The company currently does not have any production cells, neither have they identified products which together have a 'common' routing. Because of the highly varied product mix and the lack of an overview of common routings, there are many production flows that cause a lot of traffic between departments. Company X would like to know if there is a business …show more content…
Research approach
In order to evaluate a business case for this, we identified the common routings in the highly varied product mix based on history production data. Thereafter, these routings are clustered into routing families by means of the discrete clustering method and the similarity coefficient algorithm. Finally, the results of the clustering methods are used to identify the routings that are suitable for cellular manufacturing.
Routing mix analysis
The first step in converting a work area into a manufacturing cell is to assess the current work area conditions. Since Company X’s product mix and thereby the routing fluctuates over time and is highly diversified, the routing mix of the company has been investigated. A routing-frequency analysis has been used to assess the current routing mix of the company. By means of the Pareto analysis the most frequently performed operations and thereafter the most common routings in the factory are …show more content…
The purpose of the study was to investigate the suitability of manufacturing cells for the production environment of Company X. The three-month internship was the first time in my study in which I have applied the theory into practice. This was a new and very educational experience and therefore I would like to thank some people who have accompanied me in this process.
First of all, I would like to thank Company X for the opportunity they gave me. Not only was I allowed to work on a very interesting and exciting topic, they also gave me the opportunity to work in and experience a challenging environment. Furthermore, the research I carried out was of relevance to the entire company, so everybody was very interested in what I was doing.
I want to thank my supervisors Ahmad Al Hanbali and Derya Demirtas for their valuable insight and feedback on my work. I would especially like to thank Jasper for his excellent guidance and the way he has supported me in achieving this great result. I would also like to thank other employees who were always willing to make time for my questions and helped me this way in the collection of the necessary