Throughput Time Reduction at Saint-Gobain Abrasives

The goal of this project was to reduce the manufacturing throughput time for large resin superabrasive grinding wheels Saint-Gobain’s Worcester plant. The methods used included lean manufacturing concepts, current and future state value stream maps, industrial process simulation using Arena®, and spaghetti diagrams. The results identified production bottlenecks, calculation of queuing times and new production schedules. The two main conclusions show first, material modifications to the production schedule that will reduce the throughput time and second, a discounted cash flow analysis of the impact of our proposed recommendations