506 Int. J. Services and Operations Management, Vol. 16, No.

4, 2013

Lean implementation through value stream mapping:

a case study in an Indian pump manufacturing
company

S. Thirunavukkarasu,
Balaji Visvanath Bheeman*,
R. Ashwin, M. Varadharajan and
S.R. Devadasan
Department of Production Engineering,
PSG College of Technology,
Coimbatore – 641 004, Tamil Nadu, India
E-mail: ashok.thirunavukkarasu@hotmail.com
E-mail: balavisvanath@gmail.com
E-mail: ashwinswprod@gmail.com
E-mail: varadharajan.mohan@gmail.com
E-mail: devadasan_srd@yahoo.com
*Corresponding author

R. Murugesh
Darshan Institute of Engineering and Technology,
Rajkot – 363 650, Gujarat, India
E-mail: drmurugesh_m@yahoo.com

Abstract: During the past two decades, the tools and techniques of lean
manufacturing paradigm are increasingly being implemented in organisations
globally. The scattered implementation of these tools and techniques has been
preventing the organisations from effectively reaping the benefits of lean
manufacturing paradigm. Meanwhile, a few researchers have found out that the
initiation of lean manufacturing paradigm will result in leanness if it is begun
by implementing value stream mapping (VSM) technique. In order to examine
this finding, in this research paper, a case study on implementing VSM as the
lean manufacturing initiative is reported. During the conduct of this case study,
VSM was applied in an Indian pump manufacturing company. The experiences
of conducting this case study have revealed that, VSM has the capability to
implement the lean manufacturing tools and techniques tactfully for matching
production lead time with takt time. This capability will enable the companies
to achieve profitability and competitive strength.

Keywords: lean manufacturing; value stream mapping; VSM; kaizen; plant

layout; 5S.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Thirunavukkarasu, S.,

Bheeman, B.V., Ashwin, R., Varadharajan, M., Devadasan, S.R. and
Murugesh, R. (2013) ‘Lean implementation through value stream mapping: a
case study in an Indian pump manufacturing company’, Int. J. Services and
Operations Management, Vol. 16, No. 4, pp.506–524.

Copyright © 2013 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

 Lean implementation through value stream mapping 507

Biographical notes: S. Thirunavukkarasu has recently graduated in production

engineering from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, India. He will soon
be awarded his Bachelor in Production Engineering by Anna University,
Chennai, India. His areas of interest include Six Sigma, total quality
management and industrial engineering.

Balaji Visvanath Bheeman has recently graduated in Production Engineering

from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, India. He will soon be awarded
his Bachelor in Production Engineering by Anna University, Chennai, India.
He is going to pursue his Master in International Production Management at the
Technical University of Hamburg, Harburg, Germany. His areas of interest
include manufacturing engineering and production management.

R. Ashwin is currently pursuing his Bachelor in Production Engineering at PSG

College of Technology, Coimbatore, India. His areas of interest include lean
manufacturing and supply chain management.

M. Varadharajan has recently graduated in Production Engineering from PSG

College of Technology, Coimbatore, India. He will soon be awarded his
Bachelor’s degree in Production Engineering by Anna University, Chennai,
India. His areas of interest include manufacturing engineering, total quality
management and industrial engineering.

S.R. Devadasan is a Professor in the Department of Production Engineering,

PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, India. He holds a Bachelor in
Mechanical Engineering, a Master in Industrial Engineering, a PhD in
Mechanical Engineering and a Doctor of Science in Mechanical Engineering.
He has 22 years of teaching and research experience. He has published over 90
papers in international journals. He is an editorial advisory board member of
the European Journal of Innovation Management. His fields of research
interests include agile manufacturing, Six Sigma, total quality management and
total productive maintenance.

