<p><em>Purpose</em>: this thesis study aims to provide an analysis and an assessment of the current operations’ performance effectiveness at Nobel Biocare’s production plant in Karlskoga, Sweden and to describe the potential for improvement. It intends to clarify the importance of performance measurement and explain Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) metrics in particular.Furthermore, it strives to identify causes for inefficiency in production and suggest recommendations to minimize losses.</p><p><em>Methodology:</em> the study is using both qualitative and quantitative approaches in parallel as measurements are implemented to discover effectiveness rates and detect causes for production losses while assessments are made using different models, such as the Capability Maturity Model(CMM) and OEE assessments, in order to evaluate the current development level and the potential for improvement.</p><p><em>Findings:</em> the research finds that major losses are closely related to frequency of changeovers in machining processes, where average effectiveness rates were 68%. In surface treatment and packaging equipment inspected, the values were found to be between 46% and 59% as the major common cause was the absence of work due to unstable flow of orders. Assessing process orientation and maturity levels, the findings indicate on high levels in general. However, areas of weakness were identified in the different processes in which the potential for improvement is embedded. In those areas, lower OEE values were registered; low levels of maturity and process orientation were found, as low development of losses improvement were assessed. The study finally suggests that the areas of weakness suffer from lack of learning orientation that is ought to be improved and at the same time, a variety of specific recommendations are provided.</p>

<p>Purpose:this thesis study aims to provide an analysis and an assessment of the current operations’ performance effectiveness at Nobel Biocare’s production plant in Karlskoga, Sweden and to describe the potential for improvement. It intends to clarify the importance of performance measurement and explain Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) metrics in particular. Furthermore, it strives to identify causes for inefficiency in production and suggest recommendations to minimize losses.</p><p>Methodology: the study is using both qualitative and quantitative approaches in parallel as measurements are implemented to discover effectiveness rates and detect causes for production losses while assessments are made using different models, such as the Capability Maturity Model(CMM) and OEE assessments, in order to evaluate the current development level and the potential for improvement.</p><p>Findings: the research finds that major losses are closely related to frequency of changeovers in machining processes, where average effectiveness rates were 68%. In surface treatment and packaging equipment inspected, the values were found to be between 46% and 59% as the major common cause was the absence of work due to unstable flow of orders. Assessing process orientation and maturity levels, the findings indicate on high levels in general. However, areas of weakness were identified in the different processes in which the potential for improvement is embedded. In those areas, lower OEE values were registered; low levels of maturity and process orientation were found, as low development of losses improvement were assessed. The study finally suggests that the areas of weakness suffer from lack of learning orientation that is ought to be improved and at the same time, a variety of specific recommendations are provided.</p>

Purpose: this thesis study aims to provide an analysis and an assessment of the current operations’ performance effectiveness at Nobel Biocare’s production plant in Karlskoga, Sweden and to describe the potential for improvement. It intends to clarify the importance of performance measurement and explain Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) metrics in particular.Furthermore, it strives to identify causes for inefficiency in production and suggest recommendations to minimize losses. Methodology: the study is using both qualitative and quantitative approaches in parallel as measurements are implemented to discover effectiveness rates and detect causes for production losses while assessments are made using different models, such as the Capability Maturity Model(CMM) and OEE assessments, in order to evaluate the current development level and the potential for improvement. Findings: the research finds that major losses are closely related to frequency of changeovers in machining processes, where average effectiveness rates were 68%. In surface treatment and packaging equipment inspected, the values were found to be between 46% and 59% as the major common cause was the absence of work due to unstable flow of orders. Assessing process orientation and maturity levels, the findings indicate on high levels in general. However, areas of weakness were identified in the different processes in which the potential for improvement is embedded. In those areas, lower OEE values were registered; low levels of maturity and process orientation were found, as low development of losses improvement were assessed. The study finally suggests that the areas of weakness suffer from lack of learning orientation that is ought to be improved and at the same time, a variety of specific recommendations are provided.

