Lean manufacturing practices in an educational institution to improve the operational efficiency of a machine shop

Abstract

The lean manufacturing approach is employed across several sectors to minimise waste and extend its ideas to institutional settings. The objective of this work is to provide instruction to aspiring engineers regarding the implementation and utilisation of lean tools. The machine shop of an engineering college utilised several tools, including 5S, standard work, and machine maintenance. The students were educated on the difficulties and achievements associated with the implementation of lean ideas across several tiers within the machine shop. The findings indicate that it is imperative to remove non-value-added operations, commonly referred to as Muda, in any manifestation inside the shop. A sequence of 5S audits was carried out to facilitate the enhancement of KAIZEN initiatives and uphold the shop's commitment to lean principles. The determination and assessment of the influence of lean tools on the Machine Shop were conducted through the utilisation of a questionnaire employing a five-point Likert scale. Following the implementation of lean principles, there has been a notable enhancement in several aspects. Specifically, there has been a 6.6% improvement in space utilisation, a substantial 95.12% increase in safety measures, a significant reduction of 83.3% in machine failure occurrences, and a noteworthy decrease of 80.2% in the time required for tool search.