The new design hence improves the production by 75% and reduce stress on laborers, who can now focus on the sub assembly. The design improves the quality of the products and reduces wastage of materials .

1. AUTOMATION OF NEEDLE STACKING IN
PINION GEAR ASSEMBLY
A PROJECT REPORT
Submitted by
AARON MATHEW EAPEN (1302048)
PRANAV DINESH (1302044)
Under the Guidance of
Mr. S BALAKUMAR
In the partial fulfillment for the award of the degree of
BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
In
AUTOMOBILE ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF AUTOMBILE ENGINEERING
SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCES
HINDUSTAN UNIVERSITY, CHENNAI 603 103
MAY 2017

2. BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE
Certified that the Project titled “AUTOMATION OF NEEDLE
STACKING IN PINION GEAR ASSEMBLY” is the bonafide work
of AARON MATHEW EAPEN (1302048) and PRANAV DINESH
(1302044) who carried out the research under my supervision. Certified
further, that to the best of my knowledge the work reported herein does
not form part of any other thesis or dissertation on the basis of which a
degree or award was conferred on an earlier occasion on this or any other
scholar.
SIGNATURE SIGNATURE
HEAD OF DEPARTMENT SUPERVISOR
Dr. K. KAMALAKKANNAN Mr. S. BALAKUMAR
Head of the department Assistant Professor
Dept. of Automobile Engineering Dept. of Automobile
Engineering
Padur, Chennai – 603103
INTERNAL EXAMINER EXTERNAL EXAMINER
Project Viva - voce conducted on __________

3. EXTERNAL SUPERVISOR CERTIFICATE

4. ABSTRACT
Tafe Gears Division introduced a new bearing system for its pinion
gear assembly. Where previously 22 single sets of needles were used, now a
newer model requires two sets of 24 needles with a washer in between. Hence
the previous automation design couldn’t be implemented onto the new model
of the pinion gear assembly. Thereby the assembly of the new model is being
done manually, which takes up a lot of time. Hence an automation technique is
required for the new model of pinion gear assembly.
Lean Manufacturing (which includes Jidoka) is one of the skilled
manufacturing techniques which reduces human error and also increases the
speed of manufacturing ability of the products.
The Epicyclic Carrier consists of three Pinion gears, these gears require pins to
be assembled in them, so that they can act like bearings and reduce friction.
The shortcomings of manual assembly is overcome by an automated unit
which stacks the two sets of 24 needles into the pinion gear with a washer that
reduces the assembly time drastically without any human support.
Hence increasing the quality and efficiency of the production plant, thereby
the products can be finished and shipped faster.
I

5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First and foremost I would like to thank the Lord Almighty for his
presence and immense blessings throughout the project work.
It’s a matter of pride and privilege for me to express my deep gratitude to the
management of HITS for providing me for the necessary facilities and support.
I am highly elated in expressing my sincere and abundant respect to the Vice
Chancellor Dr. S RAMACHANDRAN for giving me the opportunity to bring
out an implement my ideas in this project.
I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to Dr. K.KAMALAKKANNAN Head
of the Department, Automobile Engineering for much of his valuable support
encouragement in carrying out this work. I would like to thank my internal
guide Mr. S. BALAKUMAR for continually guiding and actively participating
in my project, giving valuable suggestions to complete the project work.
I would like to thank all the technical and teaching staff of the Automobile
Department, who extended directly or indirectly all support.
Last, but not the least, I am deeply indebted to my parents who have been the
greatest support while I worked day and night for the project to make it a
success.
AARON MATHEW EAPEN
PRANAV DINESH
II

6. TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER TITLE PAGE NO.
BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE
EXTERNAL SUPERVISOR
CERTIFICATE
ABSTRACT I
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT II
LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF ABBREVATION
III
IV
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Company Profile
1.2 Product
1.3 TAFE Gears Division
1.4 Pinion Gears
1.5 Advantages of Pinion Gears
1.6 Pinion Gear Assembly (TAFE)
1.7 Quality
1.8 Objective
1
1
3
9
10
11
11
12
12
2 LITERATURE SURVEY
2.1 Lean Manufacturing Technique
2.2 Lean Manufacturing tools
2.3 Just in Time (JIT)
2.4 Total Productive Maintenance
2.5 Scheduling
2.6 Employee Perceptions
2.7 Value Stream Mapping (VSM)
2.8 Takt Time
13
13
13
13
14
14
15
15
16

