Friday 10 August 2012


NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING
PGDIE-42
Industrial Engineering



 Assignment on Product Manufacture:-
Presented By: -

Amit Rana
Roll NO. 108
Vaibhav Jijani
Roll No.99
PGDIE 42

Manufacturing of Spur Gear Using Powder Metallurgy 


INTRODUCTION

Powder Metallurgy is a proven technology to produce high strength gears and tailored gear shapes for both automotive and industrial applications. Advances in powder production, compaction, and sintering combined with unique secondary processing methods have enabled overall part densities above 7.5 g/cm3. These techniques have proven successful in displacing many components from competing technologies in a variety of end user applications. The reason for P/M’s success is its ability to offer the design engineer the required mechanical properties with reduced component cost. At the present time, P/M is successful in many performance areas. Discussed here are three applications that expand the potential for P/M use in additional environments.

Powder metallurgy is the process of blending fine powdered materials, pressing them into a desired shape or form (compacting), and then heating the compressed material in a controlled atmosphere to bond the material (sintering).
The powder metallurgy process generally consists of four basic steps:
(1) powder manufacture, 
(2) powder blending,
(3) compacting, 
(4) sintering. 
Compacting is generally performed at room temperature, and the elevated-temperature process of sintering is usually conducted at atmospheric pressure. Optional secondary processing often follows to obtain special properties or enhanced precision.

DESIGN OF SPUR GEAR
The spur gear is is simplest type of gear manufactured and is generally used for transmission of rotary motion between parallel shafts.  The spur gear is the first choice option for gears except when high speeds, loads, and ratios direct towards other options.  Other gear types may also be preferred to provide more silent low-vibration operation.  A single spur gear is generally selected to have a ratio range of between 1:1 and 1:6 with a pitch line velocity up to 25 m/s.  The spur gear has an operating efficiency of 98-99%.  The pinion is made from a harder material than the wheel.  A gear pair should be selected to have the highest number of teeth consistent with a suitable safety margin in strength and wear.   The minimum number of teeth on a gear with a normal pressure angle of 20 degrees is 18.

The preferred number of teeth are as follows
12 13 14 15 16 18 20 22 24 25 28 30 32 34 38 40 45 50 54 60
64 70 72 75 80 84 90 96 100 120 140 150 180 200 220 250





The lines normal to the point of contact of the gears always intersects the centre line joining the gear centres at one point called the pitch point.  For each gear the circle passing through the pitch point is called the pitch circle.  The gear ratio is proportional to the diameters of the two pitch circles.  For metric gears (as adopted by most of the worlds nations) the gear proportions are based on the module.
m = (Pitch Circle Diameter(mm)) / (Number of teeth on gear).
In the USA the module is not used and instead the Diametric Pitch d pis used
d p = (Number of Teeth) / Diametrical Pitch (inches)








Profile of a standard 1mm module gear teeth for a gear with Infinite radius (Rack ).
Other module teeth profiles are directly proportion . e.g. 2mm module teeth are 2 x this profile


Terminology - spur gears
  • Diametral pitch (d p )- The number of teeth per one inch of pitch circle diameter.
  • Module. (m)- The length, in mm, of the pitch circle diameter per tooth.
  • Circular pitch (p)-The distance between adjacent teeth measured along the are at the pitch circle diameter
  • Addendum ( h a )- The height of the tooth above the pitch circle diameter.
  • Centre distance (a)- The distance between the axes of two gears in mesh.
  • Circular tooth thickness (ctt)- The width of a tooth measured along the are at the pitch circle diameter.
  • Dedendum ( h f )-The depth of the tooth below the pitch circle diameter.
  • Outside diameter ( D o )- The outside diameter of the gear.
  • Base Circle diameter ( D b ) - The diameter on which the involute teeth profile is based.
  • Pitch circle dia ( p )-The diameter of the pitch circle.
  • Pitch point- The point at which the pitch circle diameters of two gears in mesh coincide.
  • Pitch to back- The distance on a rack between the pitch circle diameter line and the rear face of the rack.
  • Pressure angle- The angle between the tooth profile at the pitch circle diameter and a radial line passing through the same point.
  • Whole depth.-The total depth of the space between adjacent teeth.
 


