Lean Techniques - An Application in Automobile Service Industry

PROJECT REPORT

LEAN MANUFACTURING: AN APPLICATION IN

AUTOMOBILE SERVICE SECTOR

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

KARTHIK KRISHNA (10409025)

KARTHIK S NAIR (10409027)

NIKHIL J S (10409036)

NIRMAL H (10409038)

MOHANDAS COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

AND TECHNOLOGY, ANAD, NEDUMANGAD,

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM – 695544

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the bonafide report of project work done by

KARTHIK KRISHNA (REG. NO: 10409025), KARTHIK S NAIR

(REG. NO: 10409027), NIKHIL J S (REG. NO: 10409036),

NIRMAL H (REG. NO: 10409038) of Mechanical Engineering is in

partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the degree of

B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering of University of Kerala.

Guide: H.O.D:

Place: Anad

Date:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This work would not have been possible without the support from a large group of people.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Ashalatha Thampuran, director of

the institution, for the successful completion of our project phase-2.

We would also like to extend our sincere gratitude to our head of the department and our

project guide, Sreerag R S for providing all the necessary help involving the project work.

We are also thankful to the staff members of the department for their encouragement

and suggestions.

Lean Techniques – An Application in Automobile Service Industry

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CONTENTS

SL NO: TITLE PAGE NO:

1 INTRODUCTION 5

2 LITERATURE REVIEW- I 10

3 PROBLEM DEFINITION 14

4 OBJECTIVE 16

5 LITERATURE REVIEW - II 17

6 DATA COLLECTION 23

7 DATA ANALYSIS 36

8 INTERPRETATION & IMPLEMENTATION 44

9 SUGGESTIONS 52

10 CONCLUSION 53


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1. INTRODUCTION

Lean Manufacturing is a production practice that increases efficiency and profitability

by focusing on speed of output by waste elimination. Waste is anything that does not

add value to end product. Essentially, lean is centered on preserving value with less

work. Lean manufacturing is a management philosophy derived mostly from

the Toyota Production System (TPS) (hence the term Toyot-ism is also

prevalent). TPS is renowned for its focus on reduction of the original Toyota seven

wastes to improve overall customer value, but there are varying perspectives on how

this is best achieved. The steady growth of Toyota, from a small company to the

world's largest automaker, has focused attention on how it has achieved this success.

These are the seven wastes that Toyota had identified.

Transport (moving products that are not actually required to perform the

processing)

Inventory (all components, work in process and finished product not being

processed)

Motion (people or equipment moving or walking more than is required to

perform the processing)

Waiting (waiting for the next production step, interruptions of production during

shift change)

Overproduction (production ahead of demand)

Over Processing (resulting from poor tool or product design creating activity)

Defects (the effort involved in inspecting for and fixing defects)

Lean Manufacturing is a logical collection of practices, methodologies and tools that

focuses on reducing the above mentioned wastes or any other wastes.

As the world gets more competitive and more demanding the old work principles

have become obsolete. Many manufacturing industries have devised lean principles to

increase their profits and reduce their lead times. Even in other spheres of activity

lean has captured attention as a brand or as a concept. Many other fields including the

service sector have started implementing lean techniques. Examples of these from

many sectors are listed below.


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Lean principles have been successfully applied to call center services to improve live

agent call handling. By combining Agent-assisted Automation and lean's waste

reduction practices, a company reduced handle time, reduced between agent

variability, reduced accent barriers, and attained near perfect process adherence.

Lean principles have also found application in software application development and

maintenance and other areas of information technology (IT). More generally, the use

of lean in information technology has become known as Lean IT.

A study conducted on behalf of the Scottish Executive, by Warwick University, in

2005/06 found that lean methods were applicable to the public sector, but that most

results had been achieved using a much more restricted range of techniques than lean

provides.

A study completed in 2010 identified that lean was beginning to embed in Higher

Education in the UK.

The challenge in moving lean to services is the lack of widely available reference

implementations to allow people to see how directly applying lean manufacturing

tools and practices can work and the impact it does have. This makes it more difficult

to build the level of belief seen as necessary for strong implementation. it remains the

case that the direct manufacturing examples of 'techniques' or 'tools' need to be better

'translated' into a service context to support the more prominent approaches of

implementation, which has not yet received the level of work or publicity that would

give starting points for implementers.

Due to the above mentioned difficulties there is an absence of lean techniques in the

automobile service industry. Even though the automobile service industry is closely

related to the automobile manufacturing industry lean techniques have skipped

attention.

This project aspires to implement lean techniques in the automobile service industry.

The main focus is on collecting data from an automobile service station.


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The subject of our case study

Sarathy auto cars Trivandrum seemed to be the best choice for the project purpose.

