Currently, there is a monthly breach with its vehicle delivery policy. This policy refers to said company, it refers to a minimum of 92% of units towards the points of sale. However, in the last quarter of 2017 and the semester of 2018, it has only been met from 82% to 90%. These are 5% -10% that have not come to meet in each month, but also directly to the profitability of the company. On the one hand, storage costs are increased by each car that does not arrive or dissatisfaction is generated by the customer, this is the problem of 3 main causes, which is the installation time of radios, installation of alarms and more vehicles that are not served in the damage assessment area. As a root cause, we have the first, since, on the one hand, a bottleneck is generated by the lack of car attention and, on the other hand, represents 20% of the monthly sales of the case study, For what needs to be done to reduce this bottleneck and increase the capacity of the vehicles in this area, the damage is detailed, two lines of evaluation are carried out. This type of triage, we ensure a standardized work, since there was a group of vehicles waiting with different types of damage in the same operating line. Also, the delivery of vehicles on time is improved to 95% and the times of the areas of installation of radios, installation of alarms and damage assessment are reduced by 42.85%, 51.42% and 50% respectively.

El siguiente proyecto de tesis se encuentra conformado por 4 capítulos. En el primer capítulo, se presenta el marco teórico investigado de fuentes con journals indexadas y respaldadas por autores especialistas con los temas de procesos, restricciones y herramientas Lean. En el segundo capítulo, se analiza el diagnóstico actual del caso de estudio del sector automotriz, mapeando sus procesos, analizando el Árbol de Problemas y evaluando sus causas raíz de la problemática principal. En el tercer capítulo, se muestra la propuesta de solución con respecto al diagnóstico que se realizó y al marco teórico investigado. Se aplicarán herramientas Lean, como el Value Stream Mapping, Operator Balance Chart (OBC), donde se calcularán los tiempos de ciclos, el takt time y serán evaluados con todas las áreas de trabajo, para así poder obtener un trabajo estandarizado. Por último, en el capítulo 4, se realizará una simulación para validar la propuesta y se mostrarán las conclusiones y recomendaciones, a partir de la propuesta de solución. / The following thesis project is made up of 4 chapters. In the first chapter, the researched theoretical framework of sources with indexed journals and supported by specialist authors with the topics of processes, restrictions and Lean tools is presented. In the second chapter, the current diagnosis of the case study of the automotive sector is analyzed, mapping its processes, analyzing the Problem Tree and evaluating its root causes of the main problem. In the third chapter, the proposed solution is shown with respect to the diagnosis that was made and the theoretical framework investigated. Lean tools will be applied, such as the Value Stream Mapping, Operator Balance Chart (OBC), where the cycle times will be calculated, the takt time and will be evaluated with all the work areas, in order to obtain a standardized work. Finally, in Chapter 4, a simulation will be carried out to validate the proposal and the conclusions and recommendations will be shown, based on the proposed solution. / Trabajo de Suficiencia Profesional

Företaget AB är ett tillverkande företag som i dagsläget är Nordens största aktör för utveckling av kontraktstillverkning. Produktionsenheten upplever att de har alltför långa led- och ställtider och har därför efterfrågat en studie om dess produktionsprocesser för att identifiera problem som gör att processerna är ineffektiva. Syftet med arbetet var att undersöka och identifiera problem där en värdeflödesanalys genomfördes på produktionslinjerna 1,2 och 4. Genom undersökningen beaktades principerna inom Lean Production för att företaget i framtida arbete ska förankra dessa i verksamheten. Vidare var delsyftet med arbetet även identifiera och undersöka produktionsenhetens arbetssätt. För att uppfylla syftet med arbetet har tre delstudier genomförts: en litteraturstudie, en fallstudie och intervjuer. Från fallstudien, litteraturstudien och intervjuerna drogs flertal slutsatser, där bland annat att värdeflödesanalys är en lämplig metod att använda för att upptäcka slöseri. Dessutom att en stor del av ledtiderna i resultatet indikerade på många icke värdeskapande aktiviteter. Resultaten av examensarbetet genererade flertal förbättringsmöjligheter i både produktionsprocesserna och arbetssätten. Dessutom flertal förslag på hur Företaget AB kan implementera dessa i framtida arbeten för att ständigt gå mot förbättringar. / Företaget AB is a manufacturing company that is currently the Nordic region's largest player in the development of contract manufacturing. The production unit aiming for the improvement regarding too long lead and set-up times and has therefore requested a study of its production processes to identify problems that makes the processes inefficient. The aim of the work was to investigate and identify problems by conducting a value stream mapping on production lines 1, 2 and 4. Through the investigation, the principles of Lean Production were considered so that the company in future work will anchor these in the business. Furthermore, the sub-purpose of the work was also to identify and examine the production unit's working methods. To fulfill the aim of the thesis work, three sub-studies have been conducted: a literature study, a case study, and interviews. From the sub-studies several conclusions were drawn, including that value stream mapping is a suitable method to use in order to eliminate waste. The sub-studies also showed that the main contribution to lead times was due to many non-value adding activities. The results of the thesis work generated several improvement opportunities in both the production processes and working methods. Also, several suggestions on how Företaget AB can implement these in future work to constantly move towards improvements.