R. Murugesh is the Principal of Darshan Institute of Engineering and

Technology, Rajkot, Gujarat, India. He holds a Bachelor in Mechanical
Engineering, a Master in Industrial Engineering and a PhD in Mechanical
Engineering. He has more than 24 years of experience in teaching and research.
He has published 33 papers in international journals. He is currently working
on a book for Prentice Hall Publishers, India (accepted for publication).
His fields of research interests include strategic productivity management,
total productive maintenance, management information system, total quality
management, Six Sigma and agile manufacturing.

1 Introduction

With increasing intensity of competition, organisations situated throughout the world

have been striving to adopt several production paradigms (Zhu and Sarkis, 2004;
Kuehnle, 2007; Jayachitra and Prasad, 2011; Rajesh et al., 2011; Moyano-Fuentes and
Sacristán-Díaz, 2012; Blackburn, 2012). In this direction, of late, organisations have been
adopting lean manufacturing paradigm in different forms and through varied depths.
Several case studies on implementing tools and techniques that are required to implement
lean manufacturing paradigm have been reported in the literature arena (Pattanaik and
508 S. Thirunavukkarasu et al.

Sharma, 2009; Pool et al., 2011; Hodge et al., 2011; Hasle et al., 2012; Bhasin, 2012).
Yet, a systematic procedure delineating the steps of lean manufacturing paradigm to reap
its authentic benefits has not been brought out by the researchers. This situation makes it
difficult to identify the starting tool of lean manufacturing paradigm. In this context, it is
worthwhile to view the capabilities of one of the lean manufacturing tools by name ‘value
stream mapping’ (VSM). VSM picturises the activities of an organisation from the lean
point of view. A few case studies on implementing VSM to achieve the goals of lean
manufacturing paradigm have been reported in the literature arena (Abdulmalek and
Rajgopal, 2007; Álvarez et al., 2009; Lasa et al., 2009; Singh and Sharma, 2009; Vinodh
et al., 2010; Gurumurthy and Kodali, 2011; Cookson et al., 2011; Xie and Peng, 2012).
The results achieved and reported in these case studies reveal that VSM is the appropriate
starting tool of lean manufacturing paradigm. This is due to the reason that, VSM reveals
the future activities and changes to be incorporated to achieve the goals of lean
manufacturing paradigm. Besides VSM aids to meet the takt time which is nothing but
the rate at which the customer requires the product or service. All these details are made
available through the drawings while applying VSM.
VSM facilitates the capturing of current activities and projects the future stream of
activities which would on implementation guide the organisation to implement lean
manufacturing tools and techniques (Xie and Peng, 2012). The current activities are
drawn as current state map and future projected activities are drawn as future state map.
These maps are so simple that both engineers and managers read the contents presented
in them and implement the lean techniques and tools indicated in them. In this
background, VSM can be regarded as the language of lean manufacturing managers and
engineers. Although VSM has been widely applied in several fields, it is yet to find
application in pump industry. In the context of this observation, this research paper
reports a case study on implementing VSM in an Indian pump manufacturing company.
Selection of this pump manufacturing company for exploring the practicality of VSM is
of high significance, as in this company, some lean manufacturing tools have been
implemented without achieving effectively the goals of lean manufacturing. During the
conduct of this case study, the VSM technique was applied on the production of a pump
to reveal the lean manufacturing tools that should be applied to achieve the goals of lean
manufacturing paradigm in focussed manner. This case study was begun by studying the
manufacturing activities of this company. Subsequently the goals to be attained by
implementing VSM were defined. Then, VSM was applied and the suggestions were
made. These tasks have been described in this paper.

2 Literature review

Before explaining the case study, the literature review, which was carried out to trace the
implementation of VSM globally is presented in this section. In order to carry out this
literature review, three databases namely Emerald insight, Science Direct and EBSCO
were searched by inputting VSM as the keyword. After the search, the research papers in
which the term VSM appears in the titles were reviewed. The information and knowledge
gathered from these research papers are presented in this section.
Three main information and knowledge were gathered during the literature review
being reported here. The first information and knowledge that were gathered are about
the origin and characteristics of VSM. In this direction, it was interesting to read the
 Lean implementation through value stream mapping 509

