Logistics plays a crucial role in companies’ ability to sustain competitive on the market. Time is regarded as one of the important metric in terms of logistics, since time influences the lead time of the products, which results in the vital advantage of speed. The recent business environment forces Kinnarps Production AB, a manufacturer of furniture, to optimize their inventory material flow in a way of increasing their capability and capacity to load more distribution containers with goods daily. The present circumstances of the material flow are associated with number of negative factors. An automated guided vehicle (AGV) system is operating and handling the distribution of goods. Wrong sequence of activities, long transportations, high transportation delays, waiting time, varying numbers of AGVs, wastes, bottlenecks are among the important issues to be considered. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the material flow in Kinnarps Production AB’s inventory seven and to improve the AGV system activities within. Concepts associated with identifying waste were used by separating value-adding activities from the non-value added ones. The usage of ideal reference systems techniques were the base for identifying problems. Concrete literature regarding AGV’s design system was applied in establishing different statements about the material flow and identification of problems. Different methods and techniques were used in approaching the research, but most above others is the case study approach. Numerous amounts of secondary data have been employed in verifying the collection of other data carried out by primary data collection as well as verifying the qualitative and quantitative analysis. A mapping of the current system was established with respect to orders, times and distances. Numbers of congestion points were identified, non-value adding activities were eliminated or decreased, rearrangement of sequencing of different activities was considered and different pallets arrangement system was established. A stochastic model was used in identifying the AGV’s time variables in the system and estimating appropriate amount of AGVs within the inventory. All the findings from different calculations and estimations were associated with Kinnarps Production’s future increased demand. Different issues and considerations were analyzed and appropriate suggestions were given for elimination of the negative factors in the inventory or their decrease. Among the most influencing results was the proper amount of AGVs in the inventory area, pallets rearrangement, different stocking policy, rearrangement in the sequence of activities, increase of the buffer for pallets used for loading containers, new conveyor system for the incoming goods in the inventory, transportation layout changes resulting in blocking free routines, separate control system, decrease of the effect of stoppages. All these findings are considered to optimize the material flow and increase the system capacity contributing to an increase of the daily containers outgoing from Kinnarps Production AB.

<p>Logistics plays a crucial role in companies’ ability to sustain competitive on the market. Time is regarded as one of the important metric in terms of logistics, since time influences the lead time of the products, which results in the vital advantage of speed. The recent business environment forces Kinnarps Production AB, a manufacturer of furniture, to optimize their inventory material flow in a way of increasing their capability and capacity to load more distribution containers with goods daily. The present circumstances of the material flow are associated with number of negative factors. An automated guided vehicle (AGV) system is operating and handling the distribution of goods. Wrong sequence of activities, long transportations, high transportation delays, waiting time, varying numbers of AGVs, wastes, bottlenecks are among the important issues to be considered.</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the material flow in Kinnarps Production AB’s inventory seven and to improve the AGV system activities within.</p><p>Concepts associated with identifying waste were used by separating value-adding activities from the non-value added ones. The usage of ideal reference systems techniques were the base for identifying problems. Concrete literature regarding AGV’s design system was applied in establishing different statements about the material flow and identification of problems. Different methods and techniques were used in approaching the research, but most above others is the case study approach. Numerous amounts of secondary data have been employed in verifying the collection of other data carried out by primary data collection as well as verifying the qualitative and quantitative analysis.</p><p>A mapping of the current system was established with respect to orders, times and distances. Numbers of congestion points were identified, non-value adding activities were eliminated or decreased, rearrangement of sequencing of different activities was considered and different pallets arrangement system was established. A stochastic model was used in identifying the AGV’s time variables in the system and estimating appropriate amount of AGVs within the inventory.</p><p>All the findings from different calculations and estimations were associated with Kinnarps Production’s future increased demand. Different issues and considerations were analyzed and appropriate suggestions were given for elimination of the negative factors in the inventory or their decrease. Among the most influencing results was the proper amount of AGVs in the inventory area, pallets rearrangement, different stocking policy, rearrangement in the sequence of activities, increase of the buffer for pallets used for loading containers, new conveyor system for the incoming goods in the inventory, transportation layout changes resulting in blocking free routines, separate control system, decrease of the effect of stoppages. All these findings are considered to optimize the material flow and increase the system capacity contributing to an increase of the daily containers outgoing from Kinnarps Production AB.</p>