Sarathy has been in the automobile industry since 1987. They have been one of the

major dealerships associated with Maruti Suzuki. Sarathy auto cars are an

organization with a turnover of Rs 300 crore. They have been recognized with many

awards like “Excellence in sales award from Maruthi Suzuki limited” in 2000-2001.

Sarathy auto cars does regular service. running repairs, accident works and body shop

works of all Maruthi cars.


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FLOOR LAYOUT


9

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE


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2. LITERATURE REVIEW

As a prelude to the project the important tools used in lean are mentioned below.

2.1 LEAN TOOLS

2.1.1 5S

Fig.3.1 (a) – The 5S’s Fig.3.1 (b) 5S applied in a tool shop.

5S was developed by Hiroyuki Hirano within his overall approach to production

systems. 5S is the name of a workplace organization method that uses a list of

five Japanese words: seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu, and shitsuke. These 5 words, which

are often termed as the 5-pillars of the visual workplace, is a systematic process of

workplace organization. The 5 pillars are:

Sort (seiri) - Sort, the first S, focuses on eliminating unnecessary items from the

workplace that are not needed for current production operations

Set In Order ( seiton) - Set In Order focuses on creating efficient and effective storage

methods to arrange items so that they are easy to use and to label them so that they are

easy to find and put away.


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Shine or systematic cleaning (seiso) - Once the clutter that has been clogging the work

areas is eliminated and remaining items are organized, the next step is to thoroughly

clean the work area.

Standardize (seiketsu) - Once the first three 5S's have been implemented, the next

pillar is to standardize the best practices in the work area.

Sustain (shitsuke) - Sustain, making a habit of properly maintaining correct

procedures, is often the most difficult S to implement and achieve. Changing

entrenched behaviors can be difficult, and the tendency is often to return to the status

quo and the comfort zone of the "old way" of doing things.

2.1.2. BOTTLENECK ANALYSIS

Fig 3.3 Steps in Bottleneck Analysis

This analysis identifies the part of the manufacturing processes that, limits the overall

throughput and improve the performance of that part of the process. It improves the

whole process by strengthening the weakest link in the manufacturing process.

2.1.3. JUST-IN-TIME (JIT)

JIT sets out to cut costs by reducing the amount of goods and materials a firm holds in

stock. JIT involves:

producing and delivering finished goods ‘just in time’ to be sold


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partly finished goods ‘just in time’ to be assembled into finished goods

parts ‘just in time’ to go into partly finished goods

Materials ‘just in time’ to be made into parts.

2.4. KAIZEN (Continuous Improvement)

Kaizen is a Japanese business philosophy focused on making constant improvements.

Its underlying concept stresses there will always be room for improvement.

Fundamentally, kaizen aims to improve all activities and processes and eliminate

waste and excess.

2.1.5. KANBAN (Pull System)

Fig 3.11 Example for Kanban Board

It is derived from the combination of two Japanese words, kan ("visual") and ban

("card" or "board"), kanban roughly translates to sign board or signal board.

Kanban is a scheduling system for lean and just-in-time (JIT) production.

2.2 INDIAN SCENARIO

Lean manufacturing in India is still in infancy stage and the Indian firms are far away

from enjoying its complete benefits. The awareness level of Indian firms on lean

manufacturing is very low. The concept is largely adopted only by the big firms. One

such example is Tata Motors which has created a success story by launching Nano

implementing lean manufacturing. Tata has managed to reduce the cost of the product


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by lean manufacturing processes without compromising on space and comfort, which

are the Nano’s biggest USPs. Japanese are known to be Pundits of Lean

manufacturing techniques. Indian automotive market is not new to Japanese

manufacturers; they have been here for good number of years. But till today they have

not been able to implement even 20% of their work lean techniques. Reasons behind

it are mainly corruption, poor infrastructure, and social excursion within Indian

economy.

The case of automobile service industry which is closely related to the automobile

manufacturing industry is no different. India is the largest growing automobile market

in the world. India stands 5th when it comes to the sales figures of automobiles and

will climb to second spot with an year overtaking developed countries like Germany.

The amount of cars in India have increased manifold on the Indian roads. The number

of cars to be serviced daily has increased considerably. Still the same old work

practices are followed in India.


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3. PROBLEM DEFINITION

As mentioned before lean techniques were inspired from Toyota Production System

(TPS). Toyota's development of ideas that later became Lean may have started at the

turn of the 20th century with Sakichi Toyoda, in a textile factory with looms that

stopped themselves when a thread broke. This became the seed of autonomation

and Jidoka. Toyota's journey with JIT may have started back in 1934 when it moved

from textiles to produce its first car. Kiichiro Toyoda, founder of Toyota Motor

Corporation, directed the engine casting work and discovered many problems in their

manufacture. He decided he must stop the repairing of poor quality by intense study

of each stage of the process. Having visited and seen supermarkets in the USA,

Taiichi Ohno recognized the scheduling of work should not be driven by sales or

production targets but by actual sales. Given the financial situation during this period,

over-production had to be avoided and thus the notion of Pull (build to order rather

than target driven Push) came to underpin production scheduling.