Mild steel is a poor material for gears as as it has poor resistance to surface loading.   The carbon content for unhardened gears is generally 0.4%(min) with 0.55%(min) carbon for the pinions.  Dissimilar materials should be used for the meshing gears - this particularly applies to alloy steels.  Alloy steels have superior fatigue properties compared to carbon steels for comparable strengths.  For extremely high gear loading case hardened steels are used the surface hardening method employed should be such to provide sufficient case depth for the final grinding process used.



MaterialNotesapplications
Ferrous metals
Cast Iron Low Cost easy to machine with high damping Large moderate power, commercial gears
Cast Steels Low cost, reasonable strength Power gears with medium rating to commercial quality
Plain-Carbon Steels Good machining, can be heat treated Power gears with medium rating to commercial/medium quality
Alloy Steels Heat Treatable to provide highest strength and durability Highest power requirement. For precision and high precisiont
Stainless Steels (Aust) Good corrosion resistance. Non-magnetic Corrosion resistance with low power ratings. Up to precision quality
Stainless Steels (Mart) Hardenable, Reasonable corrosion resistance, magnetic Low to medium power ratings Up to high precision levels of quality
Non-Ferrous metals
Aluminium alloys Light weight, non-corrosive and good machinability Light duty instrument gears up to high precision quality
Brass alloys Low cost, non-corrosive, excellent machinability low cost commercial quality gears. Quality up to medium precision
Bronze alloys Excellent machinability, low friction and good compatability with steel For use with steel power gears. Quality up to high precision
Magnesium alloys Light weight with poor corrosion resistance Ligh weight low load gears. Quality up to medium precision
Nickel alloys Low coefficient of thermal expansion. Poor machinability Special gears for thermal applications to commercial quality
Titanium alloys High strength, for low weight, good corrosion resistance Special light weight high strength gears to medium precision
Di-cast alloys Low cost with low precision and strength High production, low quality gears to commercial quality
Sintered powder alloys Low cost, low quality, moderate strength High production, low quality to moderate commercial quality
Non metals
Acetal (Delrin Wear resistant, low water absorbtionLong life , low load bearings to commercial quality
Phenolic laminates Low cost, low quality, moderate strength High production, low quality to moderate commercial quality
Nylons No lubrication, no lubricant, absorbs water Long life at low loads to commercial quality
PTFE Low friction and no lubrication Special low friction gears to commercial quality






Equations for basic gear relationships


It is acceptable to marginally modify these relationships e.g to modify the addendum /dedendum to allow Centre Distance adjustments. Any changes modifications will affect the gear performance in good and bad ways...

Addendum h a = m = 0.3183 p
Base Circle diameterDb = d.cos α
Centre distance a = ( d g + d p) / 2
Circular pitch p = m.π
Circular tooth thickness    ctt = p/2
Dedendum h f = h - a = 1,25m = 0,3979 p
Module m = d /z
Number of teeth z = d / m
Outside diameter D o = (z + 2) x m
Pitch circle diameter d = z . m ... (d g = gear & d p = pinion )
Whole depth(min) h = 2.25 . m
Top land width(min) t o = 0,25 . m



 Module (m)

The module is the ratio of the pitch diameter to the number of teeth. The unit of the module is milli-metres.Below is a diagram showing the relative size of teeth machined in a rack with module ranging from module values of 0,5 mm to 6 mm
The preferred module values are
0,5    0,8    1     1,25     1,5     2,5     3     4     5     6     8     10   12     16     20     25     32     40     50

