Study On Production Logistics In A Low Volume And High Mix Manufacturing Factory

Few companies were immune from the financial crisis starting from America in year 2008. Most of companies were facing big challenges of decreasing orders, over-capacity, financial losses and less cash on hand, even bankruptcy. In order to survive and develop in the market with harsh economic situation and fierce competition, they need to search for new way to get profit. More and more companies are focusing on Logistics as"The Third Profit Source". The companies can benefit from the improvement of production logistics.This thesis is written based on the analysis and study of a low volume & high mix manufacturing factory (call Factory A). Firstly, it describes the basic concept of production logistics and lean production, mentioning the theory of improving production logistics management. The knowledge will provide great support to enhance production logistics system, reduce the inventory of WIP (work in process), shorten products'cycle time and improve production efficiency. Secondly, the current production logistics process in factory A had been studied with the assistance of logistics and lean production related knowledge. Then it shows the way to change from Push system to Pull system in low volume & high mix manufacturing factory. It also demonstrates flexible application of JIT (Just In Time) system and Kan Ban system. After implementation of JIT, KanBan and line balance in factory A, the improvement is made obviously about product cycle time, WIP inventory and efficiency. Cycle time is improved 32% from 8.89 days to 5.88 days. WIP inventory is reduced 1/3. Production efficiency is improved 10% from 5.1 hours to 4.6 hours.Finally, this thesis shows the method to improve production line balance with the example of line balance in Factory A. This provides new method and ideas to improve production logistics management in Factory A. Meanwhile, this is also a good reference example for similar factories.