POTENTIAL OF KANBAN IN THE MANUFACTURING PROCESSES OF CUSTOMIZED PRODUCTS

The thesis is researching the advantages and disadvantages a Kanban system implementation might cause to the material management processes of a manufacturing facility and define the theoretical and/or practical reasons behind these results. On an empirical level the research question is analyzed by participating to a Kanban implementation project at the ABB, Motors and Generator’s business unit in Vaasa. Another research problem is to define the possibilities of improving the Kanban system with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. Since the company utilizes an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, its functionalities are also considered during the whole study. Research strategy is to collect the data by utilizing academic articles, publications, case studies and material obtained during the employment at the case company and the Kanban implementation project. Research methods are a combination between structural, qualitative, and quantitative approaches. The key findings of the study are concluding that all the resources were complimenting the Kanban system as a part of operations and inventory reduction, and RFID technology enables the enhancement of the Kanban system currently being implemented. The company’s ERP system is able to perform automatic Kanban calculations in order to define parameters for improved production control. These calculations can also be done without the system and appropriate mathematical formulas are introduced and utilized. The Kanban system is not a magical solution for all the problems related to manufacturing customized products, but with a pull system and the Lean concept, it offers a significant improvement for the production operations and inventory management.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

DEVELOPING AND BUILDING A LEAN BASED RFID ELECTRONIC KANBAN PROTOTYPE

The kanban system is a popular Toyota lean manufacturing tool used to help facilitate material movement between workstations and suppliers. Since the 1950’s, the original kanban system has undergone many different variations due to the advancement of technology and unique company implementation. This report focuses on the development and building of a new variation of the kanban system using lean principles while integrating radio frequency identification (RFID) technology with a fully electronic based kanban card system. This new type of kanban system will be called the RFID E-Kanban in this report. Since the lean philosophy is to reduce non-value added waste to a process, the new prototype kanban system meets four design objectives that are consistent with the principles of lean and the original purpose of the kanban system. The RFID E-Kanban prototype must support the process of continuous improvement The RFID E-Kanban prototype must reduce overall non-value added waste to the material flow process The RFID E-Kanban prototype must be intuitive and simple to use for the operator The RFID E-Kanban prototype control must be decentralized In an applied case study, a RFID E-Kanban prototype was built for a Department of Defense facility involving the movement of chemicals between two locations

Design Guidelines For Digital Kanban Systems With High Service Level

One success factor of Kanban is its elegant simplicity for physical inventory control. However, especially in multi-variant productions inventory levels are digitally tracked. To maintain the high service levels of the Kanban systems, the digital representation in the ERP must reliably reflect the physical inventory levels and deviations should be detectable. The design of such a digitally tracked Kanban systems requires a booking logic and a method for deviation detection. Especially in multi-stage systems with several inventory levels, the design of a simple and robust Kanban logic is challenging. Thus, the paper first gives an overview of existing inventory booking strategies. Based on the strategies the effects of inventory deviations on logistical performance in classic Kanban and digitally controlled Kanban systems are discussed. Design guidelines summarize the analysis. Subsequently, three different design alternatives of a classical, digital and high resolution Kanban system are developed. These guidelines and design alternatives should enable practitioners to setup reliable Kanban systems including their digital representation

FEASIBILITY OF RFID TECHNOLOGY IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN OF ABB MEDIUM VOLTAGE PRODUCTS

Tämä pro gradu tutkielma käsittelee RFID – teknologian soveltuvuutta ABB Oy Medium Voltage Productin toimitusketjussa. Tutkimus toteutettiin tapaustutkimuksena käyttäen sekä laadullisia että määrällisiä menetelmiä. Tutkimuksen taustalla vaikutti yritysten tarve kehittää ja tehostaa tuotantoketjun toimintaa. Jotta yrityksen toiminta säilyisi kannattavana tulevaisuudessa kiristyvän kilpailun vallitessa, on nykyisillä resursseilla kyettävä toimimaan entistä tehokkaammin. Tutkielman viitekehyksen perustana oli alaan liittyvä kirjallisuus sekä tieteelliset elektronisessa muodossa olevat ajankohtaiset julkaisut. Osa teoksista oli julkaistu jo monia vuosia sitten, mutta perusajatukset RFID – teknologiasta ovat pysyneet muuttumattomina. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää RFID – teknologian toteutettavuutta ABB Medium Voltage Productsin toimitusketjun eri vaihessa. Lisäksi tuotiin esille erilaisia ehdotuksia siitä, miten RFID – teknologia voitaisiin käytännössä implementoida ABB:lle. Tavoitteena oli myös selvittää ja vertailla eri investointimahdollisuuksien takaisinmaksuaikoja toimitusketjun eri osissa. RFID – teknologian osalta pääajatus oli kuvata teknologia ensin yleisesti ja sitten tarkemmin yrityksen toimitusketjujen ja eri prosessien näkökulmista. RFID – teknologian käytännön sovelluksia ja toteutuneita projekteja löydettiin myös ja niitä etsittiin siksi, jotta voitaisiin huomata miten toiminta käytännössä tehostui. Keskeisin havainto oli huomata, että RFID – teknologia ei ole välttämätä aina järkevä investointi. Vaikka teknologia vaikuttaisi ensialkuun tehokkaalta ja luotettavalta, löytyy siitä useita ongelmakohtia ja haasteita joihin on tulevaisuudessa löydettävä toimivia ja kustannustehokkaita ratkaisuja. Tulevaisuudessa olisi tärkeää tutkia miten RFID tunnisteet saataisiin inegroitua piirikortteihin sekä kuinka teknologian käyttöönotto tehostaisi ulkoisen varaston tarjoajan prosesseja.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

