Applying lean manufacturing tool (smed/qco) to overcome additional investment for meeting customer needs - A study at robert bosch (i) limited

Nowadays the market is increasingly demanding more customized products, thus making the manufacturers under the pressure of cost reduction, to survive in the highly competitive market. Working on this, Robert Bosch INdia (RBIN) Limited, Bangalore Plant (BanP) designs and produces Diesel systems which make vehicles more cleaner and economical. To be the world's leading manufacturer of diesel injection systems, Bosch has to manufacture its very own design to fulfill the requirements for every customers, economically. Fuel Injection Equipment in diesel engine is the "Heart of the Engine" and plays a major role in its performance, emissions and reliability. Hot Forged Rail (HFR) finds its application in common rail fuel injection system, which stores the fuel at high pressure (1600bar). And at the same time, the pressure oscillation, which is generated due to the high pressure pump delivery and the injection of fuel are damped by the rail volume. Its design varies according to customer requirement and engine design. Therefore, BanP has to produce different types of rails to complete diesel market in India. In order to be customer centric and productive, BOSCH follows Bosch Production Systems (BPS), the elements of BPS in Lean manufacturing are Value Stream Mapping (VSM), Value Stream Design (VSD) and Value Stream Planning (VSP). The Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) is one important lean manufacturing tool to reduce waste and improve production flexibility, allowing lot size reduction and manufacturing flow improvements. Quick Change Over (QCO) is a set of activities (preparation, changing and adjustment) which are being carried out in between the production of two varieties to reduce changeover time and to reach the optimum production running. The proposed SMED approach was tested for injection machines changeovers in the automotive industry and the implementation had enabled reduction in setup time, through company's internal resources reorganizations without the need for significant investment. The objective of the present study is to implement the SMED/QCO tool approach in RBIN, BanP, HFR production line to reduce the changeover time by >65% and improve availability by 15%, thereby eliminating the possibility of investing on new production line to meet customer demand.