Application of the Lean Methodology in a company from the pharmaceutical and food industry

Abstract

The main goal of Lean Manufacturing is the reduction of waste and consequently the improvement of manufacturing efficiency and quality. This paper presents a case study in a company from the pharmaceutical, health and food industry. The value stream was mapped, aiming to identify waste and the possible ways of reducing it, according to the lean principles. Among the proposed solutions is the implementation of Kanban cards and the implementation of a panel for stock control and production leveling (heijunka). A 70% reduction of the total lead time was estimated as a potential result (from 71 to 19 days). The proposed improvements sought to provide a balance given the trade-off between more flexible production with smaller batches, and the lower total set up time of larger batches.

Keywords

• Lean Manufacturing
• Value Stream Map
• Pharmaceutical industry
• Food industry.