Optimization of Production Flow at Eco Supplies Solar AB

Abstract: In this competitive world with rapid growth of markets, the main goal of any company is to attain an edge over its competitors. In order to achieve this goal a company has to continually improve its process and eliminate the wastes in the process while not compromising on the quality of the product and customer satisfaction. Though Eco Supplies Solar AB is one of the largest producers of Photovoltaic solar modules in Scandinavia, the need for improvement is vital to match with growing requirements and to maintain its position in the market. This master thesis was done for Eco Supplies Solar AB, so as to help them identify the waste along their value stream process. The project was divided into three phases. The first phase of the project was to map and analyze the plant layout as well as analyze the worker movement. This helped to understand the various movements through the entire process of production and the associated distances and time. The second phase of the thesis was the execution of the Value Stream Mapping. For this purpose the entire production process was walked through and through several interviews the data was collected. The current state value stream map gave a one page static picture of the key areas of waste within the process and to suggest necessary changes so as to improve the efficiency. The suggested changes are implemented and the future state map is drawn. The results from the current state and future state map are calculated theoretically and analyzed. The third phase is the use of Simulation to understand the behavioral effects of each the processes and to determine the overall change in productivity if the changes are implemented. It is difficult to implement changes in a production plant that works continuously for 24 hours. That would interrupt production and also lead to large costs. The easier and most optimal solution to implement changes, understand the behavior of each process before and after the changes and to analyze the changes is to run a simulation model of the current and future state. The simulation is done using Extend Sim software and the results are analyzed further. The main aim of the thesis was to analyze the current plant layout and the product process and develop a methodology to identify visualize and measure the wastes in the production process of Photovoltaic solar modules.