7. 2.9 Bottleneck Process
2.10 Jidoka
2.11 Benefits of Jidoka
2.12 Examples of Jidoka
2.13 Methodology
17
17
18
19
19
3 CURRENT PROCESS ANALYSIS
3.1 Current Process Flow
3.2 Procedure for Sub-Assembly of Pinion
gear Assembly
3.3 Present Scenario of Units Produced
21
21
21
22
4 PROBLEM ANALYSIS
4.1 Quality Issues Faced
4.2 Quality Management Tools
4.2.1 Fishbone Diagram
23
23
23
23
5 PROPOSED DESIGN OF THE
AUTOMATISED UNIT
5.1 Method used for Automated Unit
(JIDOKA & Just in time)
5.2 Design & Construction
5.3 Improvements from New Design
26
26
26
37
6 COST EVALUATION
6.1 List of Materials
6.2 Dimensions Required and Cost of
Material and Machining
39
39
39
7 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 41
8 FUTURE SCOPE 42
9 CONCLUSION 43
REFERENCES 40

8. LIST OF FIGURES
FIG NO. FIG. TITLE PAGE NO.
1 Pinion assembly at Tafe Pudupakkam 11
2 No. of units produced over six months 22
3 Fishbone Diagram 25
4 Pinion Gear 27
5 Pinion Needle 28
6 Washer 28
7 Bed 30
8 Conveyor Belt 30
9 Gear Stacker 31
10 Needle Vibrator 32
11 Various views of Needle Vibrator 34
12 Needle Stacker 34
13 Washer Inserter 35
14 Machine - Isometric View 1 36
15 Machine - Isometric View 2 36
16 Various Views of Automated Machine 37
17 Expected Graph after New Design 38
III

9. LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS
SYMBOL ABBREVIATION
N Number of teeth
m Module
𝛼 Pressure Angle
Rp Pitch Circle Radius
Rb Base Circle Radius
Ra Addendum Circle Radius
Rd Dedendum Circle Radius
Tin Input Torque
Tou Output Torque
TH Holding Torque
Pin Input Power
Nin Motor rated speed
ZR Number of teeth on Ring Gear
ZS Number of teeth on Sun gear
Nou Output speed
IV

10. 1
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Company Profile
TAFE – Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited, is an Indian tractor
major incorporated in 1960 at Chennai, with an annual turnover of INR 93
billion (2014-15). The third-largest tractor manufacturer in the world and the
second largest in India by volumes, TAFE wields about 25% market share of
the Indian tractor industry with a sale of over 150,000 tractors (domestic and
international) annually.
TAFE's partnership with AGCO Corporation and the Massey Ferguson
brand for over 55 years is a stellar example of its commitment to building
long-term relationships with its stakeholders, through fair and ethical business
practices. TAFE is also a significant shareholder in AGCO Corporation, USA
– a US $7 billion tractor and agricultural equipment manufacturer. TAFE has
earned the trust of customers through its range of products that are widely
acclaimed for quality and low cost of operation. A strong distribution network
of over 1000 dealers effectively backs
TAFE’s three iconic tractor brands – Massey Ferguson, TAFE and
Eicher. TAFE exports tractors, both in partnership with AGCO and
independently, powering farms in over 100 countries which include developed
countries in Europe and the Americas. Besides tractors, TAFE and its
subsidiaries have diverse business interests in areas such as farm-machinery,
Diesel engines and gensets, engineering plastics, gears and transmission
components, batteries, hydraulic pumps and cylinders, passenger vehicle
1franchises and plantations.