It was with Taiichi Ohno at Toyota that these themes came together. He built on the

already existing internal schools of thought and spread their breadth and use into what

has now become the Toyota Production System (TPS).

Problems faced in Sarathy.

The issues faced in Sarathy are very much similar to what Toyota or any other major

industry had been facing. The cars required to be serviced per day has increased

considerably. Due to the limitations that the company faces regarding lead time the

company is not able to uptake more orders.

A fishbone diagram representing the various factors that add to increase of lead time

is shown below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakichi_Toyoda

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jidoka

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiichiro_Toyoda

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiichi_Ohno

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Production_System


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FISH BONE DIAGRAM


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4. OBJECTIVE OF PROJECT

From the data collected it was found that increased delay in lead time was the major

problem faced in Sarathy. The purpose of this project is as follows.

To reduce the lead time in delivering of vehicles by using lean techniques.

To increase the efficiency of the service department.

To improve the profit and increase customer satisfaction.

To identify and eliminate existing bottlenecks.

To improve worker morale by eliminating unnecessary work (muda).


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5. LITERATURE REVEW

There are so many tools used for the analysis of the data collected. A Brief description

of each tool is being to be discussed below.

5.1 HISTOGRAM

In statistics, a histogram is a graphical representation of the distribution of data. It is

an estimate of the probability distribution of a continuous variable and was first

introduced by Karl Pearson. A histogram is a representation of tabulated frequencies,

shown as adjacent rectangles, erected over discrete intervals (bins), with an area

proportional to the frequency of the observations in the interval. The height of a

rectangle is also equal to the frequency density of the interval, i.e., the frequency

divided by the width of the interval. The total area of the histogram is equal to the

number of data. A histogram may also be normalized displaying relative frequencies.

Histograms are used to plot the density of data, and often for density estimation:

estimating the probability density function of the underlying variable. The total area

of a histogram used for probability density is always normalized to 1. If the length of

the intervals on the x-axis is all 1, then a histogram is identical to a relative

frequency plot. Example for histogram is shown below.


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5.2 PARETO CHART

A Pareto chart, named after Vilfredo Pareto, is a type of chart that contains

both bars and a line graph, where individual values are represented in descending

order by bars, and the cumulative total is represented by the line. The left vertical axis

is the frequency of occurrence, but it can alternatively represent cost or another

important unit of measure. The right vertical axis is the cumulative percentage of the

total number of occurrences, total cost, or total of the particular unit of measure.

Because the reasons are in decreasing order, the cumulative function is a concave

function. The purpose of the Pareto chart is to highlight the most important among a

(typically large) set of factors. In quality control, it often represents the most common

sources of defects, the highest occurring type of defect, or the most frequent reasons

for customer complaints, and so on.

5.3 SCATTER DIAGRAM

A scatter plot, scatter plot, or scatter graph is a type of mathematical

diagram using Cartesian coordinates to display values for two variables for a set of

data. The data is displayed as a collection of points, each having the value of one

variable determining the position on the horizontal axis and the value of the other

variable determining the position on the vertical axis. A scatter plot is used when a


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variable exists that is below the control of the experimenter. If a parameter exists that

is systematically incremented and/or decremented by the other, it is called the control

parameter or independent variable and is customarily plotted along the horizontal

axis. The measured or dependent variable is customarily plotted along the vertical

axis. If no dependent variable exists, either type of variable can be plotted on either

axis or a scatter plot will illustrate only the degree of correlation (not causation)

between two variables.

5.4 BOX PLOT

A box plot or box plot is a convenient way of graphically depicting groups of

numerical data through their quartiles. Box plots may also have lines extending

vertically from the boxes (whiskers) indicating variability outside the upper and lower

quartiles, hence the terms box-and-whisker plot and box-and-whisker diagram.

Outliers may be plotted as individual points. Box plots display differences

between populations without making any assumptions of the underlying statistical

distribution: they are non-parametric. The spacings between the different parts of the

box help indicate the degree of dispersion (spread) and skewness in the data, and

identify outliers. In addition to the points themselves, they allow one to visually


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estimate various L-estimators, notably the inter quartile range, midhinge, range, mid-

range, and trimean. Box plots can be drawn either horizontally or vertically.