Purpose:this thesis study aims to provide an analysis and an assessment of the current operations’ performance effectiveness at Nobel Biocare’s production plant in Karlskoga, Sweden and to describe the potential for improvement. It intends to clarify the importance of performance measurement and explain Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) metrics in particular. Furthermore, it strives to identify causes for inefficiency in production and suggest recommendations to minimize losses. Methodology: the study is using both qualitative and quantitative approaches in parallel as measurements are implemented to discover effectiveness rates and detect causes for production losses while assessments are made using different models, such as the Capability Maturity Model(CMM) and OEE assessments, in order to evaluate the current development level and the potential for improvement. Findings: the research finds that major losses are closely related to frequency of changeovers in machining processes, where average effectiveness rates were 68%. In surface treatment and packaging equipment inspected, the values were found to be between 46% and 59% as the major common cause was the absence of work due to unstable flow of orders. Assessing process orientation and maturity levels, the findings indicate on high levels in general. However, areas of weakness were identified in the different processes in which the potential for improvement is embedded. In those areas, lower OEE values were registered; low levels of maturity and process orientation were found, as low development of losses improvement were assessed. The study finally suggests that the areas of weakness suffer from lack of learning orientation that is ought to be improved and at the same time, a variety of specific recommendations are provided.

The actual industrial development linked to the financial situation over the world lead automotive and other companies to expand their production level to stay competitive. Changing an organization to raise its production or profit is not a one day journey, but requires some steps. Tools exist to develop the production level of manufacturing industry since more or less the fifties, and the continuous improvement is measured by some available and famous indicators around lean manufacturing mainly. Pressing equipment especially like a metal stamping press expressed through the following case study can be improved by respecting some fundamentals. Lean manufacturing aspects as 5 S’s and TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) for example are tools that can be applied to improve the production rate of a stamping press. To even better improve the OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) of the same machine, a tool like SMED (Single Minute Exchange of Dies) reveals to be really powerful when improving the global output rate of the machine. The case study developed inside this present report aims to investigate all the possibilities to improve the OEE of pressing equipment facing theoretical aspects and reality issues. The tools involved are part of the content, but the way to support a company for the organizational change required to the success is another part of the content. Technical solutions are taking part of the outcome, and a strong link to change management is included. Correlation between both technical and managerial aspects is the main line followed to get the final results. An experimental and actual OEE is calculated, and improved following a rating according to the possible improvements. Those results are analyzed to provide a weighted feedback related to the whole research.

In industrial design, additive manufacturing technology is one of the key technologies that have changed the way of producing metal component parts on short demand. Because of competitiveness among industries and the requirement to keep up with thegrowth of thesmart factory technology, the industries are pushed to step up and take further steps towards industry 4.0. Today the AM technology is used at prototype scale, but previous literature says that for the technology to reach the full capacity, it needs to be scaled up. Previous literature shows that improvements in the supply chain are necessary in order to scale up the industrial production and achieve high-scale adoption of the technology. As there are few sourcesin the literature about AM scalability or finding critical improvements in terms of lead times, costs and material consumptions, this study will fill that gap. The main objective of this research is to study small-scale 3D printing in the AM industries with two main industrial objectives in mind: 1 –Understanding the problem of optimization of a small-scale 3D printing operation in the industry and 2 –projecting a scenario regarding the scaling up of such facilities to reach full industrial production capacity. The method used for finding improvements in the additive manufacturing supply chain was optimization. I have developed the Overall Material Flow Effectiveness model (OMFE), which is an optimization model that takes into consideration the relevantparameters of the AM material flow regarding lead times, costs and material consumption. A literature review was conducted to determine the research design and what has and not been investigated. A sensitivity analysis was performed, which provided information aboutissues of scale, size and significance of optimizing a prototyping model,andalso aboutanalyzing the optimization model development in terms of evaluating the prototyping, making it better and scaling up to high-level production. The optimal material flow of the AM industry is a scaled-up production with implemented improvements regarding transport and cost. By comparing it with the current prototype production, it is possible to identifythat all of the OMFE related factors have higher percentages. The top losses within the current AM industry are related to non-human processes. The most significant optimization loss is the loss of transport, where the time from supplier to goods reception have a significant influence. The second largestlossis cost,generated bylabour management.

