Minskning av produkter i arbete på Volvo powertrain
For Swedish companies to compete with low wage countries, developments in theproduction industry moved towards streamlining the entire company. One of themost effective ways for a company to streamline their operations is to review theirproduction. All companies have processes in their production that add no value tothe product. In order to compete, they must be eliminated.The purpose of this report is to reduce work in process (WIP) in the flow ofbashus at Volvo Powertrain in Köping. The aim is also to try to find reasons whyVolvo Powertrain feel that they have problems with the storage principle First in-First Out (FIFO).To meet the objective, empirical studies were conducted at the company whilethe literature in the area was studied. The project was carried out on a company,which has provided a great sense of reliability and the content is also well linked tothe theories in the field. A value stream mapping has been carried out to obtain acomprehensive picture of the flow and find the causes for the high levels of WIP.Several proposals of action have been developed which all together can helpVolvo Powertrain to reduce WIP levels and standardize the methods of storage,the FIFO principle.A description of the current state has been carried out to create an understandingof the flow and to have a foundation to build the future state. The description ofthe current state has been done through interviews and observations at thecompany and has shown that there are two major problems that affect the flownegatively. Following this result, the cost of an inspection has been calculated anda FIFO-lane has been developed to avoid overproduction. Suggestions for newways of working with the FIFO- arrangement has been developed.A discussion of the outcome of the current state analysis and the choice ofmethod to perform the project is discussed. The pros and cons of the proposalsfor action addressed to get an overall picture of how well the objective has been met.