5.5 CONTROL CHART

Control charts, also known as Shewhart charts (after Walter A. Shewhart) or process-

behaviour charts, in statistical process control are tools used to determine if a

manufacturing or business process is in a state of statistical control. The control chart

is one of the seven basic tools of quality control.[3] Typically control charts are used

for time-series data, though they can be used for data that have logical comparability

If analysis of the control chart indicates that the process is currently under control

(i.e., is stable, with variation only coming from sources common to the process), then

no corrections or changes to process control parameters are needed or desired. In

addition, data from the process can be used to predict the future performance of the

process. If the chart indicates that the monitored process is not in control, analysis of

the chart can help determine the sources of variation, as this will result in degraded

process performance.[1] A process that is stable but operating outside of desired

(specification) limits (e.g., scrap rates may be in statistical control but above desired

limits) needs to be improved through a deliberate effort to understand the causes of

current performance and fundamentally improve the process.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_A._Shewhart

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_process_control

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_control

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Basic_Tools_of_Quality

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_control

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_chart#cite_note-3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_chart#cite_note-1


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5.6 SPAGHETTI CHART

A spaghetti chart is a graphical aid used in lean manufacturing activities. It is used to

detail the actual physical flow and distances involved in a work process. A spaghetti

chart often traces the walking patterns of workers in a process, ranging from

manufacturing settings to healthcare. It mostly serves as an illustration of a system's

inefficiency. To create a spaghetti chart you first create a scale map of a work station

or work process. The next step is to draw a line from the initial point of work to the

next step, then the third step, and so on until the work/product exits the work area.

Examination of this resulting chart will show where improvements are to be made. To

create a spaghetti chart you first create a scale map of a work station or work process.

The next step is to draw a line from the initial point of work to the next step, then the

third step, and so on until the work/product exits the work area. Examination of this

resulting chart will show where improvements are to be made. This chart can be made

in 4 different detail levels. Which route the product takes where the operator walks,

where the hands of the operator are needed and where the eyes of the operator are

watching. Every single detail level can be analyzed. Spaghetti charts can be used to

improve the quality of processes in various fields.


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6. DATA COLLECTION

DAY 1

The first day observations were made on a much broader perspective. The main idea

was to get a general picture of the whole organization and its work practices. Sarathy

has divided its work into namely three sections. The first section deals with free and

paid services.it also include running repairs. The second section deals concerned with

accident works. The third is body shop area which does all paint jobs and dent

removals. The main focus on this project is on the workshop floors which deal with

services and accident works. The floor layout was observed and a sketch was made.

The shifts of the workers were also noted. The shifts are as follows:

SHIFT TIME

1st SHIFT

8:00-12:00

2nd SHIFT

12:45-16:45

Observations were made regarding the methodologies the company followed when a

car enters the service station.

As a car enters the bay a service advisor attends the customer. Prepares a job card

based on the complaints and does a test drive to determine existing as well as

potential problems. The car then enters the bay. The work is assigned to a particular

mechanic by the floor manager. Major works are serviced in the first come first serve

order. Minor works were the customer has to be delivered within a short span of time

are given more priority than major works. First the customer must be attended, then

his complaints should be taken down and his car should be test driven. All this must

be completed within 15 minutes. The car must enter the work floor within the next 10

minutes.

But as we observed on the first day test drives are rarely taken for any vehicle. There

is even delay in attending the customer and the 15 min time frame was lapsed in most


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cases. We also observed the lack of space to accommodate cars and this restricts the

free movement of cars within the work floor.

Tools are arranged in some of the bays but that’s not the case in every bay. Water for

refilling the radiator or wiper fluid or for other related works was not available within

the bays. The mechanic had to walk around 150 meters to get to the water outlet.

DAY 1 OVERVIEW

Customer not attended and cars not test driven within 15 minutes

Unavailability of space leading to congestion within the floor

Lack of water outlet within the bay

Lack of arrangement of tools.

DAY 2

On day two observations are made in detail to find out wastes (muda) that tend to

increase the lead time. The observations we made on the second day was striking. It

was found that most of the time was lost in the store. Another major muda was in the

wheel alignment bay. On an average wheel alignment takes only 20 minutes if there

are no major overhauls. But in Sarathy we found that wheel alignment was taking

more than 40 minutes. When we did a detailed study and observed the whole

procedure step by step we could infer that the system had faulty sensor. Since the

sensor was faulty it took more time to calibrate the tires with respect to the computer

system.

