Modifying production line for productivity improvement: A Case Study of Vision Lens Factory

Roongrat Pisuchpen1* and Wongsakorn Chansangar2

1 Department of Industrial Engineering,

2 Engineering Program in Engineering Management, Kasetsart University, Chatuchak, Bangkok, 10900 Thailand.

Received  8 December 2012; Accepted  3 February 2014

SIM 01

Abstract

This study aimed to modify the plastic vision lens production line CR39 in order to improve its productivity. Work study and line balancing techniques were employed in order to improve the bottleneck point in the manufacturing process.

Standard time was measured. The result shows that productivity increased by 1,257 pieces per day and labor productivity increased from 82 to 88 pieces per man-hour.

However, this improved production capacity was still below the target capacity. Therefore three additional alternatives were proposed. A simulation model was employed in order to analyze these alternatives.

The results found that, by using the lowest unit production cost scenario, additional labor and machines were added into the bottleneck point of the production line.

The productivity was then increased by 7,738 pieces per day or a 44% improvement, which reached the target productivity, and the average resource utilization was 89%, which satisfied the objectives.

Keywords:

productivity, simulation, work study, utilization, line balance, WIP