THE BEST WAY TO WORK : Increasing the efficiency through layout changes and standardization

Abstract: This is a master thesis done in the program of industrial design engineering at Luleå University ofTechnology, conducted during the spring of 2021. The project is a collaboration with Epiroc RockDrills AB which is a leading global company in the mining industries, and the workshop in which thisthesis is made manufactures and assembles rock drills sold worldwide. The aim of this thesis is toincrease the utilization of three lathes in the workshop that are often left unused when theiroperators have to leave the machines to perform other tasks. This is due to short operation timesthat require the operator to be present.The project follows a cyclic method in order to force the work forward without worrying aboutmissing information. There were three cycles with different aim. In the first cycle, the focus was onplanning the project and mapping the current state. In the second, a requirement specification wasmade and concepts were created. These concepts were further developed in the third cycle. Finally arecommendation was made.The current state was mapped using different methods like interviews and spaghetti diagram. Thesemethods showed that the lathes were unused mainly during setups, and that setups were timeconsuming due to equipment being placed far away from the lathes. The result showed that manyproblems could be related to bad layout design and lack of standardized work. In order to create abetter layout for the operators, a relationship chart was made and several suggestions constructedbased on it. The purpose of the layout changes was to get necessary equipment closer to the lathesin order for the setups to be performed faster. All suggestions were compared to the requirementspecification and only three were further developed during the third cycle.The lean tool SMED (Single Minute Exchange of Die) was used to create a standard for setups. Thisstandard was further developed into a work instruction to be better visualized for the operators.The final recommendation is to make layout changes according to one of the layouts presented inthis report, and to implement the work instruction. These changes will increase the utilization bypreparing as much as possible before the lathe is tuned off.