As mentioned above it was found that major time lose was observed in the store.so it

was decided that we concentrate more on the store. We observed the store and found

some important revelations. The store had only one computer and a staff was assigned

with the computer related works.as it can be seen in the hierarchy the spare manager

is the head of the spares department. There are other four staffs - three for spares and

one for accessories. All the spares have part IDs. The part IDs are already entered on

the computer. Sarathy uses a dedicated server devised by maruti Suzuki. All the part

IDs are loaded within the server. The number of stock available its position and the

next arrival date of stock are all mentioned. If a part is unavailable, its nearest location


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be it in a branch of Sarathy or any other dealer network is shown in the server. The

data of each part is updated on the server as parts are consumed. The data includes

how many parts are left, when the next stock will arrive and in which car was the part

replaced. According to maruti policy there should be a minimum amount of stock of

every part. Depending on the data being updated orders are placed automatically to

maruti who produces the right amount of parts and delivers it to the dealerships. Parts

that are not consumed within 3 months are called dead and the dealership is

answerable to maruti for each and every dead part. The workers seem to know by

heart the part IDs of frequently consumed spares.

The delay that occurred in the store was mainly due to the procedure that was flowed

in the spares department. The worker has to get a slip from the spares department

right a formal request for the part. The person attending the computer has to go

through part manual of each car to find the part ID of the spare requested in case he

doesn’t know the ID. Searching through the manuals usually takes a lot of time.

During all these process work is halted and the worker has to wait patiently for spare

dispatch. If there is another worker in front of the queue there is additional time

wasted for the one behind. Sometimes time is wasted in silly things like going around

the whole floor space in search of a pen.

We could find that the man power in Sarathy seemed to fluctuate. Many mechanics

we saw on the first day were missing on the second day. Three bays were totally

handled by trainees as the main mechanics were on leave. Absenteeism can be one of

the factors for larger lead times.


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DETAILS COLLECTED FROM ALIGNMENT BAY

CAR DETAILS

TIME TAKEN (min)

MARUTI ERTIGA

MARUTI 800

ALTO 800

A-STAR

SWIFT DZIRE LDi

25

28

30

35

35

DAY 2 OVERVIEW

Store procedure investigated

Inconsistent man power

Data related to wheel alignment bay taken down

DAY 3

On day 3 our main aim was to prepare a check sheet of issues by which delay was

created. The main purpose of this check sheet is to find out the major cause of delay.

10 cars were observed. The check sheet is as follows


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A Maruti Ertiga with complaint with rear axle had entered the bay and was delayed

due to following reasons.

The rear axle is heavy part and is a major work. There was only one worker in the

bay he had to take the help of mechanics from other bays to help him replace the axle.

Hence lack of manpower contributed to the loss of time. Wheel alignment after the re

fixing of tires was delayed because of the faulty sensors which delayed the delivery of

the vehicle.

A Maruti Ertiga with noise from the rear.

The maruti ertiga had noise from the rear because of a worn out bush in the window

near to the c-pillar. The new part was dispatched late causing delay. Since it was a

minor work it was not allotted a particular bay so the worker had to move around to

another bay in order to get appropriate tools causing delay.

Wagon R for front right suspension strut replacement.

REASONS

FOR DELAY

CAR

1

CAR

2

CAR

3

CAR

4

CAR

5

CAR

6

CAR

7

CAR

8

CAR

9

CAR

10

LACK OF

SPACE

LACK OF

MANPOWER

FAULTY

SENSORS

LACK OF

TOOLS

DELAY IN

SPARE

DESPATCH


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Maruti uses mac-phearsons strut for its suspension. The strut has to be replaced with

the springs compressed.so they removed the strut and took it to the engine room

where they have a vice to compress the springs. The engine room didn’t have a tool

box so the worker had to keep moving out to get tools required. The strut was also

delivered late. The wheel alignment after the suspension replacement also took more

time.

Alto LPG gas fitted for general service.

Since the above work took lot of there was no space available in the workshop floor.

The alto had to wait to get in. lack of space contributed to the delay. Wheel alignment

which is a standard practice for general service was delayed due to the faulty sensors.

Maruti Esteem for service.

Wheel alignment for the esteem took more time.

Swift diesel for winding assembly replacement.

Winding assembly that they took from the store had to go back to the store many

times as a proper fit was not obtained. The new part was not seating as it was not

suitable for the swift. After many try outs a suitable match was found out. Lot of time

was lost. There was lack of man power as well. The glass window needs to be held by

another worker. Since the mechanic was alone he had to call out or the help for

another person. Hence the work got delayed.

Swift Dzire for spark plug replacement and general service.

The above work was delayed hence lack of space prevented this car from entering the

bay. Wheel alignment for the vehicle as part of general service was delayed due to the

faulty sensors.

Alto K10 for general service.

Lack of space and delay in wheel alignment contributed to the delay in lead time.

Baleno diesel for turbo charger replacement


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The part was dispatched late. The lack of tools leads to the worker searching for tools

in another bay.