The thesis work was carried out at Pågens bakery in Gothenburg, the bakery produces both bread and pastry. The bakery has a total of eleven production lines with varying products and number of products per line. This project has been carried out at one of the production lines that produces several different kinds of bread, focusing on the three products that stands for the majority of the production. The thesis work consisted in collecting and analysing information from line 39 that effects the utilization rate (OEE%) negatively. The utilization rate of line 39 has an average OEE% of 61,9% compared with the target of an OEE% at 85%. The information and the analysis was collected through interviews, observations, work measurements, data compilation and value stream analysis. The aim of the project is to identify problem areas for line 39’s process that has negatively impacts on the OEE%, and if possible, find solutions based of relevant literature as well as to carry out a SMED-analysis of the packaging process. Based on the collected information about the current situation of the production on line 39 and the value stream mapping analysis, was four different problem areas identified. Absences of standardized work descriptions for de changeovers between different products which can lead to several types of waste. Large percentage of capacity losses that has no documented origination and must categorize as other utilization losses. Incorrect data in the spreadsheet when calculation theoretical capacity The operators of line 39 experience a great amount of stress during the changeovers between products. Based on the identified problem areas, different solution proposals were developed for the problem areas by using relevant literature to create a more efficient process and utilization rate. By using the Single Minute Exchange of Die method for the exchanges in the packaging process and by analyzing and comparing “rest” time for the dough in product exchanges in the bakery process. With help from literateur and the result from the Single Minute Exchange of Die, a standard for the exchanges could be developed for the packaging process, which can reduce the changeovers time by about 8,5 minuets from 23,5 to 15 minuets. This result has by itself an impact on OEE%, but has no actual effect on line 39’s OEE%, because of the variation of exchange times aren’t from the packaging process. They occur from processes that lies before in the material flow. Based on the analysis of “rest” times between different product types, a standard could be obtained when the next product type dough should start up to create a 30-minute production hatch which is currently standard. When introducing standardized working methods and inserting precise data into the spreadsheets, line 39's OEE% can be improved from 61.9% to 71.2%. Through the introduction of standardized working methods, operators perceived stresses can also be reduced by letting them know what is being expected of them during exchanges. A major problem area that remains is the uncategorized utilization losses that Pågen must continue the work by categorize and find the origin and then try to eliminate the problems. / Examensarbetet är utfört vid Pågens bageri i Göteborg, vid bageriet tillverkas både matbröd och kaffebröd. Bageriet har totalt elva produktionslinjer med varierande produkter och antalsorter per linje. Detta projektet är utfört vid en av de linjer som producerar flera olika sorters bröd, där fokus legat på de tre produkter som står för majoriteten av produktionen. Uppgiften bestod i att kartlägga och analysera linje 39 utifrån problemområden som påverkar utnyttjandegraden(OEE%) negativt.Linje 39 har idag en genomsnittlig OEE% på 61,9% jämfört med det uppsatta målet på 85%. Kartläggning och analys av nuläget skedde genom intervjuer, observationer, arbetsmätningar, sammanställning av data och värdeflödesanalys. Målet med projektet är att identifiera problemområden för linje 39 ́s process som påverkar OEE% negativt och om möjligt komma med lösningsförslag utifrån relevant litteratur, samt att standardisera omställningar vid paketeringen genom SMED-analys. Utifrån nulägesbeskrivningen samt värdeflödesanalysen kunde följande problemområden identifieras: Avsaknad av standardiserade arbetsmetoder vid omställningar vilket kan leda till flera typer av slöserier. Stor procentuell del av kapacitetsförluster som hör till övriga utnyttjandeförluster vilken inte går att härleda till specifikorsak eller problemområde. Felaktigdata vid beräkning av teoretisk kapacitet Upplevd stress hos operatörer i samband med omställningar Utifrån de identifierade problemområden togs lösningsförslag fram för problemområdena med hjälp av relevant litteratur för att skapa en effektivare process och utnyttjandegrad. Detta skedde genom utförande av Single Minute Exchange of Dieför omställningar i paketeringen samt analys av liggtider vid sortbyten i degavsnittet Genom användandet av litteratur och Single Minute Exchange of Die kunde en standard för omställningar mellan produktsorter tas fram för paketeringen, vilken kan minska omställningstiden med upp till8,5minuterfrån 23,5 till 15 minuter. Detta resultat ger idagingen förändring av OEE% då de varierande ställtiderna härstammar från degavsnittet tidigare i flödet.Utifrån analysen av liggtider mellan olika produktsorter kunde en standard tas fram om när degen för nästa produktsort bör påbörjas för att skapa en produktionslucka på 30 min som idag är standard. Vid införande avstandardiserade arbetsmetoderoch införande av korrekta data i kalkylbladen kan linje39’s OEE% förbättras från 61,9% till 71,2%. Genom införande av standardiserade arbetsmetoder kan även operatörernas upplevda stress minskas genom att de vet vad som förväntasav dem under omställningarna. Ett stort problemområde som kvarstår är posten för övriga utnyttjandeförlustersom Pågen behöver arbeta vidare med att kartläggadessuppkomst för att kunna eliminera förlusterna.

