AB Furhoffs Rostfria is a company with its base in Skövde. They are specialists in the manufacturing of stainless-steel parts, such as plumbing products, floor wells and sinks. In addition to manufacturing their own products, the company also has a subcontract to manufacture other companies’ products.
The department where this bachelor thesis will be conducted has a subcontract to manufacturing radar cones and treats only the production of the most frequent manufactured radar cones. The department consists of seven manufacturing steps and three additional steps for one of the details.
The purpose of the bachelor thesis is to create a simulation model that shows how potential improvement proposals would meet the expected increase of the order intake of the radar cones by streamlining the current production flow. In order to achieve this, a simulation model has been created in which the improvement proposals have been implemented. The improvement proposals that have been tested are based on the data that has been collected through production engineering methods.
The frame of references describes the theory that constitutes the foundation for the chosen methods. In addition, areas within discrete event simulation, lean production and improvement work have been studied from other works in the literature review. These areas can in some way relate to the work and conclusions of this project.
The empirical study was conducted by using observations according to genchi genbutsu, conversations and interviews with operators, spaghetti diagrams of the operators and the product flow as well as time studies according to the continuous method. These methods have formed the basis for both the creation of the simulation model, where the current situation is reflected, and for the development of the future state simulation model. The future state simulation model shows the implementation of the improvement proposals that increases efficiency and production volume throughout the system.
The empirical study resulted in a visual overview of the production flow, standard times, the identification of waste as well as improvement proposals. When all the improvement proposals were implemented, the hourly production was increased by 26.6% and the lead time was reduced by 21.1%. With these improvements, the company can increase their production and profit significantly.