Aarav Gade
Independent Researcher
India
Abstract
Value Stream Mapping (VSM) has long been recognized as a cornerstone of lean manufacturing, providing a visual tool to identify and eliminate non–value-adding activities in production lines. This manuscript presents a study carried out in 2018 on a mid-scale automotive components manufacturing line, aiming to improve overall productivity through systematic application of VSM. The research involved baseline data collection, current-state mapping, identification of waste, development of a future-state map, and implementation of targeted improvements such as process standardization, takt time balancing, and kaizen events. A statistical analysis table summarizes key performance metrics before and after interventions. The results demonstrate a 28 % reduction in lead time and a 15 % increase in overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). Research gaps and avenues for future work are discussed, emphasizing the need for integration with material requirements planning (MRP) systems and operator skill assessments. The study confirms that, within the technological landscape up to 2018, VSM remains a powerful technique for productivity enhancement.
Keywords
Value stream mapping, lean manufacturing, productivity improvement, kaizen, takt time, OEE
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