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:51:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 4396.pdf: 3518581 bytes, checksum: 4b5341cc7f669d73522102d6416dc1e0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-03-13 / The companies included in a globalized environment, so as to ensure their competitiveness and profitability, are seeking to implement operational excellence programs that aim at customer satisfaction (service level achieved at a fair price) and its employees. The lean philosophy has been pervasive in all sectors, and in the entire chain of value stream, as a means of getting to win this excellence and differentiate themselves in the international market. The distribution centers, and specifically the activity of picking, present themselves as a key point in this chain when considering improvements, since depending on the type of distribution center, the cost of labor associated with picking coul be significative. Coupled with the cost, the time of this activity substantially affects the cycle time of application, ie, the time between receiving a customer order and correct delivery of products. This study therefore aims to contribute to the understanding of the gains that can be obtained with the use of tools and concepts of "Lean thinking" implemented in picking procedure in a distribution center. To this are presented two proposals to do the picking process. The proposals built based on concepts of lean tools are simulated using the Simio, simulation software , and compared with the current process. The analysis of simulation results helped to find out what the procedure for picking has the best performance and satisfies customer requirements. / As empresas inseridas em um ambiente globalizado, visando garantir sua competitividade e lucratividade, buscam implementar programas de excelência operacional que tenham como objetivo a satisfação do cliente (nível de serviço alcançado a um preço justo) e de seus colaboradores. A filosofia Lean tem sido difundida em todos os setores e em toda cadeia de fluxo de valor, como meio de conseguir ganhar esta excelência e diferenciar-se no mercado internacional. Os centros de distribuição, e especificamente a atividade de picking, se apresentam como um ponto-chave desta cadeia quando se pensa em melhoria. Pois, dependendo do tipo de centro de distribuição, o custo de mão-de-obra associado à atividade de picking é significativo. Aliado ao custo, o tempo dessa atividade influi de maneira substancial no tempo de ciclo de pedido, ou seja, o tempo entre o recebimento de um pedido do cliente e a entrega correta dos produtos. Este estudo pretende, portanto, contribuir para a compreensão dos ganhos que podem ser obtidos com a utilização de conceitos e ferramentas do pensamento Lean implementados em procedimentos de picking de um centro de distribuição. Para isto são apresentadas duas propostas para realizar o processo de picking. As propostas construídas baseadas em conceitos de ferramentas Lean, são simuladas com o software de simulação Simio e comparadas com o processo atual. A análise dos resultados da simulação contribuíram para encontrar qual o procedimento de picking apresenta melhor desempenho e satisfaz os requerimentos dos clientes.

Electrolux är ett ledande globalt företag inom vitvaror och hushållsprodukter. Electroluxutvecklar, konstruerar och tillverkar varma, kalla och våta hushållsprodukter samt annansmåelektronik under olika varumärken. Varumärket Electrolux står för hög kvalitet som äveninkluderar en världsledande serviceorganisation för att tillhandahålla bra kundservice.Electrolux har på senaste tiden sett en trend i ökande andelar returer av reservdelar frånservicegivarna. Det identifieras som en möjlig kvalitetsrisk inom serviceprocessen. För attförebygga detta har det här examensarbetet utvärderat kvalitén i serviceprocessen ochrekommenderar förändringar för att bibehålla och öka kvalitén inom kundservice.Målet med arbetet har varit att öka kvalitén inom serviceprocessen på alla nivåer, till varje externoch intern kund. För att identifiera förbättringsområden genomfördes enverksamhetskartläggning med fokus på arbetsrutiner och hanteringen av reservdelar inomserviceprocessen. En grundorsaksanalys genomfördes för att identifiera underliggande orsakertill de olika problemområdena och för att ta fram förbättringsåtgärder som sedan utvärderats.Arbetet har varit avgränsat till att bara studera den svenska serviceorganisationen ochgarantireparationer för vitvaror och hushållsmaskiner. Andra avgränsningar för arbetat har varitatt resultatet inte ska påverka dagens målvärden negativt och inte heller påverka dagenstransportflöde.Resultatet av projektet är presenterat i form utav ett framtidsläge för serviceprocessen. För attuppnå detta framtidsläge så har en aktivitetsplan tagits fram med rekommenderade förbättringarsom är utformade för att åtgärda problemen i serviceprocessen. De rekommenderadeförbättringarna eliminerar dubbelt arbete, reducerar antalet arbetsmoment, samlar all tekniskinformation i en informationskanal och gör det möjligt att materialplanera reservdelar som äröverblivna från tidigare uppdrag.Tidsbegränsningen har gjort att fokus har legat på att ta fram konkreta och implementerbaraförbättringsåtgärder. Förbättringsområden har identifierats inom IT-system och organisation,något som diskuteras för fortsatta arbeten. / Electrolux is a leading global company in home and kitchen appliances. Electrolux develops,designs and manufactures home appliances for hot, cold and water applications and other smallhome appliances under different brands. The Electrolux brand stands for high quality whichincludes an excellent service organization to provide good quality in customer care.Electrolux have lately seen a trend with increasing returns of unused spare parts from serviceproviders. This is identified as a possible quality risk in the service process. To prevent this tooccur this Master´s Thesis has evaluated the quality in the service process and recommendsactions to maintain and increase the level of quality in customer care.The aim of the project has been to increase the quality in the service process in every level, toevery internal and external customer. To identify improvement areas a business mapping of theservice process was performed, focusing on the different procedures within the service processand spare part management. A root cause analysis was made to find the underlying causes ofdifferent problem areas and ideas for improvements have been generated and evaluated.The project was limited to only include the Swedish service organization of guarantee repairs ofhome appliances within the Electrolux group. Other limitations of the project were to not affectthe key performance indexes adversely and to not include the supply chain of spare parts in theproject.The result of the project is presented as a future state for the service process. To reach this futurestate an action plan was made were recommended improvements are combined to address theproblems in the service process. The identified problems can be improved by eliminatingduplication of work, reducing the number of steps, gathering all technical information to oneplatform and to make surplus spare parts available for material planning.The outcome of the project was limited by time and therefore focus was to develop concrete andimplementable improvements. On a concept level the IT-system and organization relatedimprovement areas were evaluated, which are discussed and recommended for future work.