contributions of Grewal (2008). This author has mentioned that, VSM was developed in
the year 1995. This author has enumerated the definitions of VSM as enunciated by
several authors in the literature arena. On the whole, VSM is a tool of lean manufacturing
paradigm which enables to view the stream of activities and analyse the way of removing
the non-value adding activities. This author has also listed the guidelines to be
followed while applying VSM. This author’s emphasis on considering takt time towards
developing facilities and reducing lead time are highly noteworthy.
The second information and knowledge that have been gathered from these research
papers are about the stages of applying VSM while implementing lean manufacturing
paradigm. In general, authors mention about the two phases of developing VSM for
implementing lean manufacturing programme. During the first phase, the current state
map is developed to map the current activities. During the second phase, the future state
map is developed to plan for implementing right tools to reap the goals of lean
manufacturing paradigm. The expanded version of these two phases of implementing
VSM has been given by Lasa et al. (2008). These authors have enumerated five stages of
implementing VSM in a distinct manner. These stages are: choosing a product family,
constructing the current state map, developing the future state map, drawing a plan for
implementing lean manufacturing paradigm by referring to the information contained in
the future state map and execution of this plan. Hines and Rich (1997) have listed seven
tools that can be used while developing VSM. They have also illustrated the method of
using these tools while developing VSM.
The third information and knowledge gathered during the literature review conducted
were that, although VSM originated from manufacturing environment, it has found wide
applications in other organisational environments too. For example, Teichgräber and
de Bucourt (2012) have explained a case study involving the application of VSM in a
hospital, which was conducted for the purpose of eliminating non-value adding activities
while procuring endovascular stents. Likewise Cookson et al. (2011) have reported a case
study on applying VSM for improving the quality of emergency care in a hospital, where
they have eliminated the waiting time of patients to get the service of staff members and
the waiting time of staff members for getting the results from testing centres.
Presumably due to its origin in manufacturing environment, VSM has found wide
applications in manufacturing environments. Some of the papers that report such
implementation are Grewal (2008), Ramesh et al. (2008), Singh and Sharma (2009),
Álvarez et al. (2009), Vinodh et al. (2010) and Rahani and al-Ashraf (2012). Besides
VSM has been applied for improving several activities. For example, Seth et al.
(2008) have demonstrated the way of applying VSM for improving the supply chain
performance of cotton seed oil industry. Similar applications of VSM have been narrated
by Grewal (2008). All these papers have revealed that VSM has been applied in many
types of industries for achieving the goals of lean manufacturing paradigm. To cap it all,
Singh et al. (2011) and Gurumurthy and Kodali (2011) have listed the papers reporting
the wide implementation of VSM which would indicate its effectiveness in achieving the
goals of lean manufacturing paradigm in many types of industries.
On the whole, the literature review results described in this section have suggested
that, VSM has to be the starting tool of implementing lean manufacturing paradigm in
organisations. Another information gathered by conducting this literature review is that,
the current need of the research is that, the practicality of implementing VSM needs to be
explored by conducting case studies. Although the results of conducting the literature
review have revealed that, numerous case studies have been conducted, there are some
510 S. Thirunavukkarasu et al.

industries in which the application of VSM is yet to be studied. One among them is the
pump manufacturing industry. In order to fill this research gap, a case study on
implementing VSM in a pump manufacturing company is reported in the following
sections of this paper.

3 Research objectives and methodology

The primary objective of the research reported in this paper was to examine the feasibility
of adopting VSM as a starting tool for implementing lean manufacturing paradigm. The
secondary objective was to examine the applicability of VSM in pump industry which is
yet to witness wide adoption of lean manufacturing paradigm. In order to attain these
objectives, a submersible pump produced largely in a manufacturing company was
chosen as a candidate product of the research being reported here. In the beginning, the
steps of manufacturing this pump were observed. Then, the times consumed to
manufacture the five parts of this pump were observed. Using the information derived
from these observations, the current state map of manufacturing this pump was drawn.
On referring to this current state map, critical discussions and thinking were made to
eliminate non-value adding activities. After that, the future state map was drawn in which
the suggestions and solutions for enabling the company to produce this pump at the rate
equal or less than takt time were depicted. This research came to end by gathering the
feedback from three competent personnel to assess the practical feasibility of
implementing the suggestions and solutions depicted in the future state map.