 Normal Pressure angle α

An important variable affecting the geometry of the gear teeth is the normal pressure angle.  This is generally standardised at 20o.  Other pressure angles should be used only for special reasons and using considered judgment. The following changes result from increasing the pressure angle
  • Reduction in the danger of undercutting and interference
  • Reduction of slipping speeds
  • Increased loading capacity in contact, seizure and wear
  • Increased rigidity of the toothing
  • Increased noise and radial forces
Gears required to have low noise levels have pressure angles 15o to17.5o




 Contact Ratio

The gear design is such that when in mesh the rotating gears have more than one gear in contact and transferring the torque for some of the time.   This property is called the contact ratio.  This is a ratio of the length of the line-of-action to the base pitch.   The higher the contact ratio the more the load is shared between teeth.  It is good practice to maintain a contact ratio of 1.2 or greater. Under no circumstances should the ratio drop below 1.1.

A contact ratio between 1 and 2 means that part of the time two pairs of teeth are in contact and during the remaining time one pair is in contact.   A ratio between 2 and 3 means 2 or 3 pairs of teeth are always in contact.   Such as high contact ratio generally is not obtained with external spur gears, but can be developed in the meshing of an internal and external spur gear pair or specially designed non-standard external spur gears.

                   (Rgo2 - Rgb2 )1/2 + (Rpo2 - Rpb2 )1/2  -  a sin α 
contact ratio m =                                                                   
        p cos α 
R go = D go / 2..Radius of Outside Dia of Gear
R gb = D gb / 2..Radius of Base Dia of Gear
R po = D po / 2..Radius of Outside Dia of Pinion
R pb = D pb / 2..Radius of Base Dia of Pinion
p = circular pitch.
a = ( d g+ d p )/2 = center distance. 




 Spur gear Forces, torques, velocities & Powers

  • F = tooth force between contacting teeth (at angle pressure angle α to pitch line tangent. (N)
  • F t = tangential component of tooth force (N)
  • F s = Separating component of tooth force
  • α= Pressure angle
  • d 1 = Pitch Circle Dia -driving gear (m)
  • d 2 = Pitch Circle Dia -driven gear (m)
  • ω 1 = Angular velocity of driver gear (Rads/s)
  • ω 2 = Angular velocity of driven gear (Rads/s)
  • z 1 = Number of teeth on driver gear
  • z 2 = Number of teeth on driven gear
  • P = power transmitted (Watts)
  • M = torque (Nm)
  • η = efficiency

Tangential force on gears F t = F cos α

Separating force on gears F s = F t tan α

Torque on driver gear T 1 = F t d 1 / 2

Torque on driver gear T 2 = F t d 2 / 2

Speed Ratio =ω 1 / ω 2 = d 2 / d 1 = z 2 /z 1

Input Power P 1 = T11

Output Power P 2 =η.T 12

 Spur gear Strength and durability calculations

Designing spur gears is normally done in accordance with standards the two most popular series are listed under standards above:

The notes below relate to approximate methods for estimating gear strengths. The methods are really only useful for first approximations and/or selection of stock gears (ref links below). — Detailed design of spur and helical gears is best completed using the standards.   Books are available providing the necessary guidance.   Software is also available making the process very easy.   A very reasonably priced and easy to use package is included in the links below (Mitcalc.com)

The determination of the capacity of gears to transfer the required torque for the desired operating life is completed by determining the strength of the gear teeth in bending and also the durability i.e of the teeth ( resistance to wearing/bearing/scuffing loads ) .. The equations below are based on methods used by Buckingham..





Bending


The basic bending stress for gear teeth is obtained by using the Lewis formula
σ = Ft / ( ba. m. Y )
  • F t = Tangential force on tooth
  • σ = Tooth Bending stress (MPa)
  • b a = Face width (mm)
  • Y = Lewis Form Factor
  • m = Module (mm)
Note: The Lewis formula is often expressed as
σ = Ft / ( ba. p. y )

Where y = Y/π and p = circular pitch

When a gear wheel is rotating the gear teeth come into contact with some degree of impact.  To allow for this a velocity factor ( Kv ) is introduced into the equation.   This is given by the Barth equation...
V = the pitch line velocity = d.ω/2 (m/s)