Inom byggbranschen är förseningar i byggprojekts leveranser vanligt förekommande och utgör ett utmanande problem. För att övervinna detta problem krävs en utvecklad och noggranna tidsplaner som följs av alla berörda parter. I dagsläget använder sig byggindustrin huvudsakligen av aktivitetsbaserade tidsplaner, som representeras av Critical Path Method (CPM) och dess Gantt-schema. Trots att en annan tidsplaneringsmetod, baserad på lokalitet, visar lovande potential för att effektivt hantera förseningar i leveranser, har den inte fått samma uppmärksamhet. Line of Balance (LOB) är en metod inom location-based scheduling (LBS), där platsen behandlas som en dimension i produktionsprocessen och den har visat sig vara effektivare alternativ än Gantt-schema. I stället för att endast fokusera på aktiviteter fördelar LOB-metoden aktiviteter på lokaliteter där de ska genomföras, vilket underlättar för alla parter att följa en tydlig plan och övervaka arbeten på ett enklare sätt. BIM-verktyg har visat sig vara effektiva för att förbättra och effektivisera LOB-tidsplaner genom att tillhandahålla specialiserade verktyg som underlättar skapandet av sådana tidsplaner. CPM-metoden utgör grunden för många programvaror som används för att skapa LOB-tidsplaner såsom programmet Vico Office. Dessutom kan användning av BIM-verktyg möjliggör tillämpning av Lean-tänkande som bidrar till att förbättra arbetsflöden och öka kvalitet. Detta arbete undersöker hur tidsplaner påverkas vid övergången från aktivitetsbaserade- till lokalitetsbaserade tidsplaner, med hjälp av BIM-verktyget Vico Office. Vidare undersöks hur tillämpningen av Lean-principer såsom ”Visual Management” och ”Reduced Batch Size” påverkar lokalitetsbaserade tidsplaner. Gantt-schemat som analyserades i detta arbete är specifikt för byggföretaget NCC och omfattar utförandet av Hus A, Hus B och en förskola. Dock var endast detaljerad information om aktiviteterna som ingår i Hus A tillgängliga. För att konvertera Gantt-schemat till en lokalitetsbaserad tidsplan användes aktiviteternas varaktighet och lokaliteter från Gantt-schemat. För aktiviteter som saknade lokaliteter användes logiskt tänkande och erfarenhet för att fördela dem i lämpliga lokaliteter. Dessutom användes byggritningar som tillhandahölls av Karlstads kommunen för att tillämpa Lean-principen ”Reduced Batch Size”. LOB-diagrammet som genereras av Vico:s Schedule Planner är i enlighet med Lean-principen ”Visual Management”. Det har visat en förbättrad förmåga att upptäcka tomma områden, kollisioner och diskontinuerliga aktiviteter jämfört med Gantt-scheman. Dessutom användes Lean-principen ”Reduced Batch Size” för att minska väntetiderna mellan arbetsgrupper. Trots att byggprojektets ledtid överskreds med två veckor, resulterade konverteringen i en lokalitetsbaserad tidsplan som främjade ett kontinuerligt arbetsflöde, en effektivare arbetsrytm och en förbättrad uppföljning av byggprocessen. / In the construction industry, delays in project deliveries are a common occurrence. In order to overcome this problem, a developed and accurate schedule is required which is followed by all parties concerned. Currently, traditional activity-based Gantt charts are primarily used. However, another scheduling method based on location shows promising potential for effectively managing delivery delays but has not received the same attention. Line of Balance (LOB) is a method within location-based scheduling (LBS), where the location is treated as a dimension in the production process, and it has proven to be a more efficient alternative than the Gantt chart. BIM tools, such as Vico Office, have proven effective in improving and streamlining LOB schedules by providing specialized tools that facilitate the creation of such schedules. Additionally, the use of BIM tools can facilitate the application of Lean thinking, which helps improve workflows. This study investigates how schedules are affected by the transition from activity-based to location-based schedules using the BIM tool Vico Office. Furthermore, it examines how the application of Lean principles such as “Visual Management” and “Reduced Batch Size” affect location-based schedules. The Gantt chart analysed in this study belongs to the construction company NCC and contains detailed information on the activities in House A. The LOB diagram generated by Vico's Schedule Planner aligns with the Lean principle of “Visual Management”. It has demonstrated an improved ability to detect empty areas, collisions, and discontinuous activities compared to Gantt charts. Additionally, the Lean principle of “Reduced Batch Size” was utilized to minimize waiting times between work groups. Despite the project exceeding the allotted time by two weeks, the conversion resulted in a location-based schedule that promoted continuous workflow, enhanced efficiency, and improved monitoring of the construction process.

