Achieving waste-free manufacturing processes through an effective series link production system

In this study, an effective series link production system was developed and implemented for waste-free manufacturing processes prior to designing the production layout. Currently, the approach in waste elimination involves eliminate wastes in the production system after investigating the designated production system in the operation. The developed effective series link production system identified the required parts, segregated the parts into parent groups and pre-determined the process cycle time for each group. Then, an effective production layout was designed to eliminate wastes prior to setting up the actual production layout. Results of this research as implemented in a case study industry show that the design layout should have 23 workstations instead of 25 in the actual production layout. Therefore, waste elimination by lean manufacturing concept in minimising the transportation, motions of workers and over-processing was successfully achieved in the design of the production layout.