11. 2
TAFE's R&D facilities are centers of excellence renowned for their
innovative design and engineering expertise and have been recognized by the
Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India.
Extensive research and testing ensures that TAFE's products meet its exacting
performance standards. TAFE's plant at Turkey manufactures a range of
tractors for distribution in Turkey through AGCO's dealer network, while
another new facility has been setup at China to cater to TAFE’s ever growing
global sourcing needs and value addition to its Indian and worldwide
operations.
TAFE acquired Eicher's tractors, gears and transmission components
and engines business in 2005 through a wholly owned subsidiary, TAFE
Motors and Tractors Limited (TMTL). With six tractor plants, an engine’s
plant, two gears and transmission components plants, two engineering plastics
units, two facilities for hydraulic pumps and cylinders and a batteries plant
besides other facilities, TAFE employs over 2,500 engineers apart from a
number of specialists in other disciplines.
TAFE believes in sound corporate governance and is reputed for being
a consistent profit -making company and an ethical organization. TAFE's
commitment to CSR involves contribution to the environment and society
while facilitating growth of all stakeholders with equal fervor, embodying the
role of a responsible corporate citizen. TAFE's social focus has been
significant since inception and it contributes towards education, healthcare,
agriculture, community development and supporting traditional art forms.
TAFE is committed to the Total Quality Movement (TQM). In the
recent past various manufacturing plants of TAFE have garnered, numerous
‘TPM Excellence Awards’ from the Japan Institute of Plant Management, the
‘Frost & Sullivan - IMEA Award ’for significant progress towards reliable
processes, the ‘Regional Contributor Award’ for quality supplies from Toyota

12. 3
Motor Company, Japan, and the ‘Manufacturing Supply Chain Operational
Excellence - Automobiles Award’ at the second Asia Manufacturing Supply
Chain Summit for its supply chain transformation, as well as a number of
other regional awards for TPM excellence. Its tractor plants are certified under
ISO 9001 and under ISO 14001 for their environment friendly operations. In
2008, Business Standard awarded TAFE the ‘Star Award for Unlisted
Companies’ and in 2013 the Public Relations Council of India conferred
TAFE with the ‘Corporate Citizen of the Year Award’.
TAFE has been named the ‘Best Employer in India 2013’ by Aon
Hewitt and has the distinction of receiving commendation for ‘Significant
Achievement on the journey towards Business Excellence’ by the CII-EXIM
Bank – Business Excellence Award jury in 2012. TAFE is a part of The
Amalgamations Group based at Chennai, one of India's largest light
engineering groups, comprising of 41 companies, involved in the design,
development and manufacture of Diesel engines, automobile components,
light engineering goods, plantations and services.
1.2 Products
Tractors:
The third largest tractor manufacturer in the world and the second
largest in India by volumes, TAFE is among India’s largest exporter of
tractors, powering farms in over 85 countries including developed countries in
Europe and the Americas. Offering a selection of tractors of superior
technology that help you reap maximum productivity, be it on the field or in
industrial applications, our impressive product line includes tractors under
three iconic brands - Massey Ferguson, TAFE and Eicher.
Some of the tractors manufactured by Tafe are:

13. 4
1) Tafe 1002 4WD
 Engine: Turbo-Charged with intercooler, 4 Stroke
 Cubic capacity: 4000cc
 Hydraulic System: ADDC with separate response control lever
 Horsepower: 100 HP
 Brakes: Multi-disc Wet Brakes
2) Tafe 8502 4WD
 Engine: Four-stroke DI engine, water cooled
 Cubic capacity: 4000cc
 Hydraulic System: Draft, position and response control, lower links with
Cat2
 Horsepower: 81 to 85 HP
 Brakes: Wet Disc Brakes
3) Tafe 7502 2WD
 Engine: Four-stroke DI engine, water cooled
 Cubic capacity: 4000cc
 Hydraulic System: Draft, position and response control, lower links with
Cat2
 Horsepower: 71 to 75 HP
 Brakes: Wet Disc Brakes

14. 5
4) Tafe 5450 DI
 Engine: Four-stroke DI engine, water cooled
 Cubic capacity: 2700cc
 Hydraulic System: Draft, position and response control, lower links with
combi ball
 Horsepower: 51 to 55 HP
 Brakes: Sealed dry disc brakes
5) Tafe 241 DI Mahashakti
 Engine: Four-stroke DI engine, water cooled
 Cubic capacity: 2500cc
 Hydraulic System: Draft, position and response control, lower links with
combi ball
 Horsepower: 41 to 45 HP
 Brakes: Sealed dry disc brakes
6) Tafe 30 DI Orchard Plus
 Engine: Simpson S217 Engine TIII A
 Cubic capacity: 1670cc
 Hydraulic System: Draft, Position and response control. Links fitted with
Cat 1 & Cat 2 balls (Combi Ball)
 Horsepower: 30 HP
 Brakes: Internally expandable Mechanical type brakes