The Lewis formula is thus modified as follows
σ = K v.Ft / ( ba. m. Y )
 
 Design Process
To select gears from a stock gear catalogue or do a first approximation for a gear design select the gear material and obtain a safe working stress e.g Yield stress / Factor of Safety. /Safe fatigue stress
  • Determine the input speed, output speed, ratio, torque to be transmitted
  • Select materials for the gears (pinion is more highly loaded than gear)
  • Determine safe working stresses (uts /factor of safety or yield stress/factor of safety or Fatigue strength / Factor of safety )
  • Determine Allowable endurance Stress Se
  • Select a module value and determine the resulting geometry of the gear
  • Use the lewis formula and the endurance formula to establish the resulting face width
  • If the gear proportions are reasonable then - proceed to more detailed evaluations
  • If the resulting face width is excessive - change the module or material or both and start again
The gear face width should be selected in the range 9-15 x module or for straight spur gears-up to 60% of the pinion diameter.


POWDER METALLURGY PROCESS
Overview
High quality gears can be made by Powder metallurgy method.Powder is pressed in dies to produce the tooth shape after which the product is sintered .This method is generally used for small gears .After the metallic powders have been produced and classified, the conventional P/M process sequence
consists of three major steps: (1) blending and mixing of powders, (2) compaction, and (3) sintering, and a number of optional and finishing secondary operations.




Blending and mixing
Blending: mixing powder of the same chemical composition but different sizes
Mixing: combining powders of different chemistries
Blending and mixing are accomplished by mechanical means:



Except for powders, some other ingredients are usually added:
  1.  Lubricants: to reduce the particles-die friction
  2. Binders: to achieve enough strength before sintering
  3. Deflocculants: to improve the flow characteristics during feeding


Compaction
Blended powers are pressed in dies under high pressure to form them into the required shape. The
work part after compaction is called a green compact or simply a green, the word green meaning not
yet fully processed.
Sintering
Compressed metal powder is heated in a controlled-atmosphere furnace to a temperature below its
melting point, but high enough to allow bounding of the particles:




The primary driving force for sintering is not the fusion of material, but formation and growth of bonds
between the particles, as illustrated in a series of sketches showing on a microscopic scale the changes
that occur during sintering of metallic powders.

Finishing operations
A number of secondary and finishing operations can be applied after sintering, some of them are:
  1. Sizing: cold pressing to improve dimensional accuracy
  2. Coining: cold pressing to press details into surface
  3. Impregnation: oil fills the pores of the part
  4. Infiltration: pores are filled with a molten metal
  5. Heat treating, plating, painting






Manufacturing Advantages of Powder Metallurgy:

  • Cost Savings of up to 70% over other part manufacturing processes.
  • Provides Close Dimensional Tolerances.
  • Requires Minimal Machining.
  • Results in Good Surface Finish.
  • Excellent part to part reproducibility (Repetitive Accuracy).
  • Often only process that produces parts with irregular curves, eccentrics, radial projections.
  • Easily Produces parts requiring irregular holes, key-ways, flat sides, splines, or square holes.
  • Easily Produces tapers and counter bores.
  • Easily Produces slots, grooves, and bosses of varying depths.
  • Axial projections possible but size depends on powder flowing into die recesses.
  • Greater Customization Possible over other processes.
  • Stronger Material Properties over plastics & dies casting.
  • Greater Control of Material through sintering process, which is particularly important when working with stainless steel.
  • Tailor material to be Ductile or Hard.
  • Blend Materials to gain Desirable Material Properties.
  • Corrosion Resistant.