This study investigates the implementation of Lean principles to Value Stream Mapping (VSM). The study also explores the benefits and challenges of applying VSM as a mapping model for preliminary work in the context of digitalization within assembly lines. Through a qualitative approach, including literature review and interviews, this research examines the integration of Lean principles with VSM as a framework to uncover and address inefficiencies at a large company assembly line. The study was done at a large enterprise (LE) located in Sweden. The findings highlight the potential benefits of the VSM such as being customizable. However, the study also identifies challenges to the VSM as it is missing important parts, such as systems that need to be covered in a digitalization process. This study found it to be a challenge when using VSM as a mapping tool in a complex assembly process and because of that could not identify any potential opportunities or deficiencies regarding the digitalization. The study also comes with suggestions for further research to explore contextual factors, develop implementation frameworks and investigate the long-term effects and sustainability of this integrated approach.

The study examines the logic and production system of a Swedish sawmill. The aim for the study is to create an understanding and examine how the Lean method value stream mapping can contribute to identifying non-value-adding activities at manufacturing companies in the sawmill industry.  The case study is based on both a quantitative and qualitative approach to answer the study’s research questions. The literature review has been carried out from the theoretical frame of reference. Primary data was collected through observations and semi-structured interviews with employees at the sawmill. The sawmill’s product flow has been mapped through value stream mapping, which was used to identify problematic areas in the production. This was done by comparing lead time, value-creating time, supermarkets, and controls in the production flow. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the results of the data.  The results from the value stream mapping consists of a 23.4-day lead time. Furthermore, the value-creating time that a product is in production amounted to 0.12 % and 79 % of the time non-value-creating activities were in the form of waiting at supermarkets and controls. The result shows that over 99 % of the time was spent on non-value-creating activities during the production.  The study concluded that the value stream mapping calculates value-creating approaches based on the production lead time, which identifies non-value- creating activities. The wait at supermarkets constitutes the largest share of non- value-creating activity in the product flow (79 %). Through semi-structured interviews with employees, non-value-creating activities could be identified based on the seven wastes.

An important principle in Lean manufacturing, value stream mapping (VSM) can be helpful in understanding how process flow and information flow affect each other. A VSM is a static picture of a process that allows the user to see where value is added into the value stream. Simulation is used to evaluate the behavioral issues of processes. In a manufacturing realm this means simulation shows how each operation affects other operations so determinations can be made about where bottlenecks or other problems exist in the process. Theoretically, the integration of VSM and Simulation can aide in process improvement by showing both the static and behavioral characteristics of a process. Determining the feasibility of such an integration is the basis for this thesis. Using research performed by Jack McClellan at BullFrog Spa, a comparative study was conducted by two test groups. One used the traditional simulation approach and the other the integrated simulation approach. The test groups were formed from nine students taking the Manufacturing Systems course fall semester 2004. The traditional simulation approach used the ProModel simulation software to perform a test using a paper form of a VSM. The integrated simulation approach used Process Simulator simulation software, which created a simulation from a VSM created in Microsoft Visio. After completion of the tests, the students filled out surveys comparing their results with McClellan's results for verification of their simulations. The results from the study indicated that the students were able to create a working simulation using both approaches and there was no significant difference between times that it took to create the simulations. It was also discovered that a VSM helps increase understanding of a process, but cannot be the sole source of information to create a simulation. More behavioral information about the process is needed.

