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Procedia Computer Science 00 (2021) 000–000
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
Procedia Computer Science 00 (2021) 000–000 www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia
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ScienceDirect
Procedia Computer Science 203 (2022) 502–507

The 3rd International Workshop of Innovation and Technologies (IWIT 2022)

The 3rd InternationalAugust
Workshop
9-11,of2022,
Innovation and
Ontario, Technologies (IWIT 2022)
Canada
August 9-11, 2022, Ontario, Canada
Design of lean-based strategies to improve the flow of materials in
Design the
of lean-based
value chainstrategies to improve
of a furniture the in
company flow of materials in
Colombia
the value chain ofa a furniture company in Colombia
María Velásqueza, Nurby Zabalaa, Dionicio Neira-Rodadob,*, Thalia Obredor Baldovinob,
a b, b
María Velásquez , Nurby ZabalaNohora
, Dionicio Neira-Rodado
Mercado-Caruso b *, Thalia Obredor Baldovino ,
Nohora Mercado-Carusob
a
Universidad Del Atlántico,Barranquilla, Colombia
abUniversidadde la Costa, Barranquilla, Colombia
Universidad Del Atlántico,Barranquilla, Colombia
b
Universidad de la Costa, Barranquilla, Colombia

Abstract
Abstract
This study aims to analyze the general process conditions in a furniture company in Colombia. Many improvement opportunities
This study
were aimsand
identified to analyze
addressedtheusing
general
leanprocess conditions
manufacturing in aand
tools furniture company
philosophy in Colombia.
to increase Many outcome.
the process's improvement opportunities
The methodology
allowed some activities
were identified to reorganize
and addressed and identify
using lean deficiencies
manufacturing tools in
andpersonnel formation,
philosophy housekeeping,
to increase lack
the process's of tools,The
outcome. andmethodology
other factors
allowed some
affecting activitiesDifferent
the process. to reorganize
actionsandwere
identify deficiencies
implemented withinthe
personnel formation,
commitment housekeeping,
of directives, lack of
operators, tools, andmanagement,
production other factors
affecting
and other the process.
areas. Differentshowed
The discipline actions for
wereallimplemented withareas
the problematic the commitment of directives,
allowed to increase operators,
the outcome production
of the process bymanagement,
21%.
and other areas. The discipline showed for all the problematic areas allowed to increase the outcome of the process by 21%.
© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
© 2021
This The
is an Authors.
open accessPublished by Elsevier
article under the CC B.V.
BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)
This is an
Peer-review open access
under article under
responsibility of the
the CC BY-NC-ND
Conference
Peer-review under responsibility of the Conference Program
Programlicense (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Chairs.
Chairs.
Peer-review under responsibility of the Conference Program Chairs.
Keywords: Lean manufacturing, production process, waste, improvement proposals, cost-benefit analysis.
Keywords: Lean manufacturing, production process, waste, improvement proposals, cost-benefit analysis.

1. Introduction
1. Introduction
Micro Small and Medium companies hire 80% of the Colombian workforce [1]. Therefore, it is essential to look
forMicro
ways Small and Medium
to increase companies hire
its competitiveness and,80% of theso,
in doing Colombian
guaranteeworkforce
its survival[1].inTherefore,
time. Thisitisisaessential to look
great challenge
for ways to that
considering increase
manyits
arecompetitiveness and, or
small and have little in no
doing so, guarantee
technology its survival
investment. In thisin time.
case, theThis
focusisofa the
great challenge
analysis is a
considering
company in that many are sector.
the furniture small and have
In the little or no
particular technology
case investment.
of the Atlántico In in
region thisColombia,
case, the focus of the analysis
the furniture industryisisa
companyinina the
grouped furniture
cluster calledsector. In the particular
AMOBLAR-C. case is
This cluster ofof
thegreat
Atlántico regionfor
importance inthe
Colombia, the furniture
region since it is madeindustry
up of 200is
grouped in a cluster called AMOBLAR-C. This cluster is of great importance for the region since it is made up of 200

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +57-3174282715; Tel: +46.