Efficient production scheduling is important for both maximizing productivity and minimizing costs in manufacturing environments. This thesis presents an approach to optimizing production scheduling using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Genetic Algorithms (GAs). The primary goal is to develop a generalized solution that can be modified and adapted to the varying needs that different production- or manufacturing lines may have. This research has two main research questions that address the problem at hand. (1) Can Genetic Algorithms be used to optimize a sequence of products in a production line? and (2) How effectively can Genetic Algorithms optimize the sequencing of production tasks in diverse production lines to minimize total order processing times? Through experimentation with various GA configurations the results achieved suggested that GAs were appropriate for sequence optimization. The study demonstrates that GAs can optimize a production line up to almost 42% , which significantly reduced the total processing time. The thesis also highlights the importance of the representation of data, which is essential for the optimization of the sequence.

The management of equipment based on Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM) has been widely applied with great success in several industries such as military, commodity production, civil airliners, nuclear power plant and the petroleum industry since the reprint of RCM-II written by John Moubray in 1997.The application of RCM not only increases the reliability of the equipment and the assets of a company but also promotes the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), which includes the excellent ok yield to order and the better productivity of the equipment. As a methodology, RCM differs from the traditional equipment maintenance in the aspect of emphasis of maintaining the ¡§function¡¨ of the equipment instead of the equipment itself. Therefore, the need of equipment maintenance results from the speed and the severity of function loss, which determines the strategy and interval of equipment maintenance. This is the major difference between RCM and time based maintenance (TBM). This article discusses the critical success factors that drive the application of RCM in steel plant. The result reveals that the application of RCM could promote the reliability of equipment, cut the cost of maintenance and increase compatibility of the steel plant. In order to facilitates the implementation of RCM in the steel mill, the basic skills of the management includes the construction of vision¡Bconsensus¡Bthe set up of regulation and the cultivation of innovating culture. so as to build an effective managing teamwork features in strong execution. As for the equipment management both the standardization and the strict deviation of equipment function(6£m) are vital to sustain the excellent equipment reliability. The Integration of Maintenance Management System(IMMS) consists of three components, CMMS(Computerized Maintenance Management System) and RTMS(Real Time Monitoring System) link by RCM. RCM acts as a bridge for the information flow of maintenance management in the IMMS and promotes the effectiveness of maintenance management.

The diploma work deals with measurement of Production Overall Equipment Effectiveness in manufacturing company Alfa. Firstly, is processed the theoretical part concerning general production, TPM, lean manufacturing and OEE. After than is described the company, monitored device and technology used by the device. In the final section is evaluated the OEE for January, February and March; analyze downtimes, mistakes and losses and their solutions are proposed. The last chapter is devoted to the economic evaluation of the proposal.