Hybrid Integrations of Value Stream Mapping, Theory of Constraints and Simulation: Application to Wooden Furniture Industry

This paper studies manufacturing processes in a wooden furniture manufacturing company. The company suffers from long manufacturing lead times and an unbalanced production line. To identify sources of waste and delay value stream mapping (VSM) and a discrete event simulation model is implemented. VSM is used to visualize and analyze the major processes of the company and provide quantifiable KPIs; the manufacturing lead-time and then Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) settings. A discrete event simulation model is then built to analyze the company on a wider scale and provide the data required to identify bottlenecks. Building on the data gathered from the production lines and the simulation model, two-bottleneck detection methods are used, the utilization method, and the waiting time method. Then based on the comparison of the two methods a third bottleneck detection is utilized; the scenario-based method, to identify the primary and secondary bottlenecks. After the bottlenecks are identified, changes are then evaluated using the simulation model and radar charts were built based on the improved simulation model, which evaluates the effect of changes in the utilization and OEE results. This work managed to neutralize the effect of one of the main bottlenecks and minimize the effect of the other. The manufacturing utilization was increased by 15.8% for the main bottleneck resources followed by 2.4% for the second one. However, it is hard to convince the traditional administration of this small size manufacturing plant to adopt a completely revolutionizing, costly, and risky (at such level) lean manufacturing approach. This paper studies and provides a much lower in cost and verified scheme of enhancement.

[1]  Gunther Reinhart,et al.  Enabling value stream mapping for internal logistics using multidimensional process mining , 2019, Expert Syst. Appl..

[2]  Pedro Garrido-Vega,et al.  Applying the theory of constraints to the logistics service of medical records of a hospital , 2016 .

[3]  Jayant Giri,et al.  Design and evaluation of a Lean Manufacturing framework using Value Stream Mapping (VSM) for a plastic bag manufacturing unit , 2018 .

[4]  Alexandre Linhares,et al.  Theory of constraints and the combinatorial complexity of the product-mix decision , 2009 .

[5]  Jeffrey S. Smith,et al.  Simulation for manufacturing system design and operation: Literature review and analysis , 2014 .

[6]  Ahmad Almuhtady,et al.  A value stream mapping and simulation hybrid approach: application to glass industry , 2015 .

[7]  Jong-Tae Lim,et al.  Bottlenecks in serial production lines: A system-theoretic approach , 1996 .

[8]  Rambabu Kodali,et al.  Design of lean manufacturing systems using value stream mapping with simulation , 2011 .

[9]  Suresh Garg,et al.  Value stream mapping: literature review and implications for Indian industry , 2011 .

[10]  Jiwen Sun,et al.  Simulation guided value stream mapping and lean improvement: A case study of a tubular machining facility , 2013 .

[11]  Ozalp Vayvay,et al.  Theory of Constraints: A Literature Review , 2014 .

[12]  Kamran Shahanaghi,et al.  A multi-criteria decision-making approach to solve the product mix problem with interval parameters based on the theory of constraints , 2014 .

[13]  Dorota Stadnicka,et al.  Value stream mapping and system dynamics integration for manufacturing line modelling and analysis , 2019, International Journal of Production Economics.

[14]  Dorota Stadnicka,et al.  Combining factory simulation with value stream mapping: a critical discussion , 2018 .

[15]  Emre Cevikcan,et al.  A simulation-based methodology for the analysis of the effect of lean tools on energy efficiency: An application in power distribution industry , 2019, Journal of Cleaner Production.

[16]  Paul Ciprian Patic,et al.  A Method to Optimize the Overall Equipment Effectiveness , 2010 .

[17]  Volkan Sonmez,et al.  Overall equipment effectiveness when production speeds and stoppage durations are uncertain , 2018 .

[18]  Xianming Cai,et al.  Value stream mapping to reduce the lead-time of a product development process , 2015 .

[19]  Lamia Berrah,et al.  A fuzzy temporal approach to the Overall Equipment Effectiveness measurement , 2019, Comput. Ind. Eng..

[20]  William Faulkner,et al.  Sustainable Value Stream Mapping (Sus-VSM): methodology to visualize and assess manufacturing sustainability performance , 2014 .

[21]  Syed Mithun Ali,et al.  Improvement of overall equipment efficiency of ring frame through total productive maintenance: a textile case , 2018 .

[22]  Benjamin Haefner,et al.  Quality Value Stream Mapping , 2014 .

[23]  Taho Yang,et al.  Lean production system design for fishing net manufacturing using lean principles and simulation optimization , 2015 .

[24]  David de la Fuente,et al.  Applying Goldratt's Theory of Constraints to reduce the Bullwhip Effect through agent-based modeling , 2015, Expert Syst. Appl..

[25]  Yang Miang Goh,et al.  Lean production theory-based simulation of modular construction processes , 2019, Automation in Construction.

[26]  Alexandre Tadeu Simon,et al.  Integrating value stream mapping and discrete events simulation as decision making tools in operation management , 2015 .