In today's society there are strict requirements for manufacturing companies and they have to be efficient to maintain and increase their profitability, thus meeting the competition that exists. Effective transitions are becoming increasingly important for companies as customers demand a variety of their products, therefore, it is imperative to keep the setup time low in order to be able to offer customers the quality and variety demanded. Set Time Reduction means reducing changeover times at the machine without reducing production capacity. The SMED-method helps to get a better understanding of how, through a structured approach, companies can reduce setup times at the machine. The company DS Smith had a need to get control of their set-up times and get a structured approach that operators can work with. The authors' assignments / thesis has been to chart the current situation across 8 converting machines available at DS Smith in Värnamo, and then get an overview of how operators are working in the current situation. In order to map the current situation, the authors made use of qualitative studies, such as interviews and observations. They then selected one of the eight machines for the implementation of the SMED-method in five steps, where the authors have used literature studies and article search to gain knowledge on the subject and achieve results that were reliable. The work has resulted in an approach that operators can use in the future and according to reducing changeover times at the machines.

The thesis has investigated how Sandvik Coromant could implement the SMED principle on one of their grinders groups and what improvements it would lead to. The aim of the thesis is to identify the current situation and investigate how their setup times would be affected by SMED. The work initiated with a literature analysis about the SMED principles and then proceeded with an analysis of the current situation where the activity was time mapped. The analysis consisted of time trials of the process that the thesis would include. The time studies revealed opportunities for structural improvements to create environment for a more structured process. Conversations and interviews with operators during the studies and monitoring of the processes generated a number of improvement opportunities. When improvement suggestions were generated and priorities of which was to be implemented, Sandvik Coromant gave the implementation of principal improvement proposals the highest priority The work continued in that direction and took out routines and suggestions on an updated workplace. This has generated verified set-up time reductions of 68% in the most time consuming process. The improvements that have been implemented during the thesis has not reduced set-up time to under ten minutes but if the client implements all components of the action plan, the time will be approached. Besides looking at setup time the order change process has been examined and there are parts of that process that can be streamlined. To implement the suggested changes will create opportunities to reduce the order replacements time by over 70%. This means substantial savings for Sandvik Coromant. Even if only a part of the improvement proposals will be implemented it will lead to drastic improvements with average setup time reduced drastically.

The purpose of this project was to reduce setup time on a press machine at Nitator Hylte AB and to develop a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), which will serve as a basis for the operators to carry out the work. When the company was contacted so considered site manager that the current change over time was far from optimal and had the desire that it would be reduced by 50%. In connection with the project they were made some boundaries to make the project possible. The methodology that the authors have followed was Shigeo Shingo theory, Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED), which assumes that it will change the routine during transitions by making as much preparation work as possible, this is done by analyzes based on observation from observations, videotaping and timings. The resistance that can occur when trying to reduce setup time is the human aspect, this type of resistors most often occurs in the lack of education and lack of good communication. The results from the project led to a new routine for how the work should be executed during the changeover. During the project diffrent kind of technical solutions was created to simplify the work during the changeover. At the end of the project the aouthers conducted a pilottest to determinate how much time that had been reduced. The Results from the test showed that 50 % of the time had been reduced.

