Improving efficiency in material supply to assembly line : A case study in the automotive industry in Southeast Asia

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of the thesis was to improve the material supply for assembly line. Methodology - The collected data were conducted through observations and measurements at the case company. Empirical data were analyzed and compared with the theoretical framework. Result - Several non-value adding activities were identified in the case study that resulted in 88% of the total working effort. These non-value adding activities were classified into wastes referring to Liker and Meier (2006). Six different wastes were found: excess inventory, unnecessary transportation, unnecessary movements, defected products, waiting, unused and neglected resources. Improvement recommendations were proposed to increase the efficiency of the material supply. Conclusions – There is at least one improvement proposal for every identified waste and combinations of these improvement proposals can reduce the non-value adding activities. Methods that can be useful to improve the material supply efficiency are change storage policy, reduce batch size, route plan milk-runs, implement standard work procedures and develop and integrate the information system. 5S and Kaizen are proposed theories that promote continuous improvements of the material supply. Research Limitations – Since there are many factors affecting the material supply, more improvement proposals could have been found without delimitation of activities. This thesis is based on a single case study which leads to generalizable results for only companies with similar circumstances. Further Research – By implementing the conducted improvement proposals a comparison of non-value adding activities is possible to strengthen the presented methods.Key Words – Material Supply, Lean production, Non-Value Adding Activities, Wastes, Efficiency Improvements.