Nobel Biocare is an international medical technology company that manufactures dental implants which are used by licensed doctors for patients with dental problems who want to improve their oral health. The company is currently interested in Industry 4.0 and wants to upgrade into smart workshops through digitization and automation. This project's problem area is one of several areas that need improvement in Nobel, which in the long term can lead to Industry 4.0 and a smarter workshop. The packaging process in the company is today, to some extent, automated where an automatic machine is used for packaging implant articles (IP). In order for the products to be packed in the machine, it is required that an operator loads the articles one at a time onto a conveyor belt. This manual work activity that is performed by the operator today is repetitive, time consuming and laborious, which makes automation of interest. Thus, this thesis aims to generate and develop an efficient and practical solution for loading articles on the conveyor belt through automation or other solutions. The problem has been addressed by first mapping the current situation with the help of interviews, observations, document studies and time study to establish a value stream map. At the next step, requirements and desires were identified in a requirements specification and then solution proposals were generated with brainstorming and market research. Furthermore, external companies working with automation solutions were contacted to investigate whether the ideas developed are feasible. In connection with company contact, the result was developed and evaluated through an elimination matrix and a weighted criteria matrix.  Based on the weighted criteria matrix, it emerged that the best solution for the problem is a combination of a conveyor belt, magazine and two collaborative robots. Investing in the solution proposal means, among other things, a saving in manpower and time, which is presented in a value stream map of the future state. For further work, the solution should be studied further and tested before implementation. / Nobel Biocare är ett internationellt medicintekniskt företag som tillverkar tandimplantat, vilka används av legitimerade läkare för patienter med tandproblem som vill förbättra deras munhälsa. Företaget har i dagsläget intresse för Industri 4.0 och vill övergå till smarta verkstäder genom digitalisering och automatisering. Examensarbetets problemställning utgör ett av flera möjliga förbättringsområden inom Nobel, vilket på lång sikt kan leda mot Industri 4.0 och en smartare verkstad. Packningsprocessen i företaget är idag till en viss del automatiserad där en automatmaskin används för paketering av implantat-artiklar (IP). För att produkterna ska packas i maskinen krävs det att en operatör laddar artiklarna en i taget på ett transportband. Detta manuella arbetsmoment som utförs av operatören idag är repetitivt, tidskrävande och påfrestande vilket gör automatisering av intresse. Detta examensarbete syftar därmed till att generera och ta fram en effektiv och praktisk lösning för laddning av artiklar på transportbandet genom automation eller andra lösningar. Problemet har behandlats genom att först kartlägga nuläget med hjälp av intervjuer, observationer, dokumentstudier och tidsstudie för att upprätta en värdeflödeskarta. Vid nästa steg identifierades krav och önskemål i en kravspecifikation för att sedan generera fram lösningsförslag med brainstorming och marknadsundersökning. Vidare kontaktades externa företag som arbetar med automationslösningar för att undersöka om de framtagna idéerna är realiserbara. I samband med företagskontakt vidareutvecklades och utvärderades resultatet genom en eliminerings- och kriterieviktsmatris.  Utifrån kriterieviktsmatrisen framkom det att det bästa lösningsförslaget till problemet är en kombination av ett transportband, magasin och två kollaborativa robotar. Investering i lösningsförslaget innebär bland annat en besparing i arbetskraft och tid vilket redogörs i en värdeflödeskarta över det framtida tillståndet. Vid fortsatt arbete bör lösningen studeras vidare och testas innan implementering.