15. 6
Accessories and Implements:
While tractorization is restricted to primary and secondary tillage and
substantial use of haulage, and with the cost benefit equation changing with
increase in labour, it is important to provide models of mechanization that are
relevant to small and marginal farms.
The accessories made are:
 Power Harrow
 Mouldboard Plough
 Potato Planter
 Potato Harvester
 Disc Plough
 Rotary Tiller
Engines:
TMTL Engines Division is a unit of TAFE Motors and Tractors
Limited (TMTL) with Alwar, Rajasthan, India, as its manufacturing base.
TMTL is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited
(TAFE), part of Chennai based Amalgamations Group, which is one of India's
largest light engineering conglomerates. The Amalgamations Group has a long
and distinguished history of serving Indian and global markets with a pan
India presence of over 41 companies and is renowned for its highest standards
of integrity, ethics and values, backed by a highly skilled and competent
workforce of over 15,000.
The TMTL Engines' Alwar plant at Rajasthan, India, produces a wide
range of air and water cooled engines in the brand names of EICHER
ENGINES (upto 45 kVA) and TMTL ENGINES (62.5 kVA & above), which
cater to a wide range of automotive and stationary applications and has an
existing customer base of over 700,000 spread across various segments.

16. 7
Engines manufactured by TMTL are one of the most preferred engines
for stationary applications like generators, prime mover for agro-industries,
marine and other industrial applications.
In power generation segment, TMTL has a strong base of loyal
customers and stands as one of the market leaders through continuous
improvements in product features and product range, by using advanced
technology and exceptional customer service that meet the global standards of
quality and productivity.
TMTL envisages growing exponentially in the power generation
segment by providing economical power solutions with custom built products
and services catering to a wide range of institutional and retail customers
ranging from banking and finance, commercial, construction and real estate,
hospitality, information technology, government and public sector, small and
medium enterprises, petrol pumps, educational institutes and hospitals.
Gears:
The gears manufactured are:
 Transmission gears & shafts.
 Transmission housings
 Crown wheel pinion
 Cam shaft
Batteries
TAFE - Power Source Division (PSD), established in 1993, has made
giant strides in the area of lead acid batteries. Today TAFE PSD is one of
India's largest battery makers, with three state-of-the-art plants located in
Maraimalai Nagar, Tamil Nadu, manufacturing a whole range of batteries for
varied applications.

17. 8
PSD produces two-wheeler, four-wheeler, inverter and VRLA batteries
with technology developed and refined in-house. These find extensive use in
OEMs like Bajaj Auto, Suzuki, TVS, Yamaha, Hero, HMSI, TAFE, TMTL
and Sonalika, as in the after markets. PSD has a strong customer base in India
and a host of other countries in South Asia in the stationary applications
segment like UPS and telecom.
PSD portfolio comprises of trusted brands like AMCO, SPEED,
AMCO INSTAPOWER and AMCO INSTA catering to diverse applications
such as two-wheelers, four-wheelers, tractors, generator start, solar (tubular),
inverters and UPS. PSD achieved a technological milestone by introducing
two-wheeler VRLA batteries, which conform to international standards of
power, performance and reliability.
Hydraulic Pumps:
TAFE Access Limited (TAL) is a wholly owned subsidiary of TAFE -
Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited, and one of two authorized sites in the
world to manufacture scotch-yoke hydraulic pumps for Massey Ferguson
tractors. TAL’s Hydraulic Pumps Division located at Pudupakkam near
Chennai, India, offers some of the most adept pumps between 20-90 HP range,
that are tested with the best in class technologically acclaimed calibrating
equipment.
An ISO 9001:2008 certified establishment, the Hydraulic Pumps
Division produces over 100,000 pumps per annum, which are also exported to
Europe, Brazil and other countries by virtue of being a global Massey
Ferguson recognized vendor.
Harvesters:
The harvester models manufactured by Tafe are as follows:
 Cruzer 7504 DLX

