VSM Exercise:

Vinayaka Engineering is a vendor to Kirloskar Electric Company and supplies machined casings of motors
to KEC. These casings are supplied by Kirloskar Foundry unit as castings. Company receives different
volumes of orders pertaining to motors with varied power ratings such as 1/4 HP, 1/2 HP, 1 HP, 2 HP & 5
HP. Currently each day one motor casing with only one power rating is machined in the company. Due
to adoption of batch production method overproduction is experienced for some models. On the other
hand there is also a under production for some models. This is resulting in to piling up of inventory on
one hand and non-fulfillment of customer demand on the other for some and creating an imbalance. So
the company decided to explore application of lean principles and revamp their production process. In
this context they decided to go ahead with value stream mapping to identify the problem and
improvement areas. Following are the details of current process followed in the factory for production.
Customer demand for a period of month is stated to be 65 - 1/4 HP, 55-1/2HP, 45-1HP, 35-2HP & 255HP. The company operates with 8 hour shift and 30 minutes lunch break. Total work days in a month
are 25 days. Every casing of all the motors undergoes five processes. In the first process, the leg portion
is machined using shaping machine. Next the top portion is milled using milling machine. During the
third process, holes are enlarged using boring machine. During the fourth process, small holes are drilled
using radial drilling machine. In the fifth process, the casing is inspected and sent to the assembly
section. Each process is manned by one skilled operator. The Cycle times for various processes are 30',
20', 25', 10'and 15' respectively. Sizes of castings of different models vary and hence cycle time of
processing each model varies, however since variance is small, cycle time is taken as average of all the
models. Change over time for each process is 90', 45', 30', 10' and 5' respectively. Inventory at the
beginning of the process and at the end of the process is 25 units and 100 units respectively. WIP
inventory between the processes is 25 units, 15 units, 25 units and 10 units.
Draw the current state Value stream map and analyze for improvements and then draw a proposed
future state value stream map. Compute production lead time vs. Total cycle time under current as well
as future state. Identify and list the non-value added activities/processes in the current state map.
Support your future state VSM with a clear action plan on how non-value adding activities/processes are
eliminated applying lean principles/tools.
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