Kongsberg Automotive (KA) är ett företag som verkar i den hårt konkurrensutsatta fordonsbranschen. Vid en av företagets anläggningar som är placerad i Mullsjö sker montering av växelföringssystem. KA ser ett behov av att öka kapaciteten i avsnittet genom att öka produktiviteten. En stor förbättringspotential har identifierats vid omställning mellan olika produktvarianter i monteringsavsnittet. Genom ställtidsreducering förväntas kapaciteten att öka i monteringsavsnittet, vilket även bidrar till ökad flexibiliteten för att på ett konkurrenskraftigt sätt kunna möta kundernas varierade behov. För att fastställa utgångsläget vid förbättringsarbetet måste en nulägesanalys genomföras, varefter förbättringsförslag för att reducera ställtiden kan arbetas fram. Implementering av ett förbättringsförslag kan därefter genomföras. För att dokumentera nuläget samt för att påvisa förbättringar av ställtidsreduceringen upprättas en simuleringsmodell. Simuleringsmodellen påvisar ett exempel på användningsområde för verktyget produktionssimulering. För att genomföra ställtidsreducering användes SMED-metoden (Single-Minute Exchange of Die) som ursprungligen är framtagen för att reducera ställtiden vid pressmaskiner. Metoden syftar på att reducera ställtiden till under 10 minuter, ”single-minute”. Genom videodokumentering, deltagande observationer samt ytterligare datainsamlingsmetoder kunde nuläget fastställas. Detta skapade en bra bild över de moment som genomfördes och vilken tidsåtgång det motsvarade. För att verifiera data till nuläget genomfördes tidtagning av arbetesmoment enligt snapback metoden. Simuleringsmodellen är uppbyggd efter Banks tolvstegs-metod med de data som samlats in under projektets gång. Modellen är sedan verifierad mot det fastsällda nuläget. När förbättringsförslagen var framtagna sattes värden in i modellen som motsvarade den beräknade tidsförbättringen av förslagen. Förbättringsförslagen togs fram av projektgruppen genom en workshop tillsammans med personal på KA med fokus på fem stycken tidigare identifierade problemområden. Förbättringsförslagen värderades på workshopen genom en pick chart. Fem genomarbetade förbättringar som kräver liten insats men ger en stor effekt kunde presenterats för KA. För att verifiera teroetiska beräkningar genomfördes en pilotomställning med fyra av de fem förbättringarna tillfälligt implementerade. Resultatet påvisade en reducering av ställtiden från 38 minuter till 3,7 minuter vilket motsvarar en förbättring på 90.3%. Analyser visar på att förbättringsförslagen också ökar kapaciteten vid normal montering. Totalt kommer förbättringarna i detta projekt öka TAK-värdet i monteringsavsnittet med 4.2%. Trots detta kommer inte ett av det uppställda målet i projektet att uppnås eftersom tiden för omställningsaktiviteterna utgör en för liten del av den tillgängliga tiden i monteringsavsnittet. / Kongsberg Automotive (KA) is a company operating in the highly competitive automotive industry. At one of its plants located in Mullsjö, assembling of gear transmission systems is taking place. KA sees a need to increase capacity in the section by increasing productivity. A large potential for improvement are identified during the changeover between different product variants in the assembly section. The setup time reduction is expected to increase the productivity in the assembly section, which also contributes to increased flexibility in order to competitively meet customer’s flexible needs. In order to determine the starting position at the improvement work, a situation analysis and suggestions for improvement to reduce setup time can be worked out. Implementation of improvement suggestions can then be adopted. In order to document the current situation and to demonstrate improvements in the setup time reduction a simulation model was establishes. The simulation model will demonstrate an example of when to use production simulation tool. To implement the setup time reduction SMED (Single -Minute Exchange of Die) is used, originally developed to reduce the setup time for the press machines. The method aims at reducing setup time to under 10 minutes, the "single- minute'. Through video documentation, participant observation, and further data collection methods the present situation could be determined. This created a good picture of the operations carried out and the time consumption it corresponded to. To verify the data of the current situation timing of work elements according to snapback method was conducted. The simulation model is constructed after Banks twelve-step method with the data gathered during the project. The model is then verified against the situation analysis. When improvement proposals were formulated the values were added ​​into the model, which corresponded to the calculated time improvement proposals. The improvement proposals for the setup time are partly produced by the project, but also through a workshop with staff at KA and focusing on the five previously identified problem areas. The improvement proposals were evaluated on the workshop through a pick chart. Five elaborate improvements that require little effort but gives a great effect was presented to KA. To verify theoretical calculations, a pilot with four of the five improvements temporarily implemented. The results showed a reduction of setup time from 38 minutes to 3.7 minutes, which corresponds to an improvement of 90.3%.  The analysis also shows that the improvement creates a reduction in the production rate in normal assembly. In total, the improvements in this project increase OEE value in assembly section with 4.2%. Even so, one of the stated objectives of the project will not be achieved since the setup time activities are too small part of the available time in the assembly section.