18. 9
 Harvestrac 8060
 Potato Harvester
1.3 TAFE Gears Division
TAFE Gears Division is a modern facility that manufactures Gear Rear
Axle Drives (Ring Crown Wheel) and Pinion Rear Axle Drives with three
variants for tractors in the 25-75HP range. The factory at Pudupakkam
manufactures transmission components for the three factories of TAFE and
exports to the European Markets. TAFE's gears division has a capacity to
produce 40,000 crown wheels and pinions a year. The capacity is essentially
used for captive consumption by TAFE’s tractors.
TMTL, TAFE's wholly owned subsidiary has a gears and transmissions
plant at Parwanoo that produces a range of gears and transmission products for
captive consumption at TMTL and TAFE for tractors apart from sale to
discerning OE buyers in the automotive sector.
The product range at Tafe Gears Division are
• Transmission gears & shafts.
• Transmission housings
• Crown wheel pinion
• Cam shaft
Facilities at Tafe Gears Division:
TAFE Gears division has world-class manufacturing facilities which
include Gleason CNC Gear Generation Machine, Hypoid Gear Roughing
Machine, Universal Gear Finishing Machine and VMC Drilling.

19. 10
The Heat Treatment Shop comprises of Continuous Gas Carburizing
Furnace, Sealed Quench Furnace and Gleason Press Quench Machine.
The Grinding at Pre/Post Heat Treatment stage comprises of Angular
Plunge Grinding Machine and CNC Bore Grinding Machine. The Lapping of
Matched Hard Gears is done by Swing Pinion Cone 516 Gleason Lapper.
The testing of Gears, Tooth Contact Pattern Analysis and development
of near Gear Ratios are done by 511 Gleason Tester while Sharpening of
Gleason Cutters with Gleason Sharpening machine. Finally the truing of
cutters are done to an accuracy of 2 microns
1.4 Pinion Gears:
Pinion gear or more commonly named planetary gear is a form of gear
setup typically used in applications where high gear ratio and/or small
dimensions are sought after. There are several different kinds of epicyclical
gears available, the most common being the three and four wheel types. A
three wheel design must however not use three planetary gears as three
refer to the number of different sized wheels not the number of planetary
wheels. A single stage can achieve a ratio of approximately ten, although
sometimes an even higher ratio is required. In order to achieve this higher
ratio two or more stages can be paired in an enclosure creating a gearbox
with variable gear ratio and axis rotational direction. The three wheel
planetary gear stage consists of four parts. 1. Sun gear (center) S 2.
Planetary gears (the three gears rotating around the Sun gear) 3. Planetary
carrier (holds the planetary gears in place so the gear doesn’t jam) C 4.
Ring wheel (the outer gear rim) R. By locking the rotation of different
components in the gear, four ratios and two rotational directions can be
achieved. By changing the input and output axes even more ratios are
available.

20. 11
1.5 Advantages of Pinion gears:
 They have high power transmission efficiency
 They are compact and easy to install.
 They offer constant velocity ratio.
 Unlike belt drives, pinion gears do not slip.
 Pinion gears are highly reliable.
 They can transmit large amount of power.
1.6 Pinion gear assembly (TAFE)
At TAFE gears division, the Pinion gear assembly is carried out
manually and then sent to be assembled in the Epicyclic carrier unit, where
this assembly is used as the planetary gear. The Pinion assembly consists
of three major components, the gear, washer and needles.
The number of teeth on the gear : 12
The number of needles used in assembly : 48
Number of washers used : 1
Fig No.1. Pinion assembly at Tafe Pudupakkam

21. 12
1.7 Quality
In manufacturing, a measure of excellence or a state of being free from
defects, deficiencies and significant variations. It is brought about by strict and
consistent commitment to certain standards that achieve uniformity of a
product in order to satisfy specific customer or user requirements. ISO 8402-
1986 standard defines quality as "the totality of features and characteristics of
a product or service that bears its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs." If
an automobile company finds a defect in one of their cars and makes a product
recall, customer reliability and therefore production will decrease because trust
will be lost in the car's quality.
1.8 Objective
With the introduction of a new design in the Pinion gear assembly, the
assembly is being done manually and hence reducing the amount of end
products from the targeted goal.
Manually assembling the Pinion gear often leads to lack in quality of the
end product as the worker may cause mistake while assembling.
The emphasis is to provide a practical solution to the pinion assembly
by introducing an automation process for the new pinion assembly design.
A 3D design of the automation assembly and its components will be
made using CATIA V5.
By using the Jidoka principle, it will be ensured that the automation
process works on it’s on without the requirement of any human
interference and to enhance the assembly with minimal wastage of
byproducts.
With the new design, the time required for assembling each pinion
assembly will be drastically reduced.