Zen Estilo for general service

Wheel alignment as part of service was delayed due to the fault with the sensor. Lack

of space because many works were delayed hence no lift was free. The Estilo had to

wait causing waste of time.

Part of our time we spent on collecting time for wheel alignment.


CAR DETAILS

TIME TAKEN (min)

WAGON R

ALTO LPG

ESTEEM

ZEN ESTILO

35

39

40

29

DAY 3 OVERVIEW

Check list prepared

Data required for wheel alignment bay acquired.

DAY 4

On day 4 the main focus was on getting data to strengthen our findings about the

faulty sensor and to prove that lead time was increased due to it. We collected data

about 6 other vehicle ranging from hatchbacks to MPVs. The data is as given below.


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CARS

TIME (min)

SWIFT DZIRE LDi

SWIFT ZXi

RITZ VDI

ALTO LX

ERTIGA

OMNI

31

35

27

28

29

32

As we noticed the times required for alignment was too long for all the six cars and

alto lx took the longest of time for wheel alignment. There was no specialized worker

for wheel alignment. Workers who did wheel alignment kept changing for each car.

Alto lx a model with no power steering took the most time for this day’s observations.

This could be because of the large number of kilometers the old car has cloaked or

because of the lack of expertise of the worker.

We also made it a point to analyze the worker movement by drawing spaghetti chart

by observing the worker on bay 9.

DAY 4 OVERVIEW

Data from wheel alignment was taken

The first spaghetti chart was drawn


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DAY 5

On day two we had spoken with the service manager about the faulty sensor of the

wheel alignment equipment. He responded by saying that the sensors were faulty but

they had overlooked its replacement because of the large amount of capital involved

in its replacement. We had to convince him about the time lost and made him aware

of the fact that lost time affects efficiency as well as cars serviced per day. Lesser the

amount of cars serviced translates to lesser profit.so we said changing the sensors

would be the best thing to do and would help in increasing the profit in the long run.

So on our fifth visit to sarathy the sensors had been replaced and the computer system


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was functioning as good as new. We took the wheel alignment data of cars that come

for wheel alignment.


CARS

TIME (min)

GYPSY

ALTO LXI

ALTO K10 VXI

STING RAY

ERTIGA

MARUTHI 800

BALENO

15

16

16

17

17

17

17

It was found that the time had considerably reduced after the sensor replacement.

DAY 5 OVERVIEW

Spaghetti chart was drawn

The data after sensor replacement was taken


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DAY 6

For collecting more data from the wheel alignment bay and for confirming the

elimination of muda we made a final visit to Sarathy. We took more set of values .the

values are as follows


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CARS

TIME (min)

ERTIGA

RITZ

MARUTHI 800

SX4

SWIFT DIESEL

MARUTHI 800

OMNI

SWIFT

18

20

18

16

16

18

19

18

The time required for wheel balancing has reduced considerably. Spaghetti

chart was also drawn.

DAY 6 OVERVIEW

Elimination of muda confirmed by taking more data from wheel

alignment bay.

Spaghetti chart is drawn.


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7. DATA ANALYSIS

The analysis of the data collected is going to be done with the help of the lean tools

mentioned in the literature review namely histogram, pareto chart, gantt chart, scatter

diagram, box plot etc.

On day 3, servicing time for ten vehicles was recorded and the places where

excessive delay occurred were noted. This data was then plotted into check sheet as

shown below.

CHECKSHEET

Based on the check sheet the frequency of various reasons causing delay was

established and are plotted in a histogram.

REASONS

FOR DELAY

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

LACK OF

SPACE

LACK OF

MANPOWER

FAULTY

SENSORS

LACK OF

TOOLS

DELAY IN

SPARE

DESPATCH


37

DATA SET FOR HISTOGRAM

REASON

FREQUENCY

LACK OF SPACE

4

LACK OF MANPOWER

2

FAULTY SENSORS

7

LACK OF TOOLS

3

DELAY IN SPARE DESPATCH

4

From the histogram the frequency of the main reasons in causing delay was recorded.

Now to get a clear idea of what the prominent problem is, this histogram is converted

into a pareto chart.

DATA SET FOR PARETO CHART


38

DATA SET FOR PARETO CHART

REASON

FREQUENCY

PERCENT

CUMULATIVEPERCENT

FAULTY SENSORS

7

35

35

LACK OF SPACE

2

20

55

DESPATCH DELAY

7

20

75

LACK OF TOOLS

3

15

90

MANPOWER

4

10

100


39

From the above data and charts, the details regarding the reasons for delay are all

plotted. Sarathy undertakes regular service, repairs, accident works and body shop

works. Our project primarily focuses on regular service. The works done in regular

service includes removing tyre and cleaning brake dust, clutch adjustment, wheel

alignment etc. The time taken for regular service activities were recorded for a

number of cars. Many of the activities were completed as per standard time and many

were delayed beyond a certain limit. Using the data which represents the most delayed

operation scatter diagram is plotted, which depicts efficiency in carrying out that

operation.

