Applying Lean Manufacturing Technique-A Production Case Study

This paper proposal was to ‘Optimize workstation by applying lean' by finding the possible causes, waste and non-value-added activities in workplace. Lean helps industry to eliminate waste. For example, most of the welding shops assume welder works 8 hours in a shift but at the end of day measuring welding arc duty cycle may show a less satisfactory number. This can impact negatively the entire production system. As we know, ‘Robotic welding - duty cycle is programmed between 80% -95% depending on shop nature and work environment. Robotic operation is expensive including initial setup to production. Most of the welding shops use manual or semiautomatic welding processes such as GMAW, FCAW, SMAW, SAW or TIG welding. Research shows that by using manual MIG or GMAW welding, only 16% duty cycle can be achieved. Applying lean in welding, duty cycle can be increased from 16% to 35%. We took a real case in Canada where the industry called” XYG” (Company name hidden due to confidentiality) had low performance of the production system. We measured the factors that were involved for low performance including welding technique and tried to optimize the production system by applying Lean.