4 Case study

The examination of implementing VSM was carried out in a water pump manufacturing
company by name Chola pumps (hereafter referred to as Chola). Chola is situated in
Coimbatore city of India. Chola was established in the year 1989. In Chola, six types of
pumps are manufactured. Chola has obtained ISO 9001:2008 certification. Besides ERP
has been implemented which has enabled Chola to integrate its information system.
During this case study, a type of pump called horizontal openwell submersible pump
(HOWS) was chosen as the candidate product. The photograph of this pump is shown in
Figure 1. This water pump is hereafter referred to as HOWS pump.

Figure 1 Horizontal open well submersible pump manufactured in Chola (see online version
for colours)
 Lean implementation through value stream mapping 511

As the name implies, HOWS pump is submerged in the water well. As shown in
Figure 1, HOWS pump has two main units namely motor and pump. Motor drives the
shaft of the pump which is connected to the impeller of the pump. When the impeller is
rotated, vacuum is created in the pump which results in the sucking of water from the
well and delivering the same at a designed height. In Chola, maximum volume of
production occurs in the case of HOWS pumps. This was the reason, why the HOWS
pump was taken as the candidate product of this case study. The subsequent activities
carried out in Chola are described in the following subsections.

4.1 Study of production flow

To begin with, the production flow pertaining to the manufacture of HOWS pump in
Chola was studied. It was found that, five parts namely body, bracket, impeller, cover and
rotor are manufactured in Chola. The production flows of these parts were studied and
production flow diagrams were drawn. One of such diagrams indicating the production
flow of the body of HOWS pump manufactured at Chola is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 Production flow diagram of body (see online version for colours)
512 S. Thirunavukkarasu et al.

As shown in Figure 2, the machine-shop layout in which HOWS pump is manufactured

in Chola is divided into five cells. Besides these cells, office and painting sections are
located separately. The body is pressed in the pressing section and is passed to welding
section. In welding section, the stator and cover case part of the body are welded together
for ensuring extra rigidity. After welding, the body is subjected to internal turning
operation. Then the body is painted in the painting section. The production flows of
bracket, cover, body, impeller and rotor were also observed and the production flow
diagrams were drawn. The studying of these production flow drawings, observing the
activities and interviewing the appropriate personnel aided to identify the problems which
were considered for solving using VSM. Those problems are narrated in the next section.

4.2 Problems considered

From the point of view of eliminating wastes through the application of VSM, the
following three problems were considered to provide solutions.
1 Deficiencies of the layout: The current layout does not facilitate smooth flow of
materials and men. This results in crowding of men in some pockets and
accumulation of materials in front of certain facilities. Moreover, because of the
deficiencies in the layout, the distances travelled by the materials are high.
2 Occurrence of non-value adding activities: Numerous non-value adding activities
like transportation and waiting occur in the Chola. This increases the cycle time of
producing pumps and prevents the production of pumps in tune with takt time.
3 Occurrence of excessive inventory: It was found that, the work-in-process and
finished product inventories are high in Chola. This kind of excessive inventory
affects the cash flow.
The above problems were to be solved with the aim of reducing the cycle time and lead
time of producing HOWS pump in Chola and meeting the takt time requirement.