The problem Modern manufacturing needs to be flexible. Flexibility is achieved by smaller lot sizes of the parts manufactured, which places higher demands on keeping the setup times low. Setup time is the time it takes to switch the production from manufacturing product A to the first approved product B. The setup time can be divided into internal setup time (the time when the machine is stationary), and external setup time (when the machine is active). In many productions the tool exchange is a large part of the total manufacturing time. Based on this, the aim of this thesis can be summarized into two questions:   What factors affect the setup time? How can the setup time be reduced? Case study The case study was performed at Mälarplast AB, where a distinction is made to reduction of setup time of the company’s injection molding. The case study consisted of observations, interviews and time-studies. The theoretical framework for this study consisted of a literature study conducted on how to reduce setup-time. A common method for reduction of setup time is SMED, which stands for single minute exchange of dies. This method, which was used in this study involves separating the production of internal and external setup. The seven wastes were also studied, and formed the basis for the suggested improvements that have been developed. During the study it was noticed that the employees moved around a lot during setups. They had to retrieve missing tools and components, which lead to several rounds of walking. Shortcomings in the working routines were also noticed. Therefore, solutions to minimize the employees’ movement were developed.  Result In the beginning of the study a time study was done for the machine T6. The time for the work procedures that were included inthe setup time was 80.5 minutes. By moving internal setup time to external setup time, using parallel operations and refining other processes the setup time could be reduce by approximate 50 % without any expensive investments.

Till följd av globalisering och en växande konkurrens ställs det i dag allt större krav på organisationer. För att möta den hårdnande konkurrensen är det vanligt att företag implementerar olika kvalitetsprogram. Dessa förändringar ses som nödvändiga åtgärder för att kunna bibehålla marknadsandelar och vara konkurrenskraftiga. Genom att införa Lean-verktyg och arbeta med ständiga förbättringar minskar riskerna för att produktionen läggs ned eller flyttas till lågkostnadsländer. Som examensarbete har författarna valt att studera ett av dessa Lean-verktyg som används för ställtidsreducering. Verktyget benämns SMED och står för ”Single Minute Exchange of Die” vilket syftar till att öka maskintillgängligheten genom effektivare verktygsbyte mellan olika produkter. Examensarbetet är en kvalitativ fallstudie där författarna går på djupet för att skapa en förståelse över det som kan komma att påverka utfallet. Nyckelfrågan som författarna söker svar på är: Vad som påverkar mognadsgraden inför en implementering av SMED? Empiri har samlats in genom intervjuer och observationer för att besvara ovanstående problemformulering. Med stöd från TQM (Total Quality Management) har författarna valt att undersöka fyra områden och hur dessa korrelerar mot utfallet. De valda områdena benämns i denna studie som block och är: implementering, företagskultur, kompetens och ledarskap. Själva korrelationen utfördes med hjälp av en regressionsanalys i statistikprogrammet Minitab, där resultatet visar på att de fyra blocken påverkar, men har olika inverkan på utfallet. Blocken som påverkar mest är ledningen och företagskulturen som svarar för totalt 84 %. Ett resultat som enligt författarna uppfyllde undersökningens förväntningar och som kunde bekräftades genom denna studie. Författarna anser att studien kan tillföra användbar information och kunskap inför implementeringen av SMED, då detta examensarbete innefattar intervjuer och observationer från tio företag. / Globalization and growing competition are today placing increasing demands on organizations. To meet the tougher competition, it is common that companies implement various quality programs. These changes are seen as necessary measures in order to maintain market share and to be competitive. Introducing Lean tools and working on continuous improvement reduces the risk that production is shut down or moved to low-cost countries. In this thesis the authors have chosen to study one of these Lean tools used for setup time reduction. The tool is called SMED which stands for "Single Minute Exchange of Die" and aims to increase machine availability through more efficient tool change between different products. The thesis is a qualitative case study where the authors create an in-depth understanding of what it is that can affect the outcome. The key question that the authors seek to answer is: What influences the level of maturity before an implementation of SMED? Empirical data was collected through interviews and observations to answer the above problem. With the support of TQM (Total Quality Management), the authors have chosen to examine four areas and how they correlate to the outcome. The selected areas are referred to in this study as blocks and are: Implementation, Leadership, Competence and Corporate Culture. The correlation was performed using a regression analysis program Minitab. There the result shows that all four blocks influence, but have different effects on the outcome. The two most influential are Leadership and Corporate Culture that are responsible for a total of 84 %. A result that according to the authors met the survey's expectations and that could be confirmed by this study. The authors believe that this study can provide useful information and knowledge before implementation of SMED. As this thesis includes interviews and observations from ten companies.

