Application of value stream mapping for cycle time reduction in production of link and roller assembly

The advancements in manufacturing organisations are focused towards the direction of reducing the cycle times, lead times and different manufacturing costs for timely delivery of the product. This trend has led companies to exploit lean manufacturing principles which concentrate deeply on the reduction of the cycle times. This paper proposes a framework and develops a methodology for improving the performance in each stage of the considered manufacturing unit by maximising the value of the product through minimisation of waste. As a first step, the time required for all the processes in the manufacturing of the links and rollers had been identified using time and work study. Thereafter, in the second part, value stream mapping method (VSM) is used to determine the value added (VA) and non-value added (NVA) activities in the process. Moreover, the proposed approach and the framework is demonstrated and some managerial insights are derived from the numerical results.