4.3 Gathering of data

Before drawing the current state map, the data to be entered in it were gathered with
regard to the manufacturing of the HOWS pump. To begin with, the sequence of
machining the parts of HOWS pump was studied. It was found out that, six parts of
HOWS pump are machined simultaneously in Chola. In other words, these parts are
machined independently without following any production sequence. This machining
practice is depicted in Figure 3. As depicted, after machining, five parts arrive at the
assembly section, where they are assembled. Then the HOWS pumps are tested and
acceptable units are sent for dispatching to the market.
Another important data gathered was the time being consumed to manufacture each
part. The machining of each part was observed and their cycle time and change over time
were recorded. As a sample, the cycle time and change over time observed in the case of
manufacturing the bracket is shown in Table 1.
 Lean implementation through value stream mapping 513

Figure 3 Machining practice of HOWS pump at Chola

Table 1 Cycle time and change over time of the bracket of HOWS pump observed at Chola

Operation
Operation Cycle time in minutes Change over time in minutes
number
1 Pressing 1.2 15
2 Turning (CNC) 2.4 30
3 Drilling 2.5 22
4 Lapping 0.96 3
5 Burnishing 0.8 1.5
Total time (rounded off to the 8 71.5
nearest higher value)

Cycle time and change over time of other parts of the HOWS pump which were observed
at Chola are shown in Table 2.
Table 2 Cycle time and change over time of the parts of HOWS pump at Chola

Part number Name of part Cycle time in minutes Change over time in minutes
1 Bracket 8 71.5
2 Cover 10 72.5
3 Impeller 8 72
4 Rotor 2.2 37
5 Body 21 17

After gathering these data, the current state map was drawn pertaining to the production
of HOWS pump at Chola.

4.4 Current state map

The current state map drawn to depict the current practices of manufacturing HOWS
pump at Chola is shown in Figure 4.
514 S. Thirunavukkarasu et al.

Figure 4 The current state map

As shown, the production order is released once in a week from production control
department to the production supervisor. This production order contains the list of the
different pumps that are to be produced in different volumes in a week. After getting this
order, the production supervisor releases the order daily. The numbers of operators
associated with machining each part are shown in Figure 4. For example, three operators
are involved in machining a bracket, while one operator is associated with the machining
of impeller and rotor. Once a bracket is machined, it waits for 13 days to move towards
assembly section. This is due to the reason that, in order to follow the production order,
the parts of pumps other than HOWS pumps are machined. This results in the increasing
of the waiting time of the parts of HOWS pump. While drawing the current state map, the
changeover time (c/o time) was also included under waiting time. After assembling
and testing, the HOWS pumps are moved once in a week to the market. A striking
information drawn from this current state map is the difference in the cycle time and lead
time of manufacturing the HOWS pump at Chola. The cycle time of producing HOWS
pump is 111.2 minutes and the lead time is 53 days. This implies that out of the total lead
time, only 0.0612% of the time is utilised for manufacturing the HOWS pump in Chola.
This observation indicated a high scope for implementing lean manufacturing tools in
the case of manufacturing HOWS pumps in Chola. The utilisation of these tools was
explored by analysing the current state map.

4.5 Analysis of the current state map

To begin with, the capability of the current production system in meeting the takt time
was explored. In order to carry out this task, the takt time of producing HOWS pump was
calculated. The steps of this calculation are shown below.
 Lean implementation through value stream mapping 515