Logistics Improvement Strategy for Medical Units following the Lean Approach

Treballs Finals de Grau d'Enginyeria Biomèdica. Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut. Universitat de Barcelona. Curs: 2016-2017. Director: Eugeni Freixas, Co-Director: Rosa Oliveras, Tutor: Manel Puig.The logistics portrayed in medical environments is a field which is not usually visible towards patients, but directly affects the health service quality, so it is a very important aspect for healthcare organizations to take into account. Hospital logistics are in charge of managing the supply of drugs, equipment, materials, laundry and sometimes even the food catering, through transport, storing and heavy organization skills. This final degree project focuses on the elaboration of a new scheme for improving the logistics set behind Hospital Clinics' medical units, this being the management and supply chain of medical material and other items the hospital makes use of, by adopting more sophisticated technology. The improvement plan basically comes down to automating the systems used in the warehouse and storage rooms by using the popular Lean approach designed by the Japanese Toyota company in the mid 90s. In the paper, several Lean management and healthcare techniques are used - to study, analyse and advance the current logistics, the goal is to automate the main warehouse with robotic load systems and to pre set the current faulty Kanban used in the storage rooms with a new and improved Smart Kanban technique, based on radiofrequency and more advanced technology. The project verifies the necessity of biomedical engineers to not only provide a critical engineering point of view towards the systems used in hospital environments, but also to improve the lack of communication between the logistics team and the rest of the medical departments, which is a serious issue

Atlas Copco Mafi-Trench Co. Inventory Management

This Senior Project Report includes three areas of focus pertaining to the inventory management practices of Atlas Copco Mafi-Trench Company (ACMTC) - cycle counting, ergonomics, and material purchasing. Various literature reviews as well as an analysis of the current state led to the project objectives. First, reduce time spent on the non-value added process of cycle counting. Second, eliminate the ergonomic hazard presented by the heavy inventory bins. Lastly, diminish the totals costs associated with inventory (ordering + carrying). The project objectives spurred numerous alternatives and a few specific deliverables. The creation of a ‘Small Parts Cycle Count’ Excel file led to a decrease in the counting and recording step by ~85%, and brought the total cycle counting process down from two hours to just over one. After an economic and feasibility analysis, an investment in Akro-Mils Divider Bins is believed to be a better financial and operational decision than an RFID alternative in reducing cycle counting time and eliminating ergonomic risk in relation to medium sized purchased finished material. Divider bins have the potential to yield annual savings in excess of $8000 by eliminating company liability with employee injuries and reducing cycle counting time significantly. Lastly, the ‘ACMTC Order Quantity’ Excel file provides an automatic and manual order quantity calculator to aid in the comparison of total costs associated with inventory when using different ordering algorithms. When comparing value receipts from 2017 to the minimum output of the order quantity algorithms, savings are estimated to be roughly$500 per SKU per year. Considering greater than 20 SKUs are consistently purchased year to year, total savings are estimated to be greater than $10k per year

Role of RFID in Machinal Process of Manufacturing: A Critical Review of Contemporary Literature

RFID (radio frequency identification) is a modern supply chain management technology that is increasingly being used. RFID technology's potential to identify, detect, and monitor data across the supply chain significantly influences logistics and supply chain operations. The system may provide suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers with accurate, real-time inventory information. This exact stock data would result in lower labor costs, automated company practices, and improved supply chain efficiency. If executed correctly, it may minimize the ordering wait duration and Inventory management costs, improve inventory data quality, help avoid stockouts, and enhance the frequency of stock movements. RFID technology has prompted much debate and supposition over its possible repercussions. RFID is a new technical breakthrough that enables supply chain partners to cooperate closely by providing real-time informational transparency. Mean and T-test is applied in the study to find the result of the study with 193 respondents

Information and digital technologies of Industry 4.0 and Lean supply chain management: a systematic literature review

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the current state of research and the key aspects and implications of the relationships between Information and Digital Technologies (IDT) of Industry 4.0 and Lean Supply Chain Management (LSCM), with the identification of the lines of research developed and an analysis of the main findings. A Systematic Literature Review methodology has been used for the identification, selection, and evaluation of the published research. A set of 78 papers deduced from the most relevant scientific databases, including Web of Science, Scopus, and ABI/Inform, from 1996 to December 2019, has been analyzed and synthesized. The analysis and evaluation of these papers has enabled a new classification of the literature to be offered that identifies four lines of research based on the Life Cycle of Technology: obsolete IDT in LSCM; mature IDT in LSCM; emerging IDT in LSCM; and an Information Systems and IDT general approach in LSCM. The paper goes on to discuss the gaps found in the literature and proposes new opportunities and challenges for future research. A series of implications are presented intended to be useful from not only an academic point-of-view but also from a management focus, including recommendations for industrial managers and policymakers

Proactive model to determine information technologies supporting expansion of air cargo network

Shippers and recipients expect transportation companies to provide more than just the movement of a package between points; certain information must be available to them as well, to enable forecasts and plans within the supply chain. The transportation companies also need the information flow that undergirds a transportation grid, to support ad-hoc routing and strategic structural re-alignment of business processes. This research delineates the information needs for an expanding air cargo network, then develops a new model of the information technologies needed to support expansion into a new country. The captured information will be used by shippers, recipients, and the transportation provider to better guide business decisions. This model will provide a method for transportation companies to balance the tradeoffs between the operating efficiencies, capital expenditures, and customer expectations of their IT systems. The output of the model is a list of technologies – optimized by cost – which meet the specific needs of internal and external customers when expanding air cargo networks into a new country