 




Engineering research paper

NEW RESEARCH DIRECTIONS
IN POWDER METALLURGY

R.L. ORBAN

TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF CLUJ-NAPOCA
103-105 MUNCII BLV.,400641 CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA


INTRODUCTION
Over the last years Powder Metallurgy (PM) has known an impressive development. This is eloquently highlighted by the upgraded classification of its present applications.The key factors of this development are its high potential in advanced material producing (some of them impossible to be produced by other technological methods), its known advantages in structural parts production , as well as the less influence of the PM companies’ activity than of the traditional, especially metallurgical, ones on the ecological system. As PM applications cover very diversified domains of the modern industry, their development continuously stimulate the research efforts for PM progress. The most important directions of these intensive researches will be analysed in this paper.

SINTERED PART TECHNOLOGY IMPROVING
Sintered parts have applications both as structural parts and as parts realized from special materials. For both, improving the processing technologies to overcome the known PM limitations concerning high mechanical properties, complex shape and large parts realization are well-defined research targets.

Researches for mechanical properties improving
The largest PM application from the tonnage point of view is to the structural parts, especially for the automotive industry, production [1]. They are commonly made of lowalloyed with C, Cu, Ni, Mo and, recently, also with Cr, Mn, Si steels. There are several research directions for their mechanical properties improving

Increasing powder compressibility/homogeneity, dust and hazard reduction
In the sintered structural partsIn the sintered structural parts production, water atomized iron powders are going to replace the sponge ones. Therefore, numerous researches are focussed on the atomization technology improvement for a better particle size distribution and a higher cleanliness obtaining. Beside those concerning the atomisation nozzle geometry and processing parameters of standard units optimisation, high-pressure water atomization (up to 150 MPa) is investigated to increase fine particle fraction, enhancing particle size distribution. Researches are too performed to introduce vacuum induction melting, degassing and pouring furnaces to replace the common ones. production, water atomized iron powders are going to replace the sponge ones.

Improving the die filling and lubrication processes
A high filling density and uniformity over the cross section of the die cavity is essential for good quality parts obtaining. It strongly depends on the powder flowing rate and, for a given powder, on the wall thickness, type of compacting lubricant, filling shoe movement in respect to wall direction. Numerous studies, some based on the process modelling, are carried out for its enhancing. Improving the filling system design, contour filling, using of agitating feed-shoes or vibratory feeders, powder fluidization/granulation with an organic binder

Warm compaction

Warm compaction is based on the notable decreasing of yield strength of the ferrite steels at heating (Fig. 4). Consequently, deformability of particles and implicitly, compressibility of such powders notable increases even at a moderate heating (up to 1500C), allowing a higher densification at the same applied pressure. A lubricant resistant at these temperatures, able to assure a good lubrication, without to decrease the powder
flowing capacity, and also a heating system of both powder and tooling is necessary, instead. Several companies developed such lubricants and heating systems


High velocity compaction
 Although compaction by explosion (shock compaction) has been used for several years, it was not extended due to its difficulties and low productivity. The dynamic compaction idea was recently reconsidered; new technological variants, less dangerous and of a high productivity, are being
developed.


Activated sintering
Sintering activation, especially by a transient liquid phase creation, is too in attention. It is possible by addition of small amounts of activators” - forming with the base powder an eutectic of a melting point below the sintering temperature. At ferrous materials, the most used activator is phosphorus . Some companies are even producing Fe-P powders or premixes . Boron, forming with Fe an eutectic at a lower content than P, caught too recently a high interest

Powder Injection Molding
Powder Injection Molding (PIM) combines the polymer injection technology with powder metallurgy. By injection of a powder-binder mixture (feedstock) in a die cavity, theoretically any shape can be realized. Investigation are presently done to obtain fine spherical powders of an increased flowing capacity, from a higher diversity of materials, to improve binder properties / feedstock rheological behavior for a better die
filling, to improve debinding / sintering / mechanical properties, dimensional control
Spray forming
In Spray Forming (SF, Fig. 13), the stream of droplets formed in a gas atomisation unit is accelerated by the gas jet to the rotating cavity of an open mold (substrate). The adjustable rotation of the mold allows a uniform compaction of the atomized particles.

