Method and Motion Study in a Printing Company - 2019

Case Study  26 Part of Industrial Engineering ONLINE Course - Main Page
Industrial Engineering Case Studies Collection

Implementation of Production Process Standardization—A Case Study of a Publishing Company from the SMEs Sector
Processes 7(10):646 · September 2019

The  case study reports a standardization project  for increasing efficiency and a better optimization of resources in a printing company in the production lines dealing with packaging boxes. The current capacity of each line is 350 boxes per day. The line has to be redesigned for  650 units per day. As part of work standardization, studying worker movements, timing, and workstations redesign were done  to increase the efficiency and productivity.  After applying those tools, the inefficient movements in operators decreased from 230 to 78, eliminating 66% of the unnecessary movements. The standard time in a workstation decreased from 244 to 199 s (18.44%) per each assembled box. The assembly stations were redesigned after reassigning work elements to each work station. The work was facilitated by visual aids for each work station. The new line is designed for 650 boxes per day and one more line was started making the total number of lines 5 to cater to increased demand.

A process flowchart was designed to visually represent the precise work sequence in which the operators perform the observed tasks. Finally, a detailed description was made of each observed workstation and tasks, highlighting the precise way they must be performed as well as making a chart for each of them

As for the study of motion, efficient and inefficient therbligs are analyzed, which are performed by the operators, therefore, the information is used to build the bimanual process chart. The inefficient therbligs were removed or modified. In this sense, the present motion study helped to determine which manual tools operators use more frequently and to place them at a closer distance from employees when redesigning the workstation. The activity times have come down due to the changes in therbligs.

The last step at this stage involved redesigning the workstations. Specially, the bimanual process chart developed earlier at this stage was used. Then, an anthropometric study among the women operators to define both minimal and maximum reach zones was performed. The 5th percentile forearm-length and stretched-arm-length was used, as well as the 95th-percentile shoulder-length. Next, the workstations were redesigned, specifying the position of the minimum and maximum reach zones, where the work area represented the operators’ back width. Further, the location of the manual tools in the workstations according to their frequency of use was determined.

The line was rebalanced to give higher productivity.

Download the paper from:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335983703_Implementation_of_Production_Process_Standardization-A_Case_Study_of_a_Publishing_Company_from_the_SMEs_Sector

Updated 21 May 2021

Pub 12 June 2020