Within manufacturing organizations, the material flow is a promoted part of the supply chain to evaluate, since it often stands for a significant part of the costs. The evaluation refers to the analysis and optimization of the material flow that arise during manufacturing of products. It can focus on very different levels, such as the material flow in a region or within a company’s internal processes. However, the material flow is concerned with the transportations, operations and storages of materials. A well-organized material flow enables organizations to cutting costs and increase competitiveness, via increased effectiveness and efficiency of operating practices. Scania operates in the automotive industry and they are constantly striving to improve their supply chain in terms of productivity and lower costs, to meet the needs of the market and gain increased competitiveness. Today, Scania engine assembly in Södertälje has operations in two main buildings, approximately one km in-between. One building is the material warehouse, and the other building is the actual assembly. In the future, the two building will be joint together. Consequently, the project logistics department of Scania engine assembly has recognized a possibility to re-organize and improve the material flows. The upcoming merge between the two buildings enables a possibility to investigate how the current material flows could be more efficient, before they are applied in the future state. The purpose of this research is to investigate and improve a material flow, box flow, within an automotive environment. A box flow is concerned with smaller components that use plastic boxes as packaging material. The objective is to derive a more efficient process for the flow of supplying boxes to the assembly building. By efficiency, it is defined as shorter total lead time, higher capacity, lower time/cost per box delivered, and a maintained or improved ergonomics during manual handling operations within the box flow. To fulfil the purpose of this research interviews, observations and data collections have been used to gain an understanding of how the current situation is managed at Scania engine assembly. Conducted benchmarking and literature research have been used to gain an understanding of how other companies in the industry, as well as departments at Scania, are managing their box flows. The findings have been analysed, where the different flow of boxes have been compared with the theoretical frame of reference as well as against each other. The conclusions of the analysis are different key factors, for better logistics efficiency, when managing a box flow. These key factors are providing an increased theoretical understanding, when the aim is to make a material flow of boxes more efficient, in an assembly environment. In this research, they are utilized as guidelines, to derive a more efficient process for the flow of supplying boxes. That is, implementing the findings theoretically into a practical context. To derive a more efficient process, a Business Case have been conducted. Its outcome provides a concept of how the process of boxes should be organized. That is, how the different material handling operations and equipment should be utilized to achieve an overall increased efficiency. How the box flow should be organized are presented as recommendations, which works as guidelines and insights for Scania engine assembly. They are jointly fulfilling the purpose of this research, together with the other achieved research questions. / Inom tillverkningsorganisationer är materialflödet en prioriterad del av försörjningskedjan att utvärdera, eftersom den ofta står för en betydande del av kostnaderna. Utvärderingen avser analys och optimering av materialflödet som uppstår vid tillverkning av produkter. Den kan fokusera på många olika nivåer, som materialflödet i en region eller inom ett företags interna processer. Materialflödet berör emellertid transporten, operationerna och materiallager. Ett välorganiserat materialflöde gör det möjligt för organisationer att sänka kostnaderna och öka konkurrenskraften, genom ökad inre- och yttre effektivitet av utföranden inom företaget. Scania verkar inom bilindustrin och strävar ständigt efter att förbättra sin försörjningskedja när det gäller produktivitet och lägre kostnader, för att möta marknadens behov och öka konkurrenskraften. Idag har Scanias motormontering i Södertälje verksamheter i två huvudbyggnader, med ca en kilometer mellan varandra. Den ena byggnaden är materiallagret, och den andra byggnaden är den faktiska monteringen. I framtiden kommer de två byggnaderna att bli integrerade. Följaktligen har projektlogistikavdelningen vid Scanias motormontering bedömt en möjlighet att organisera och förbättra deras materialflöden. Den kommande integrationen mellan de två byggnaderna gör det möjligt att undersöka hur de aktuella materialflödena kan bli effektivare, innan de appliceras i det framtida tillståndet. Syftet med denna forskning är att undersöka och förbättra ett materialflöde, boxflöde, i en monteringsmiljö. Ett boxflöde behandlar mindre komponenter som använder plastlådor som förpackningsmaterial. Målet är att klarlägga en effektivare process för flödet av boxar till monteringsbyggnaden. Effektivitet definieras som ett flöde som har kortare total ledtid, högre kapacitet, lägre tid / kostnad per box levererad och en bibehållen eller förbättrad ergonomi under manuella hanteringar. För att uppfylla syftet med forskningen har olika typer av intervjuer, observationer och datasamlingar använts, för att skapa en djupare förståelse över den nuvarande situationen hos Scanias motormontering. Genomförd benchmarking och litteraturforskning har använts för att förstå hur andra företag inom branschen, även andra avdelningar på Scania, hanterar sina boxflöden. Den insamlade empirin har använts i en analys där de olika flödena av boxar har jämförts både med den teoretiska referensramen samt varandra. Konklusionerna från analysen är presenterade som nyckelfaktorer för att öka effektiviteten vid hantering av boxföden. Dessa nyckelfaktorer ger en ökad teoretisk förståelse, när syftet är att skapa ett effektivare materialflöde i form av boxar, i en monteringsmiljö. I denna forskning används nyckelfaktorerna som riktlinjer för att skapa en effektivare process för flödet av boxar. Det vill säga, att implementera nyckelfaktorerna teoretiskt i ett praktiskt sammanhang. För att ta fram en effektivare process har ett Business Case realiserats, som presenterar hur samtliga processer inom boxflödet borde organiseras på fallföretaget. Det vill säga, hur olika materialhanteringsoperationer och utrustningar borde användas för att uppnå en ökad effektivitet som helhet. Hur boxflödet ska organiseras presenteras som rekommendationer. Dessa bidrar med insikter och riktlinjer för hur Scanias motormontering borde organiseras, gällande deras interna materialflöde. Tillsammans med resterande forskningsfrågor uppfyller rekommendationerna syftet med forskningen.