<p>Presto Brandsäkerhet AB är marknadsledande inom brandsäkerhet i Norden och har en robotlina för montering av brandsläckare i Katrineholm. De senaste åren har brandsläckarförsäljningen ökat kraftigt och tros öka ännu mer. Med stigande produktionstakt ökar kraven på tillverkningsutrustningen. En viktig konkurrensprioritet är att erbjuda kunder snabba leveranser och därför har företaget valt att ha ett stort lager av de allra flesta modeller. Med kortare omställningstider skulle tillverkning av mindre partier vid behov bli mer fördelaktigt. Lagernivån skulle då kunna minskas och istället snabbt fyllas på vid behov. Detta examensarbete syftar därför till att kartlägga omställningsarbetet och ta fram förslag som reducerar omställningstiden för byte av brandsläckarvarianter i robotlinan. För att uppfylla syftet används SMED-metoden som grund, vilket är en universell metod för ställtidsreducering med ursprung från Japan.</p><p>Kartläggningen visar att omställningsarbetet är uppdelat i många små operationer, där inget enskilt moment upptar majoriteten av tiden. Trots detta har det framträtt att det finns goda möjligheter att få ner omställningstiden till en bråkdel av dagens tid. I denna rapport presenteras ett antal förbättringsförslag och rekommendationer. Det visas hur omställningstiden kan reduceras från dagens 45 – 60 minuter till ca 15 minuter. Det har uppnåtts genom att mesta möjliga arbete görs i förberedande syfte innan linan stoppas samt förbättring av själva operationerna och genom tillgång till en extra person.</p><p>Ställtidsreduktionen kommer att öka linans kapacitet och möjliggöra mindre partistorlekar av brandsläckare. Partistorlekarna kan exempelvis minskas med ca 70 % med bibehållen kapacitet. Detta bidrar till en lägre lagerhållningskostnad samt att det kommer bli mer fördelaktigt att tillverka vissa släckarmodeller direkt mot kundorder.</p> / <p>Presto Brandsäkerhet AB is the market leader within fire security in Scandinavia and has a robot line for the assembly of fire extinguishers in Katrineholm, Sweden. In recent years, sales of fire extinguishers have increase rapidly and are projected to increase even more. With rising production rate the requirements on the manufacturing equipment increases. An important competition priority is to offer customers fast deliveries and therefore the company has chosen to have a large stock of most models. With short setup times, production of smaller batches would become more beneficial. The stock level could be reduced and instead quickly replenished when necessary. This thesis aims to identify the setup work and to develop proposals that reduce the setup time for the change between different models of fire extinguishers. To fulfill the purpose SMED is used, which is a universal method for setup time reduction originating from Japan.</p><p>The survey shows that the setup work is divided into many small operations, where no single item occupies the majority of the time. Nevertheless, it appears that there are good opportunities to reduce the setup time to a fraction of today's time. In this report, a number of improvement suggestions and recommendations are presented. It is shown how the setup time can be reduced from today's 45 - 60 minutes to approximately 15 minutes. This has been achieved by having most of the preparatory work done before the line stops, by improvements of the operations themselves and through access to an additional person.</p><p>The setup time reduction will increase the capacity of the robot line and make smaller lot sizes of fire extinguishers possible. The lot sizes can for example be reduced by 70 % while still maintaining capacity. This contributes to a lower inventory cost, and that it will be more advantageous to produce some fire extinguisher models directly to customer orders.</p>