Improving metal matrix properties
Sinter-hardening and particulate reinforcing are the most known ways of mechanical properties of steel matrix improving. To increase the sinter-hardening efficiency, modular furnaces with a convective cooling zone – by sintering gas re-circulation, were recently realized

SPECIAL/ADVANCED MATERIALS PRODUCTION

PM has numerous applications to special/advanced materials production - as sintered parts/coatings.

Sintering by infiltration of loose powders
Sintering by Infiltration of Loose Powders (SILP) is a relatively new technology that combines sintering with casting. It consists in a mold cavity filling with a selected mixture of powders, followed by its infiltration with an appropriate molten alloy

Mechanical Alloying
Mechanical Alloying (MA) is too a relatively new technology that enables a large variety of advanced materials obtaining. It consists of material milling in a high energy mill, process producing repeated powder particle deformation, work hardening, fracturing, clean surfaces forming, local heating, solid state welding,
re-fracturing and so on, under the impact energy transferred to them from collisions of the chaotic moving balls


CONCLUSIONS
The above presented developments and future trends in PM demonstrate the large aria of research directions that are still opened for its further development

IE Research paper

Lean manufacturing : context, practice bundles, and performance

 Rachna Shah

Peter T Ward 

Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA

Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43221, USA

Introduction 

Heightened challenges from global competitors during the past 2 decades have prompted many US manufacturing firms to adopt new manufacturing approaches.Particularly salient among these is the concept of lean productionLean production is a multi-dimensional approach that encompasses a wide variety of management practices, including just-in-time, quality systems, work teams, cellular manufacturing, supplier management, etc. in an integrated system. The core thrust of lean production is that these practices can work synergistically to create a streamlined, high quality system that produces finished products at the pace of customer demand with little or no waste. Anecdotal evidence suggests that several organizational factors may enable or inhibit the implementation of lean practices among manufacturing plants. With the notable exception of  White et al. (1999), there is relatively little published empirical evidence about the implementation of lean practices and the factors that may influence implementation.

Implementation and contextual variables

 n general, the success of implementation of any particular management practice frequently depends upon organizational characteristics, and not all organizations can or should implement the same set of practices.Consideration of organizational contexts has been noticeably lacking in research on implementation of JIT and TQM programs or other leanmanufacturing practices. Perhaps because of the failure to consider organizational context, evidence on the impact of JIT and TQM programs on organizational performance has been mixed.In this study, we examine three organizational context characteristics—unionization, plant age and plant size—that may influence the implementation of manufacturing practices.

Unionization

It is often assumed that because implementation of most manufacturing practices requires negotiating changes in work organization, unionized facilities will resist adopting lean practices and thus lag behind non-unionized facilities. While there is some evidence that unionization is negatively associated with organizational performance.Unionization seems to be an important factor for implementation although the direction is not exactly clear. In addition, it hasn’t been empirically investigated in association with a wider set of lean manufacturing practices.

Age of the plant

Plant age may imply either a tendency toward resistance to change or a liability of newness. The “resistance to change” view is supported by the organizational sociology literature which suggests that the age of an establishment should inversely influence the rate of adoption of innovations, because organizational forms tend to be “frozen” at birth.Thus, irrespective of the theoretical perspective, plant age is found to impede adoption and implementation of new, innovative work practices. However, empirical evidence from industrial and labor relation literature indicates that age of an establishment is not a significant determinant of adoption of work practices.

Size of the plant

Several authors (e.g. [Chandler, 1962] and [Child, 1972]) have noted that since any administrative task tends to be more complicated in large firms, managers may not even attempt to change, instead they may allow existing systems to linger. This is equally true of implementation of new operational practices. That is, large organizations suffer from structural inertial forces (Hannan and Freeman, 1984) that negatively effect the implementation of lean manufacturing practices. Further, inertial effects of size are more prevalent in manufacturing industry than in service industry (Gopala krishnan and Damanpour, 1997). However, large size also implies the availability of both capital and human resources that facilitate adoption and implementation of lean practices as well as returns to scale for investments associated with lean practices. 