Laxå Special Vehicles även kallat LSV startades 1962 och är sedan 2021 ett helägt dotterbolag till Scania som bygger Scanias specialfordon. Företaget bygger både chassin och hytter, detta arbete är dock avgränsat till hyttproduktionen och mer specifikt slutmonteringen av hyttarna.Slutmonteringen består av ett slutflöde med sex stationer där 5 av stationerna är manuell montering och den sjätte är en ugn där hytterna härdas. LSV har haft problem med att slutflödet inte färdigställer de åtta hytter om dagen som är planerade därav undersöker det här arbetet hur det är möjligt att effektivisera slutflödet så att de når upp till det planerade målet. Målet med arbetet är att presentera förbättringsförslag som skulle kunna öka effektiviteten på slutflödet. För att undersöka vilka möjligheter till förbättringar som finns så börjar arbete med att titta på vilka rotorsaker som kan orsaka den låga effektiviteten. Verktyg som används för att titta på detta är dels en flödesanalys som tittar på en av produkterna som produceras, men även Leanverktyg såsom Spagettidiagram, Ishikawadiagram och 5-varför används för att bestämma potentiella rotorsaker till problemet. Resultatet som arbete ger leder till följande slutsatser: att företaget bör fortsätta att arbeta med 5S. Det andra är att företaget bör göra sig mindre beroende av gaffeltrucken i slutflödet genom att bygga bort fysiska hinder som idag gör att en truck behöver användas för att flytta hytter. Samt att företaget bör arbeta mot att säkra sin personalförsörjning i slutflödet, förslag på detta är antingen genom att utbilda personal inom företaget som jobbar med mindre tidspressade arbetsuppgifter alternativt arbeta med bemanningsbolag så att det finns möjlighet att ta in vikarier via bemanningsbolag. / Laxå Special Vehicles also called LSV was started in 1962 and since 2021 is a wholly owned subsidiary of Scania that builds Scania's special vehicles. The company builds both chassis and cabs; however, this work is limited to cab production and, more specifically, final assembly of the cabs. The final assembly of cabs is the end flow it contains six stations, where five och the stations are manual assembly and the sixth one is an oven where the cabs are hardened. LSV have had problems with the end flow not completing the eight cabs a day that are planned; therefore, this work investigates how it is possible to streamline the end flow so that they reach the planned goal. The goal of the work is to present improvement proposals that could increase the efficiency of the final flow. In order to investigate what opportunities for improvement exist, work begins with looking at the root causes that can cause the low efficiency. Tools used to look at this are partly a flow analysis that looks at one of the products that are produced, but also Lean tools such as Spaghetti diagrams, Ishikawa diagrams and 5-whys are used to determine potential root causes of the problem. The results of the work lead to the following conclusions: that the company should continue to work with 5S, that the company should make itself less dependent on the forklift in the final flow by removing physical obstacles that today mean that a forklift needs to be used to move cabs and that the company should work towards securing its personnel supply in the final flow either by training personnel within the company who work with less time-pressured tasks or alternatively work with staffing companies so that there is an opportunity to bring in temporary workers via staffing companies.

This research explores the effect of proposed management policies and related structures on the dynamics of value streams, particularly under demand instability. It relies on methods from the systems thinking and modeling literature and was designed to fulfill three main objectives. Objective 1: Provide insight into the causes of problematic behavior in traditional value streams. Objective 2: Identify modes of demand behavior suitable for pull-based systems operation. Objective 3: Propose and test alternative value stream management policies and structures. The achievement of objectives 1 and 3 required the fulfillment of both a hypothetical and a real case. The hypothetical case was designed to describe the problem and improvement alternatives in generic terms, whereas the real case served to contextualize the main generic modeling elements in a real world situation, thus serving as an illustrative example. The research approach was one based on system dynamics modeling and simulation methodologies that reflect the scientific method. Three alternative policies were created and tested. Policy 1: a decision rule for altering the number of kanbans in circulation at the protective decoupling inventory during production cycles. Policy 2: a decision rule for defining the amount of demand to include in value stream schedules. Policy 3: a decision rule for setting a purposefully unbalanced downstream production capacity. The results suggest a benefit from the combined use of Policies 2 and 3 in the face of sudden demand peaks. Policy 1 is expected to provide minor benefits but also significantly increase the risk of upstream instability and therefore its use is not recommended. This study provides a causality perspective of the structure of value streams, and gives enterprise engineers new insights into the state-of-the-art in value stream design. / Ph. D.