Title: Improving the productivity of an assembly production line utilising lean tools and simulation: a case study

Authors: Amr I. Ezzeldin; Tamer A. Mohamed; Khaled S. Abdallah

Addresses: The British University in Egypt, Suez Desert Road El Sherouk City, 11837, Egypt ' The British University in Egypt, Suez Desert Road El Sherouk City, 11837, Egypt ' Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport (AASTMT), 1160 Ahmed Ismail, Heliopolis, Cairo, Egypt

Abstract: This study considers the production line of a leading multinational company that is facing significant wastes in the form of waiting and delays. A lean project case study is applied to the production line. The methodology used is to first explore the current situation to find wastes and bottlenecks. Then possible improvements are proposed which are examined using computer simulation for validation purposes and for searching for other emerging issues that may arise from the proposed improvements. Finally, the proposed improvements are applied to the real-life production line. The improvements lead to productivity improvement and significant cost reduction. This study explores the one-piece flow tool which, despite its importance, shows few case studies in the literature as it is difficult to implement in real life. The proposed methodology in the case study can be extended to other companies, and also can be used in lean project utilising other lean tools.

Keywords: lean manufacturing; one-piece flow; assembly line balancing; simulation; lean case study; ARENA.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSCA.2022.124977

International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, 2022 Vol.14 No.2, pp.227 - 246

Received: 16 Apr 2021
Accepted: 21 Sep 2021
Published online: 19 Aug 2022 *

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