Presto Brandsäkerhet AB är marknadsledande inom brandsäkerhet i Norden och har en robotlina för montering av brandsläckare i Katrineholm. De senaste åren har brandsläckarförsäljningen ökat kraftigt och tros öka ännu mer. Med stigande produktionstakt ökar kraven på tillverkningsutrustningen. En viktig konkurrensprioritet är att erbjuda kunder snabba leveranser och därför har företaget valt att ha ett stort lager av de allra flesta modeller. Med kortare omställningstider skulle tillverkning av mindre partier vid behov bli mer fördelaktigt. Lagernivån skulle då kunna minskas och istället snabbt fyllas på vid behov. Detta examensarbete syftar därför till att kartlägga omställningsarbetet och ta fram förslag som reducerar omställningstiden för byte av brandsläckarvarianter i robotlinan. För att uppfylla syftet används SMED-metoden som grund, vilket är en universell metod för ställtidsreducering med ursprung från Japan. Kartläggningen visar att omställningsarbetet är uppdelat i många små operationer, där inget enskilt moment upptar majoriteten av tiden. Trots detta har det framträtt att det finns goda möjligheter att få ner omställningstiden till en bråkdel av dagens tid. I denna rapport presenteras ett antal förbättringsförslag och rekommendationer. Det visas hur omställningstiden kan reduceras från dagens 45 – 60 minuter till ca 15 minuter. Det har uppnåtts genom att mesta möjliga arbete görs i förberedande syfte innan linan stoppas samt förbättring av själva operationerna och genom tillgång till en extra person. Ställtidsreduktionen kommer att öka linans kapacitet och möjliggöra mindre partistorlekar av brandsläckare. Partistorlekarna kan exempelvis minskas med ca 70 % med bibehållen kapacitet. Detta bidrar till en lägre lagerhållningskostnad samt att det kommer bli mer fördelaktigt att tillverka vissa släckarmodeller direkt mot kundorder. / Presto Brandsäkerhet AB is the market leader within fire security in Scandinavia and has a robot line for the assembly of fire extinguishers in Katrineholm, Sweden. In recent years, sales of fire extinguishers have increase rapidly and are projected to increase even more. With rising production rate the requirements on the manufacturing equipment increases. An important competition priority is to offer customers fast deliveries and therefore the company has chosen to have a large stock of most models. With short setup times, production of smaller batches would become more beneficial. The stock level could be reduced and instead quickly replenished when necessary. This thesis aims to identify the setup work and to develop proposals that reduce the setup time for the change between different models of fire extinguishers. To fulfill the purpose SMED is used, which is a universal method for setup time reduction originating from Japan. The survey shows that the setup work is divided into many small operations, where no single item occupies the majority of the time. Nevertheless, it appears that there are good opportunities to reduce the setup time to a fraction of today's time. In this report, a number of improvement suggestions and recommendations are presented. It is shown how the setup time can be reduced from today's 45 - 60 minutes to approximately 15 minutes. This has been achieved by having most of the preparatory work done before the line stops, by improvements of the operations themselves and through access to an additional person. The setup time reduction will increase the capacity of the robot line and make smaller lot sizes of fire extinguishers possible. The lot sizes can for example be reduced by 70 % while still maintaining capacity. This contributes to a lower inventory cost, and that it will be more advantageous to produce some fire extinguisher models directly to customer orders.

Syftet med fallstudien är att få en bättre förståelse om en produktionsprocess i ett tillverkande företag. Där den nyfunna förståelsen för Produktions- processen kommer att utnyttjas i relevanta situationer såsom att effektivisera en produktionslinje. Målet är att rekommendationerna som presenteras ska kunna användas på fallföretaget vid effektiviseringen av produktionslinjen. Utifrån detta ska en sammankoppling mellan relevant teori och empiri utgöra en analys som visar de bakomliggande orsakerna till den ineffektiva produktionslinjen. Detta leder till ett resultat som kommer att vara en plattform till rekommendationerna som kommer att föreslås i studiens sista fas.

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to investigate how the use of discrete event simulation affects investment decisions linked to changeover time reduction. This purpose has been met by answering the following two questions: • How does an investment analysis differ, regarding changeover time reduction, based on discrete event simulation from one that is not? • How is an investment decision in setup time reduction affected if the decision is based on discrete event simulation or not? Method - The study has been conducted as a one-off study at a Swedish manufacturing company where data collection has taken place through interviews and observations. This data has then been analyzed both as a comparison between the company's existing investment analysis and an investment analysis expanded by simulation. This result has, in turn, been compared against a theoretical framework developed during a literature review. Findings - This study shows that simulation enables the ability to take into account more parameters of both changeover time itself and surrounding factors such as sequencing and batch sizes, fitter dependency and buffers. It also enables the impact of variation to be visualized. The result also indicates that an investment decision that takes place without simulation and without regard to the extension of parameters risks overestimating the benefit of the investment. Limitations - The main limitations in this study consist of that only increased throughput and the reduced cost this may result in is used as a measure of the benefit of an investment decision. No other aspects that a reduction in changeover time can affect have been taken into account in the analysis, even though it is discussed in the discussion chapter. The study has also not made any difference to the effort required to reduce the changeover time or reduce the variation of changeover time. This means that the cost of changeover time reduction or reduction of its variation is considered the same no matter where in the process it takes place as long as it is equal in size. Keywords – Discrete event simulation, Setup-time reduction, investment basis, investment decision