Waste reduction possibilities in a manufacturing process

Abstract

In this paper the manufacturing process of a high load-bearing capacity gear is introduced. These gears are built into truck and bus transmission systems and are machined at a high level of accuracy. The process has particular importance not only because the accuracy has to be ensured but because the machining of precision components requires relatively complicated processes. Here the process was described and quantified for a given component. The focus was on one-piece flow of components and its effect on decreasing lead time. On the basis of the analysis it was shown that one-piece flow can significantly decrease the lead time but the time spent with material handling increases, which results in a load on the operator or the material handling equipment. Therefore, multi-variable optimization is needed. The available results can be used for improvement of manufacturing processes of other component groups manufactured by similar technology.