Title: Performance analysis of the footwear manufacturing assembly line: a case study using value stream mapping-simulation modelling

Authors: Hiluf Reda; Akshay Dvivedi

Addresses: Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee-247667, Uttarakhand, India; Department of Industrial Engineering, Debre Berhan University, DBU Debre Berhan, Ethiopia ' Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee-247667, Uttarakhand, India

Abstract: This research aims to analyse footwear manufacturing assembly lines' performance and increase its production by maximising the measurement of performances like throughput and resource utilisation with a case study. A shoe model with 46 components has been selected from the case company. The study starts with VSM to visualise the process flow, identify the production status, and any potential alerts. A discrete event simulation model is used to precisely analyse the manufacturing system's actual performance without disturbing the real system. After analysing the collected data using the Arena input analyser, a simulation model was developed, verified, validated, and run for 40 replications. Six proposed alternative solutions have experimented with Arena simulation software, and the best alternative solution results in improvement of output from 191 to 278 and from 174 to 536, line balance efficiency from 68.3% to 90.1%, and from 17.6% to 76% in stitching and lasting assembly lines, respectively.

Keywords: value stream mappping; simulation-modelling; performance analysis; footwear; manufacturing assembly line; Ethiopia.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEX.2023.134822

International Journal of Business Excellence, 2023 Vol.31 No.3, pp.333 - 354

Received: 20 May 2020
Accepted: 07 Nov 2020
Published online: 14 Nov 2023 *

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