Case study on the description of the implementation of smed in a Volkswagen automobile manufacturer's production cell

• Autor(a) principal: Costa, Ricardo Manuel Amaro da
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/16083
• topic: SMED; Automobile industry; Setup process; Lean manufacturing; Gestão da produção; Gestão do tempo; Indústria automóvel; Equipamento industrial

This master's thesis describes the changeover time reduction, through a design improvement, of a mechanical press, in a Volkswagen automobile manufacturer's stamping press area. This research results from a case study conducted during a period of 5 months. The design improvement resulted from the application of "Single-Minute Exchange of Die" (SMED) technique, with support from other lean tools (5S and TPM). SMED, as a lean technique, aims to reduce waste by reducing changeover times. The improvement culminated in a reduction of 2 minute in setup times and of distance travelled by the operators. Overall, this thesis' findings expect to contribute in filling a gap in the literature and posing an example of a successful implementation of SMED for other lean organizations.