| This research endeavor focused on a high volume and low mix Electronics Manufacturing and Service (EMS) provider, which produces automotive sensors through a Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS) philosophy. With impending significant challenges due to possible strategic changes at this particular facility, Industrial and Systems Engineering tools were effectively utilized to maintain and improve the production throughput and quality.;Through detailed statistical data analysis and a Design of Experiments (DOE) based approach, the critical factors affecting the throughput and resource utilization were identified. Alternative scenarios including (i) improving the production line changeover process, and (ii) 'optimizing' the maintenance schedules were then proposed to provide feasible improvements. In order to evaluate the system's performance based on these approaches without physically modifying the processes or implementing the changes, a discrete event simulation model was built to replicate the current system, and subsequently to quantify the system related improvements under the proposed scenarios. |