1 average monthly demand of HOWS pump = 4,500 units

2 average number of working days in a month = 25 days
3 average daily demand of HOWS pump = 4,500 / 25 = 180 units
4 number of shifts available in a day = 3 shifts
5 number of working hours / shift = 8 hours = 480 minutes
6 lunch time = 30 minutes
7 tea time = 20 minutes
8 shift start / end lag = 10 minutes
9 total available production time / shift = 480 – 30 – 20 – 10 = 420 minutes
10 takt time = total available production time available daily / number of units to be
produced daily
= 420 × 3 / 180 = 1,260 / 180 = 7 minutes or 420 seconds.
The above result indicates that in order to tune the manufacturing of HOWS pump in
Chola with takt time requirement, one unit of it shall be manufacturing for every
420 seconds. As mentioned in the previous section, the total lead time of producing
HOWS pump at Chola was 53 days which was very high and it was decided that, with the
aid of lean manufacturing tools, this high lead time should be reduced. At this juncture,
the authors had critical discussions among themselves and suggested to implement
production Kanban and move Kanban which would reduce the waiting time of the parts
of HOWS pumps to get assembled. Another deficiency noted was that, cycle time varied
depending upon the skill level and experience of operators. In order to make the cycle
times of machining parts consistent, the authors suggested to implement standard work
procedures. In spite of implementing these solutions, it was anticipated that the
manufacturing lead time of the HOWS pump would be 7.15 days which is still higher
than the total processing time of 46.73 minutes.
It was construed that in the existing system, drastic reduction of the total lead time to
meet the takt time requirement would not be possible. In order to achieve this goal, the
authors anticipated that kaizen implementation would facilitate continuous improvement
with the aim of making takt time less than or equal to the total lead time. Further, the
authors foresaw that, the implementation of total productive maintenance would
eliminate the stoppages of machines, which would ensure consistency in manufacturing
HOWS pumps. Besides the authors developed an impression that the implementation of
5S in assembly section would reduce the time of picking, using and replacing the tools
while assembling the parts of HOWS pumps in assembly section. After evolving these
above suggestions, the authors inferred that, if the above mentioned lean manufacturing
tools and techniques are to be implemented effectively, then the layouts employed for
manufacturing the five parts of the HOWS pumps need to be improved. The layout
improvement needs to be carried out with the objective of avoiding bottlenecks and
reducing the travelling distances. The future state map incorporating all these suggestions
was drawn.
516 S. Thirunavukkarasu et al.

4.6 Future state map

The future state map drawn with reference to the manufacturing of HOWS pump at Chola
is shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5 The future state map

As shown in Figure 5, the role of supervisor is not found to be necessary as production

kanban is introduced in all the seven facilities. Furthermore, in the facilities where three
operators were accommodated, it is suggested to involve only two operators. In order to
overcome the differentiation of work output that would happen due to the employment of
experienced and inexperienced operators, it is suggested to release standard work
instructions. In order to ensure interruption free working of machines, it is suggested to
conduct total productive maintenance programme in Chola. In order to achieve
continuous improvement of all the activities pertaining to the manufacturing of HOWS
pump at Chola, it is suggested to conduct kaizen programme. In order to avoid confusion
with regard to the choosing of exact parts to assemble HOWS pumps, it is suggested to
carry out 5S activities in the assembly section. It is projected that, execution of these
activities will result in abundant reduction of cycle time. This cycle time is expected to be
420 seconds which is equivalent to the takt time. As mentioned in the previous section
this objective can be achieved at Chola only if the layouts employed for manufacturing
the five parts are improved. In order to meet this requirement, the authors redesigned
these layouts to avoid bottlenecks and reduce material handling distances. As a sample,
the redesigned layout employed for manufacturing the pump body part is shown in
Figure 6. It is suggested that, the TIG welding setup in the adjacent machine shop be
shifted in place of an upright drilling machine which has been in use for limited purposes
only. This proposed design of the layout facilitates much easier process flow aiding in
reduction in a travel distance saving of about 180 feet. Suggestions have also been put
forward for saving travel distances in the process flows of the other parts namely the
 Lean implementation through value stream mapping 517

bracket, cover and impeller. Significant savings have been evident upon comparison and
analysis of the redesigned layouts with their respective existing ones.

Figure 6 Modified layout for the body part process flow (see online version for colours)

5 Results and discussions

As mentioned in the previous sections, the current state map indicated a high cycle time
which was preventing Chola from producing the required quantity of HOWS that could
be delivered to the customers at the right time. Hence in the future state map, the
appropriate lean tools were drawn to indicate the actions to be taken by Chola to
overcome this deficiency. In this regard, the times being consumed currently to produce
one unit of HOWS pump by the facilities are shown in Figure 7.
518 S. Thirunavukkarasu et al.