Bundles of lean manufacturing practices and operational performance

 Lean practices are generally shown to be associated with high performance in a number of studies of world-class manufacturing (e.g. [Sakakibara et al., 1997] and [Giffi et al., 1990]). Overall, review of related research indicates that implementation of lean practices is frequently associated with improvements in operational performance measures. The most commonly cited benefits related to lean practices are improvement in labor productivity and quality, along with reduction in customer lead time, cycle time, and manufacturing costs.Most of the empirical studies focusing on the impact of lean implementation on operational performance are constrained to one or two facets of lean, often JIT or TQM. Improved operational performance associated with JIT practices.Many researchers argue that a lean production system is an integrated manufacturing system requiring implementation of a diverse set of manufacturing practices (e.g. Womack and Jones, 1996). Further, they also suggest that concurrent application of these various practices should result in higher operational performance because the practices, although diverse, are complementary and inter-related to each other.

Methods

Instrument development and data collection

The study sample consists of approximately 28,000 subscribers to Penton Media Inc.’s manufacturing-related publications, and includes managers of plants belonging to manufacturing firms. Survey recipients hold titles such as plant manager, plant leader, and manufacturing manager.  

Sample characteristics

The sample resembles the population profile reported by US Census of Manufacturers (1997) and is not unlike those for similar studies of US manufacturers.

Lean manufacturing practices

Lean manufacturing practices are measured on a three-point scale 
((1) no implementation
(2) some implementation
(3) extensive implementation

Lean bundles

The 22 individual lean practices were combined into 4 lean bundles. For instance, all practices related to production flow were combined to form the JIT bundle. The underlying rationale is that JIT is a manufacturing program with the primary goal of continuously reducing, and ultimately eliminating all forms of waste (Sugimori et al., 1977). Two major forms of waste are work-in-process (WIP) inventory and unnecessary delays in flow time. Both can be reduced by implementing practices related to production flow such as lot size reduction, cycle time reduction, quick changeover techniques to reduce WIP inventory and by implementing cellular layout, reengineering production processes, and bottleneck removal to reduce unnecessary delays in the production process.

Operational performance

A six-item scale is used to measure the operational performance of a manufacturing plant. The items include 5-year changes in manufacturing cycle time, scrap and rework costs, labor productivity, unit manufacturing costs, first pass yield, and customer lead time. A scale was constructed for operational performance measure based on principal components analysis of these items and the factor scores were used as the dependent variable.


Conclusion

This research suggests two major findings. First, organizational context, i.e. plant size, unionization and plant age, matters with regard to implementation of lean practices, although not all aspects matter to the same extent. Second, applying synergistic bundles of lean practices concurrently appears to make a substantial contribution to operational performance over and above the small but significant effects of context. We discuss each of these findings in turn.

 

 

SUMMARY

Lean Manufacturing is an operational strategy oriented toward achieving the shortest possible cycle time by eliminating waste. It is derived from the Toyota Production System and its key thrust is to increase the value-added work by eliminating waste and reducing incidental work. The technique often decreases the time between a customer order and shipment, and it is designed to radically improve profitability, customer satisfaction, throughput time, and employee morale.
The benefits generally are lower costs, higher quality, and shorter lead times.  The term "lean manufacturing" is coined to represent half the human effort in the company, half the manufacturing space, half the investment in tools, and half the engineering hours to develop a new product in half the time.
The characteristics of lean processes are:
  • Single-piece production
  • Repetitive order characteristics
  • Just-In-Time materials/pull scheduling
  • Short cycle times
  • Quick changeover
  • Continuous flow work cells
  • Collocated machines, equipment,tools and people
  • Compressed space
  • Multi-skilled employees
  • Flexible workforce
  • Empowered employees
  • High first-pass yields with major reductions in defects 


  • The core thrust of lean production is that these practices can work synergistically to create a streamlined, high quality system that produces finished products at the pace of customer demand with little or no waste.