Shop floor improvement of orthopaedic equipment manufacturer using group technology approach

Abstract

This project was carried out to improve the shop floor of an orthopaedic equipment manufacturer in Thailand. The inefficient manufacturing problem of high setup time, complicated machine allocation and unorganised manufacturing flow path that was caused by inappropriate shop floor layout were addressed using the cell-manufacturing concept to redesign the layout. Product families were established according to their process requirements; resulting in three families namely screws, plates and operation tools. A manufacturing cell was designed for each product family because the three families can be produce more efficiently with cell manufacturing than current job shop layout. However, pure cell manufacturing concept needs some modification to improve overall flows in the plant, resulting in a hybrid cell manufacturing in the final design. The design can reduce the setup time by 85% and create as much as 720,000 bath extra profit for the company in the first year through better utilisation. The design will only cost 84,000 baht to implement and will be paid off in only one and a half months. The quality of the product will also be improved through better morale of operators from their product ownership. The material flow paths will also be simplified and shortened to create a more organised working atmosphere.