One way to increase capacity is to optimise production. This research focuses on optimising material handling using Lean principles, factory layout analysis and supply &amp; operation planning. The purpose is to see how the strategies found in these theories effect the change. An organisations readiness to change management shows how fast it can grow in a competitive world. The methodology used to collect data is by observations, interviews, literature review and secondary data. The research design is a case study, as it allows to collect multiple forms of data and mainly because it is done within a particular factory. The data analysis is done by forming themes, i.e., thematic analysis. Empirics were gathered from the company in focus about how their production runs. The empirics focused on the themes found by analysing data. The result gives strategies that can be followed for optimised material handling and the behaviour of employees and managers when change is suggested. The conclusion is that, although the changes were perceived in a positive way, with willingness to change, the subjects did not want to dig deeper into how they could benefit from it.

Syftet med detta examensarbete har varit att ta fram vilka leanprinciper och leanverktyg som passar en processindustri med målet att minska ledtiden. För att kunna genomföra studien har en jämförelse mellan teori och verklighet gjorts där hjälp tagits av Lesjöfors industrifjädrar AB. Utmärkande aspekter för företagets produktion är långa led- och omställningstider, produktion i batcher med stora partistorkekar samt tryckande tillverkning. Litteraturstudien omfattar fem principer och fem verktyg. För att identifiera nuläget har en värdeflödeskartläggning genomförts samt intervjuer med anställda på företaget. När teori kopplas med empiri har lämpliga principer och verktyg utifrån de studerade 10 valts ut. De principer som har identifierats som lämpliga för en processindustri är standardiserat arbetssätt, ständiga förbättringar, utjämnad produktion. De verkyg som utefter principerna identifierats som lämpliga är SMED, 5S samt värdeflödeskartläggning. Dessa har sedan används i en sammanfattning i form av ett TPS-hus, unikt för produktionen på Lesjöfors industrifjädrar AB. / The aim of this bachelor thesis has been to identify which lean principles and lean tools that would suit a process industry with the goal of reducing lead times. In order to complete the study, a comparison between theory and reality has been made where assistance has been provided by Lesjöfors industrifjädrar AB. Key aspects of the company's production include long lead times and set up times, production in batches with large lots and push production. The literature study comprises five principles and five tools. To identify the current situation, a value stream mapping has been conducted and interviews with employees at the company. When theory is linked with empirical studies, suitable principles and tools based on the selected 10 have been chosen. These have then been used in a summary in the form of a TPS-house, unique to the production at Lesjöfors industrifjädrar AB.

The purpose of this research is to implement and analyze the true lean transformation in a manufacturing start-up organization. Often, lean transformations are observed in developed manufacturing organizations having sophisticated production lines and numerous employees, where lean tools are utilized to reduce waste while increasing profit. However, this type of transformation is narrowly focused on quantifiable process results and falls short of the ultimate goal, establishing a true lean culture within the organization. As a result, it is recommended that true lean principles, philosophies, culture, operations environment and tools be applied at the very beginning stages of an organization, or during the start-up phase to embed true lean thinking and application in the entirety of the organization. In this analysis, a case study is performed on a team embarking on a start-up manufacturing enterprise. The team is trained on true lean and all the four aspects of true lean are applied for successfully implementing true lean in the start-up. In addition, a true lean implementation approach was generated and applied using PDCA (plan, do, check and act) model. The results of this case study are presented in this work.

Lean production determine the appropriate way to better workplace organization based on the elimination of various types of wasting, which only increase costs without adding customer value. It isn't important only implementation of lean production methods, but especially maintenance of lean principles and creating an atmosphere of continuous improvement. Lean production is the philosophy, which must be accepted by all em-ployees inside every company. It is the way to successful business in the 21st century. This thesis deals with the application of lean production in the selected company. The practical part describes the selected company, its history and manufacturing program. The next part is focused on description of the production center and its production layout. The result of this thesis is creating the product layout plan depending on the material flow and additional proposals for improvement.