Continuous flow design in a slow moving manufacturing environment

Abstract

The project will focus on the manufacturing of the Indigo Galleys, specifically the G1 type galley which is a standard type of galley. The galley assembly line is a slow moving manufacturing environment. Aerosud is currently struggling to make profit on the galley assembly line. The assembly line currently produces galleys at a rate of 3.3 ship sets per month, where the total loss per month is R562 463. The current operations have been analysed and future options developed by using Simulation Aided Value Stream Mapping. The operations causing the bottlenecks have been investigated and improved using various industrial engineering tools and techniques. Simulation modelling was used for evaluating improvement options in the bonding cell. Two future state alternatives have been developed. By implementing the first alternative, the total profit per month would be R1434 528, but a major storage problem would be created. Alternative two would yield a total profit per month of R1260 534. The curing time reduction in the bonding cell will save R89 467.20 per year.