Cycle time reduction in manufacturing industry by designing a dedicated fixture: A case study

Abstract

The principal commercial requirement of any manufacturing system is directed towards a growth in productivity. One of the options for achieving higher productivity is reducing the cycle time. Cycle time comprises of the following time element: operation, loading/unloading, set-up and idleness. In this work a case study of a reputed construction equipment manufacturing company of India is considered where in it was observed that the demand for the 4Ton compactors remained unmet as there were no dedicated fixtures for the tack welding operation of those compactors. This welding work was being performed using hook and carrier by trial and error method. This led to inefficient utilization of man, machine, money and increase in manufacturing time. So there was a need to design the dedicated fixture so as to reduce the cycle time of tack welding operation. Benefits of this new fixture are twofold. It reduces setup time because it eliminates marking for each job, positioning by trial and error method and hence increases the productivity of 4Ton compactor. Also, usage of fixture calls for semiskilled labor instead of skilled labor, reducing labor cost for improved production rate.

Keywords: Productivity, compactor, fixture, setup time, cycle time