Cost Saving in an Automotive Battery Assembly Line Using Setup Time Reduction

摘要

Many past researches had found fast setups and a changeover is required to reduce setup time and manufacturing costs. The two main objectives of this study are: first, to identify the root causes of bottlenecks operations and implement possible solutions to the problems; second, to study the cost saving effect after reducing the setup time. Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) methods were applied at two major bottlenecks setup operations; cast on strap and heat seal. The result shows significant reduction of cast on strap setup time to 54% and heat seal setup time to 47%. This study has achieved more than the target 35% of setup time reduction. From setup time reduction, a total cost savings of RM168, 000 was achieved in assembly line A. Meanwhile the company level a total saving of RM1.11 million was achieved for all assembly lines in Company X.