* Corresponding dneira1@cuc.edu.co
E-mail address:author. Tel.: +57-3174282715; Tel: +46.
E-mail address: dneira1@cuc.edu.co
1877-0509 © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
This is an open
1877-0509 access
© 2021 Thearticle under
Authors. the CC BY-NC-ND
Published license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
by Elsevier B.V.
Peer-review under
This is an open responsibility
access of the Conference
article under CC BY-NC-NDProgram Chairs.
license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review under responsibility of the Conference Program Chairs.

1877-0509 © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)
Peer-review under responsibility of the Conference Program Chairs.
10.1016/j.procs.2022.07.070
 María Velásquez et al. / Procedia Computer Science 203 (2022) 502–507 503
2 Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2018) 000–000

companies that registered annual sales of around US$ 160 million and generated more than 10 thousand direct and
indirect jobs [2]. As mentioned before, many of these companies use artisanal methods that can be improved through
appropriate mechanisms. In this sense, the proper implementation of Lean Manufacturing principles can positively
impact productivity, quality, and competitiveness in the industries of this sector. Lean Manufacturing is a process
improvement philosophy that looks to maximize the value-added by each activity carried out during the process.
Activities that do not add value are considered Muda or waste. Lean techniques identify the activities that are not
adding value and try to reorganize the process to eliminate or minimize them. This should impact productivity, quality,
and competitiveness [3], [4]. The pillars of lean manufacturing are the philosophy of continuous improvement, total
quality assurance, the elimination of waste, the use of all the potential throughout the value chain, and the participation
of the all labor force [5].

2. Methodology

This project began with a description of the company's processes for further analysis. The company of this study
makes personalized office furniture according to each customer's need. Usually, these customers are other companies
modifying or renewing their office spaces. Customers give their requirements to the sales and design department. Once
the customer approves the proposal from the design area, this area provides all the specifications concerning the project
to the shop floor. These specifications include the wood color, the thickness, the design, and the holes, among others.
Process stages can be seen in Figure 3.

Once all the process steps are identified, a diagnosis of the current situation and waste identification in the flow of
materials and information of the company's value chain is carried out.

2.1 Process Diagnose:

In this phase, the characteristics of the company's production process were analyzed and evaluated so that it is
possible to identify the shortcomings directly related to the delay in delivery to customers.

2.1.1 Waste identification:

After performing a value stream mapping (VSM), some activities and movements, among others, were identified
as waste. Waste or Muda are all the activities that do not add value to the product. It can be said that these activities
hinder the flow of material through the processes that do add value. These activities reduce productivity and affect the
final quality of the product. The primary wastes found are:

2.1.2 Waste due to transport and unnecessary movements

The current layout is not appropriate, considering that workstations are not sequenced following the order of the
processes. There is a lack of organization in the workstations, which forces them to move continuously in search of
tools and supplies. Additionally, the manufactured products have big dimensions and spaces to transport. These are
very narrow, making this task very difficult.

2.1.3 Waste due to overprocessing

This type of waste occurs because, more added value is placed on the product than what the final customer will
require. For example, the workers perform unnecessary processes or repeat the same process. For instance, after each
activity, additional checks are carried out; they perform paint rectifications and excessive cleaning work, due to the
lack of standardization.

2.1.4 Waste due to excess inventory

This is one of the most chronic wastes in the company. Large amounts of inventories can be seen along the shop
floor, blocking what should typically be transit corridors. These materials are obsolete, broken, unusable. However,
these materials are not written off and discarded until a long time has passed.
This triggers several conflicts because these inventories need care, maintenance, surveillance, accounting, and
management. Still, sometimes their level is so excessive that they do not perform maintenance or accounting.
504 María Velásquez et al. / Procedia Computer Science 203 (2022) 502–507
Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2018) 000–000 3

Excessive space has been used to store materials; to such an extent, space has also been taken from the areas dedicated
to the cutting and sanding processes.