Figure 7 Cycle state of producing one unit of the pump in the current setup (see online version
for colours)

As shown, except in the case of producing rotor, in all the other cases, the cycle time
exceeds the takt time of 420 seconds. It is projected that, on the implementation of lean
manufacturing tools depicted in the future state map, the resources may be balanced to
produce one unit of HOWS pump by consuming the cycle time equivalent to the takt
time. This projection is graphically presented in Figure 8.
As shown in Figure 8, the resources are distributed in such a way that the cycle time
of all units is made equal to or less than the takt time. Because of this accomplishment,
the work in progress inventory is reduced. For example, the comparison of information
presented in Figures 4 and 5 would reveal that, the work in progress inventory is
currently 1,500, which in future on implementing lean manufacturing tools is expected to
reduce to 80 units. Likewise the delay caused by waiting between facilities is reduced
significantly. For example, the delay between bracket and cover manufacturing facilities
is currently 13 days which is expected to be only 0.5 day in the future. Furthermore, the
distance travelled by both men and material are expected to reduce on installing the
newly proposed layout. The travel distances that are thus expected to be saved are shown
in Table 3.
 Lean implementation through value stream mapping 519

Figure 8 Cycle time of manufacturing one unit of pump in lean manufacturing environment
(see online version for colours)

Table 3 Comparison of travel distances

Travel distance in the Travel distance in the Expected saving in the

Part
current layout suggested layout travel distance
Body 267 feet 87 feet 180 feet
Bracket 111 feet 97 feet 14 feet
Cover 171 feet 102 feet 69 feet
Impeller 47 feet 10 feet 37 feet
Rotor 128 feet 128 feet 0 feet
Total expected saving in travel distance 300 feet

As shown, the total distance expected to be saved due to the installation of proposed
layout in the case of manufacturing HOWS pump in the Chola is 300 feet. On the whole,
the projections made in the future state map is expected to enable Chola to manufacture
HOWS pump at the rate that will be equivalent to the takt time and reduce the cost of
manufacturing by decreasing the number of operators and work in progress inventory.
520 S. Thirunavukkarasu et al.

6 Conclusions

Of late, manufacturers have been adopting lean manufacturing paradigm to fulfil the
customer needs by spending fewer amounts of time and money (Salleh et al., 2012;
Hasle et al., 2012). While making these efforts, manufacturers have been implementing
certain popular tools of lean manufacturing paradigm like kanban system, kaizen and 5S
(Yang et al., 2011; Hofer et al., 2012; Chauhan and Singh, 2012). The scattered
implementations of these tools often result in inadequate leanness in organisations. In
order to overcome this situation, some models are brought out in the pursuit of
integrating lean manufacturing paradigm with other approaches like Six Sigma (Maleyeff
et al., 2012) and green manufacturing (Zhu and Sarkis, 2004). While these endeavours
have also not yielded much focussed results, a few researchers have found out that the
lean manufacturing paradigm could be implemented systematically if VSM technique is
implemented in the beginning (Hines et al., 1999; Álvarez et al., 2009; Singh and
Sharma, 2009; Vinodh et al., 2010; Xie and Peng, 2012; Chowdary and George, 2012).
On deriving this information from the literature arena, the case study reported in this
paper was carried out.
There have been no reports on implementing lean manufacturing in pump
manufacturing companies. This is a surprising observation as today, pump manufacturing
industry is required to produce varieties of pumps in varied volumes. A search in
World Wide Web would indicate the availability of hundreds of varieties of pumps
(http://www.pumpscout.com/all-pump-types). Another observation is that today, plenty
of manufacturers compete in international markets to produce these varieties of pumps at
different ratings for supplying to cater to the different needs of the customers. This
situation demands the implementation of lean manufacturing paradigm in pump
manufacturing companies to facilitate the production of varieties of pumps in different
volumes in accordance with the quantity and the quality as required by the customers. In
this context, the case study reported in this paper assumes significance.
During the case study reported in this research paper, the lean manufacturing
initiatives were made in Chola by implementing the VSM technique. During the conduct
of this case study, it was interesting to note that, in Chola, some lean manufacturing
techniques like kanban and kaizen have been implemented. However, due to the lack of
focussed approach, the implementation of these lean manufacturing techniques have not
been effective in achieving leanness in Chola. The case study reported here reveals that
this deficiency can be overcome if lean manufacturing initiatives are begun by applying
VSM. This is due to the reason that, VSM facilitates the adoption of focussed approach
towards implementing lean manufacturing techniques which is reflected in the form
of the time line of implementation and deliverables during the several stages of
implementing lean manufacturing paradigm in the company.
Because lean manufacturing initiatives have already been in the place in Chola, it was
an easier task to apply VSM pertaining to the manufacturing of HOWS pump. However,
this pump was infrequently manufactured and hence assessing its inventory details was
found to be a little difficult task. However, the employees of Chola were cooperative to
provide the appropriate data required for applying VSM pertaining to the manufacturing
of HOWS pump. At the end of completing this case study, it was realised that, still
improved results can be obtained if VSM is applied on to the manufacturing of all the
pumps at Chola. In order to assess the feasibility of implementing the suggestions given
out after the completion of the case study, the feedback from three personnel who were
 Lean implementation through value stream mapping 521