DATA SET FOR SCATTER DIAGRAM

SL.NO ACTIVITY STANDARD TIME

(min)

ACTUAL TIME

(min)

01 ATTENDING THE VEHICLE 15 30

02 SHIFTING TO BAY 10 25

03 LIFTING OF VEHICLE 01 01

04 REMOVING TYRES AND

CLEANING BRAKE DUST

20 20

05 CLEANING/REPLACEMENT

OF AIR/OIL FILTER

20 28

06 TOPPING OF

OIL,COOLANT,WIPER AND

BRAKE FLUID

15 25

07 CLUTCH ADJUSTMENT 10 10

08 WHEEL BALANCING 15 20

09 WHEEL ALLIGNMENT 15 40

10 FINAL INSPECTION AND

ROAD TEST

10 12


40

SCATTER DIAGRAM

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Y-Values

From the scatter diagram the efficiency of all activities done was calculated. The

activity and efficiency table is shown below:

SL.NO ACTIVITY EFFICIENCY

01 ATTENDING THE VEHICLE 50

02 SHIFTING TO BAY 40

03 LIFTING OF VEHICLE 100

04 REMOVING TYRES AND

CLEANING BRAKE DUST

100

05 CLEANING/REPLACEMENT

OF AIR/OIL FILTER

71

06 TOPPING OF

OIL,COOLANT,WIPER AND

BRAKE FLUID

60

07 CLUTCH ADJUSTMENT 100

08 WHEEL BALANCING 75

09 WHEEL ALLIGNMENT 37.5

10 FINAL INSPECTION AND

ROAD TEST

83.3


41

From the above data, a box plot is created using the activity times, which got

efficiency less than 75%.

DATA SET FOR BOXPLOT

OBSERVATIONS IN ATTENDING THE VEHICLE

NO TIME (min)

1 20

2 25

3 28

4 20

5 17

6 10

7 30

8 15

OBSERVATIONS IN BAY ENTERING

NO TIME (min) MINIMUM 8

1 10 LOWER

QUARTILE

12.5

2 8 MEDIAN 16

3 15 UPPER

QUARTILE

21

4 20 MAXIMUM 25

5 25

6 15

7 22

8 17

MINIMUM 10

LOWER QUARTILE 16

MEDIAN 20

UPPER QUARTILE 26.5

MAXIMUM 30


42

OBSERVATIONS IN TOPPING

NO TIME

1 15

2 21

3 18

4 17

5 25

6 25

7 21

8 23

OBSERVATIONS IN WHEEL ALIGNMENT

MINIMUM 15

LOWER QUARTILE 16

MEDIAN 20.5

UPPER QUARTILE 22

MAXIMUM 25

NO TIME

MINIMUM 25

1 25 LOWER

QUARTILE

29

2 28 MEDIAN 35

3 39 UPPER

QUARTILE

37

4 35 MAXIMUM 40

5 40

6 30

7 35

8 35


43

TIMING IN BOXPLOT

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

AC

TIV

ITIE

S

TIME

Alignment

Topping

Bay Entering

Attending


44

8. INTERPRETATION AND IMPLEMENTATION

The main problem that we noted which delayed service time was due to excessive

delay in wheel alignment bay. The usual time that wheel alignment should take ranges

from 15-20 minutes. But in Sarathy we noticed that this extends even up to 40

minutes. This was due to a fault in the sensor. So we recorded time taken by some

more vehicles in alignment and it really worried us as there was so much wastage in

time here. We talked about this with the manager. But, since there was no particular

worker for wheel alignment, it was not noticed clearly and a loss of 10 to 15 minutes

was not that much concerning compared to the expense needed in replacing the

sensor. The cost for replacing the sensor amounts to Rs 1, 15,000.

Service cost for a normal service is:

For a petrol car = Rs 1200

For a diesel car = Rs 4000

The time recorded for 15 vehicles are:

Car

no

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

Time

(min)

25

28

30

35

35

35

39

40

29

31

35

27

28

29

32

Considering the actual time that a worker will take for alignment to be 20 minutes,

If the fault is repaired and actually 20 minutes is taken for alignment, then it would

mean 10-12 other cars could also be aligned.

Total Time Lost = 168 minutes (approx. 3 hours)


45

If we talk in terms of cars called for normal service, this time would represent

servicing time needed for one more car, perhaps two. If it’s a petrol car each day for a

month, then,

And they will be able to recover the capital invested for replacing the sensor in just 4

months. And if it’s a diesel car, then,

They will be able to recover the amount in just 1 month.