2.1.5 Waste due to defects

This type of waste is one of the most "accepted"; however, it generates a loss in productivity because it results in
extra work by the operators due to not having done it correctly the first time. Constant reprocess of material and
products and corrections of activities by other operators apart from the one who has performed the task can be
evidenced in the company. After analyzing the entire production process, it is evident that the process that generates
the most waste due to defects is the cutting process. This situation is caused due to measuring errors when cutting the
wooden planks and the Formica folds that generate material waste and rework when passing to the assembly area.

3. Improvement plan to reduce identified waste based on lean principles

Once the existing problems and the causes and critical points of their occurrence have been identified, the reasons
they occur are highlighted, and the Lean philosophy tools that can provide a solution to each one are selected. This is
done to determine which tools will cause, with their implementation, the most significant impact on the company.
The first action of the improvement teams is to carry out a 5S implementation plan. The implementation of the 5S
allowed the company to organize all the workstations and identify obsolete tools and lack of tools that were forcing
workers to perform additional tasks to obtain the required outcome. This outcome can be obtained easily, with less
effort, better quality, and less operation when using the appropriate tools. Additionally, a cleaning schedule for the
shop floor was created in which worker is responsible for the organization of a specific area. This plan also included
the machines.
The second implemented action was designing and using some poka-yoke in the sewing machine and sanding
machine. This poka-yoke helped the workers reduce the change over time and the number of additional adjustments,
impacting productivity and quality. Quality was improved because the additional adjustments were reduced, and the
number of error due to measurement mistakes were reduced. On the other hand, all the materials on the shop floor
were classified. The materials in lousy condition or had more than six months of no use were sold to recyclers. A
policy to handle this type of situation was created from that moment. Each month, the materials with more than six
months of inactivity will be sold to recyclers.

Figs 1 and 2 show the new and previous layout of the shop floor. These changes in the layout reduce the distances
that the workers should cover to perform all tasks. This reduction of distances can be observed in the spaghetti diagrams
shown in Figures 1 and 2 and 62,3%. Additionally, organizing workstations and supplying the workers with proper
tools helped reduce changeover activities, as shown in Table 1. Reductions were more than 50% in some cases. Finally,
the new and old VSM can be observed in Fig 3 and 4. These VSM show how the process increased its capacity by
21%. Cycle time was reduced by 40,4%.

Fig. 1. Spaghetti diagram in the new layout.

 4 Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2018) 000–000
María Velásquez et al. / Procedia Computer Science 203 (2022) 502–507 505

Fig. 2. Spaghetti diagram in the old layout.

Table 1. Waste time before and after improvements.

Waste time for each Average time in Average time in

changeover minutes (before) minutes (after)
Looking for tools 4,1 2,1
Looking for raw matters 4,05 1,33
Looking for supplies 2,45 1,62
Machine changeover 2,27 1,64

Fig. 3. New VSM.

506 María Velásquez et al. / Procedia Computer Science 203 (2022) 502–507
Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2018) 000–000 5

4. Conclusions

Reducing the downtimes and idle times allows the companies to minimize the size of the batches, reducing the
inventories in process and finished goods [6]. In this case, implementing different lean-based principles increases
productivity to meet the demand and look for additional markets. The company had large amounts of inventory, but
there were frequent shortages of some items causing disconformities among the customers. The proposed strategies
significantly reduced time in different process stages; some of these reductions can be observed in table 1. Adequate
planning and organization during the execution of the activities are fundamental because it allows the saving of
movements and human errors, which result in losses of time even when the activities are carried out externally or are
assigned in parallel. The proposal of the checklists, for example, is a strategy aimed at improving the planning of
activities; its implementation solved the problem of interrupting the work to search for tools and the useless
movements associated with it, causing time gains. Production downtime is reduced by converting a preparation
activity into an external one. The risk of unforeseen events occurring with the machine is stopped so that any corrective
action can be carried out without delaying the process. The favorable results of implementing the proposals are
primarily attributed to involving the personnel directly related to the execution of process tasks. This application
evidences the impact that an adequate Lean principles implementation may have on a company's productivity. In this
sense, it is essential to point out that this implementation includes a commitment of personnel and companies'
directors.

Fig. 4. Old VSM.

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6 Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2018) 000–000

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