associated with this case study at Chola were gathered using a questionnaire. The
questions raised and the responses of those personnel are presented in Tables 4 and 5. In
Table 4, the average quantified values against the first six questions are indicated. In
Table 5, the quality statements of the responders’ feedback about the case study reported
in this paper are presented.
Table 4 Quantitative feedback on the case study

Average
Question
Question answer grade
number
(scale 0–10)$
1 According to future state map, TPM is to be implemented to 6.33
ensure stoppage free running of equipment. To what extent, you
believe that this will pay the result economically in Chola?
2 According to the information available in the future state map 7
standard work instructions are required to be supplied to the
operators to make the performance of the process consistent. To
what extent, you believe that this will pay the result economically
in Chola?
3 In order to achieve continuous improvement which will be 7
reflected in the form of reduced cycle time, on-time delivery and
zero breakdown in Chola, kaizen is required to be implemented.
This is depicted in future state map. To what extent, you believe
that this will pay the result economically in Chola?
4 According to the information depicted in the future state map 5S 7.67
needs to be implemented in assembly section. To what extent, you
believe that this will pay the result economically in Chola?
5 According to the information depicted in the future state map, on 7.33
implementation of Kanban system, the presence of supervisor is to
be avoided. To what extent, it appears to be a feasible suggestion?
6 One of the outcomes of the case study in VSM is the proposal of 7.33
new layouts for avoiding bottlenecks and reducing the travelling
distances of men and materials. To what extent do you believe that
these proposed layouts will avoid bottlenecks and reduce the
travelling distance while manufacturing HOWSs in Chola?
Note: $Grade scale

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Not at all Moderately Completely
possible possible possible
Table 5 Qualitative feedback on the case study

Question What is your overall opinion about the suggestions given by applying VSM
pertaining to the production of HOWSs in Chola?
Answer Person 1 – Good. It can be possible to implement.
Person 2 – Good suggestion. It is possible to implement.
Person 3 – Good. It is possible to implement.
522 S. Thirunavukkarasu et al.

As shown in Tables 4 and 5, the personnel associated with the case study reported in this
research paper are appreciative of the outcome of the application of VSM pertaining the
manufacturing of HOWS pump in Chola. This feedback affirms the findings of the other
researchers, which have postulated that VSM is a promising and powerful beginning
technique of implementing the lean manufacturing paradigm in organisations (Xie and
Peng, 2012).

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Professor A. Gunasekaran, Editor of this journal and the
anonymous referees for sharing their expertise to come up with constructive criticisms
and advices which have been used to improve the presentation and organisation of this
paper. The help rendered by Professor C. Sugumaran in Salem College of Engineering
and Technology Salem, towards refining this paper in accordance with the instructions of
the reviewers is acknowledged with thanks.

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Websites
http://www.pumpscout.com/all-pump-types (accessed 12 December 2012).