We showed this analysis to the manager and he was convinced and took

corresponding measures, i.e., sensor was replaced. The following days we observed

the time taken for alignment. The time took was significantly reduced. The time

recorded for 15 vehicles after sensor replacement was:

Car

no

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

Time

15

16

16

17

17

17

17

16

20

18

16

16

18

19

18

The variations can be easily observed with the help of a control chart, which is shown

below:

Total Amount received in a month = 1200*26 = Rs 31,200

Total Amount received in a month = 4000*26 = Rs 1,04,000


46

CONTROL CHART

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29

Vehicle No:

Tim

e

Control Chart

New UCL

Improved Mean

New LCL

The improvement was recorded using a box plot also. It is shown below:

EFFICIENCY VARIATION

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

AL

IGN

ME

NT

TIME

After

Before


47

SPAGHETTI CHART ANALYSIS

1st CHART


48

The first spaghetti chart with the red lines indicates the actual movement of the

worker. The one below it shows only the necessary movements. The work was on Bay

8.

MOVEMENT TIME TAKEN ( in seconds)

NECESSARY 145

FOR ANOTHER CAR 56

UNWANTED 142

In the necessary movement itself 112 seconds was spent for fetching water. This

essentially shows the need for a water outlet in the bay. Since the worker is not

concentrating on one particular car, it takes more than what is actually needed for its

delivery.

2nd CHART


49

Here, the work was on Bay 13.


NECESSARY 76

FOR ANOTHER CAR 655

UNWANTED 387

In this case the work on Bay 13 could have been finished much earlier, if not for the

delay in despatch delivery. This made the mechanic to move onto another car. The

necessary movement was mainly for fetching water. In this case too many visits to the

spare store show the need for a spare runner and also the much time consuming spare

dispatch procedure.


50

3rd CHART

Here the work was on 2 Tech Bay II. The mechanic was concentrating on just one car

in this case. But from the chart itself we can understand that there were so many

unwanted movements.


51


NECESSARY 420

FOR ANOTHER CAR 0

UNWANTED 2160

The unwanted movements took 2160 seconds or 36 minutes. The main reasons for

these were unavailability of water in bay, waiting time in spare store etc. In this case

the mechanic had to move so many times to 2 Tech Bay I and Wheel Balancing Bay,

as some tools needed for his work was kept in the tool boxes in these bays. In the

necessary movement itself, he had to visit spare store frequently, which again shows

the need for a spare runner.


52

9. SUGGESTIONS

Based on the observations suggestions were made as solutions to the existing

problems in Sarathy.

The main thing we proposed was a water outlet in proximity with all the bays.

This was to avoid unnecessary worker movements and reduce wastage of time.

Tool box was not present in every bay. Since there was no tool box in every

bay the mechanic had to move to other bays were tool box was present to find

the necessary tools. It is essential to provide tool box in every bay including

one in the engine room.

The tool boxes were of different types in different bays. This created a

difficulty for workers who at times had to change bays. Each worker gets used

to his tool box in his bay. So it takes time for him to adapt to the new

arrangement. So we propose that there must be standardization of the tool box

used in Sarathy.

Since tools were not arranged in every bay it is ideal to have shadow boards so

that each tool will be placed only in the right slot.

There is delay in spare despatch and the worker has to wait. To avoid the

unnecessary delay, we advise to employ a spare runner to assist the delivery of

spare to each bay avoiding the movement of worker. The unwanted

movement of the worker can also be avoided if a spare part runner is present.

In the wheel alignment bay worker keeps changing for every car, there is no

specialized worker for wheel alignment. It is advisable to have specifically

trained worker for wheel alignment. The more experienced a worker is for a

particular job the lesser time he needs to do it.


53

10. CONCLUSION

There were many suggestions made to sarathy based on the observations made.

Sarathy immediately acknowledged our findings by replacing the faulty sensors.

Sarathy also said they will think about the other suggestions and would take the steps

needed after studying the feasibility of the suggestions made.

It’s a pleasure to mention that we have gained knowledge of lean techniques and

principles. There were limitations of time and knowledge which prevented us from

making Sarathy more efficient. It is planned that these improvements in sarathy can

be brought in the future development of this project.

FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS IN PROJECT

We have been concentrating only in the workshop floor for implementing lean

techniques. We wish to expand these principles to other departments of sarathy like

accounts, managerial section and to the body shop department.

Lean techniques are better implemented if we bring automation. We wish to bring

more automation of works. According to the lean techniques, there is no end to

improvements. It is a continuous process.

Date post:	13-Apr-2017
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Lean Techniques - An Application in Automobile Service Industry

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