Production line balancing gas stove parts forming process with ECRS principles case study: a sample company

Abstract

The sample factory has taken over the production of gas burner components to pass on to the assembly department of the company due to the work that cannot be delivered to customers on time. The sample factory now has 26 working days per month and a total production order of 7,500 pieces per month, or approximately 289 pieces per day, but its production capability can only create 226 pieces per day, or approximately 5,876 pieces per month, on a typical 8-hour workday. They must therefore add 2 hours of additional extra work each day. The objective of this research is to improve the production process to reduce overtime hours by implementing the production line balancing technique. The process begins with gathering production information using process flow charts to determine the standard time, which is 8 hours each day. Utilize the comparison to determine the production cycle time at each stage, and if the value is exceeded, conduct a root cause analysis with the help of new quality control tools. Finally, balance the production line by applying the ECRS concept. The results demonstrated that it is possible to control the production cycle time to be less than the rate of takt time at each workstation. A production capacity increase of 7,696 pieces per month during regular working hours of eight hours per day is possible by reducing the number of workstations by two, or 22.22%, the number of personnel by eight, or 38.09%, and the total production cycle time by 1.71 minutes, or 14.39%. Production line efficiency grew by 33.04%, while productivity increased by 1.47% piece/hour/person, amounting to an increase of 106.52%.