22. 13
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE SURVEY
2.1 Lean Manufacturing Technique
The term lean production was first used by Krafcik (1988) and it was
drawn from the famous book titled The Machine that Changed the World:
The Story of Lean Production (Womack et al., 1990). Lean production is
rooted in the Toyota production system and primarily aims at the
elimination of waste. Taiichi Ohno defined “muda” as any human activity,
which absorbs resources but creates no value. Lean manufacturing is defect
reduction and inventory control, reduce lead time, and change over time,
Lean production using half of the human effort in the factory, Lean
manufacturing is flexible manufacturing techniques. And reduce the 50%
of human efforts.
2.2 Lean manufacturing tools:
There are various type of lean tools are available and use this tools and
principal, like cellular manufacturing, JIT, continuous improvement,
production smoothing, standardization of work, total productive
maintenance(TPM), SMED, etc.. We are understood about lean tool one by
one in shortly.
2.3 Just in time (JIT):
Just in time is a heart of the lean manufacturing. It’s associated with
lean techniques. Just in time production gives right part at the right place at
right time. Kanban system, Production smoothing, and setup time
reduction are component of any JIT system. “Kanban” is a Japanese word
which means card or signal. Which process is running and give the basic
information about manufacturing.

23. 14
There are two types of Kanban.
 Single Card Kanban System and
 Double Card Kanban System
Single Card Kanban System: In a single card kanban system parts are
produced and brought according to a daily schedule and deliveries to the
user are controlled by c- kanban.
Double card kanban system:
C- Kanban and P- kanban.
C- kanban: Gives signal for deliver more parts to the next process.
P- kanban: Gives the signal for require more parts.
Production Smoothing: Production smoothing is the process of the
balance the work load over different time period. It provide flexibility to
respond rush order it is help to eliminate over production.
2.4 Total productive maintenance (TPM):
Total productive maintenance is the techniques for reducing the
machine down time and eliminates the defect and scrap. TPM is a
fundamental pillar of lean. It is introducing awareness of self-maintenance
and also introducing the preventive maintenance of machine.
2.5 Scheduling
By defining a clear production plan any organization can start
initializing the manufacturing system implementation. The production plan
generated by scheduling decides service order, allocation of resources and
manages queue of service request. This review does not focus the
scheduling due to readily available scheduling software’s.

24. 15
2.6 Employee perceptions
Survey on Employee Perception helps to identify the influencing
factors on employees’ perceptions for successful lean transitions. Losonci
suggest that the organization must understand the new shop floor work
environment and analyze the cultural change of workers’ in everyday lives.
The detailed study and survey helps to determine which factors make
workers feel that lean transformation was successful in order to reveal the
building blocks of successful lean transformations. The conclusion of this
surveys stratify the perception factor into critical intrinsic factors
(commitment, belief) and external factors (lean work method,
communication) which affect the success of the lean implementation from
workers’ point of view and suggest that the possibility of the lean
transformation success, is on the hands of employees’ commitment levels,
beliefs, communication and work methods. Armenakis suggested that the
belief is an opinion or a conviction about the truth of something that may
not be readily obvious or subject to systematic verification. David et al.
suggest that employee perceptions can be influenced by Belief,
Commitment, Work method and Communication. Work methods can
strengthen worker identification and involvement, particularly
commitment. The employee perception can be achieved through training
and awareness by defining road map, metrics and measurement.
2.7 Value stream mapping (VSM)
Value Stream is defined as “the set of all the specific actions required
to bring a specific product through the three critical management tasks of
any business: Problem Solving, Information Management and Physical
Transformation”. Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is the process of mapping
the material and information flows required to coordinate the activities
performed by manufacturers, suppliers and distributors to deliver products

25. 16
to customers. Initially a current state map was drawn from which the
source of waste identified and its finds the opportunity for implementing
various lean techniques. Rother suggest that the Visual representation of
VSM facilitates the identification of the value-adding activities in a Value
Stream R. Sundar / Procedia Engineering 97 ( 2014 ) 1875 – 1885 1877
and elimination of the non-value adding activities. A second step in VSM
is to draw a future state map based on improvement plan. The availability
of the information in the VSM facilitates and validates the decision to
implement lean tool and can also motivate the organization during the
actual implementation in order to obtain the desired results. VSM clearly
indicate the inventory, process time, Lead time, waiting time, etc and
process flow from which we can sort out bottleneck cycle time against
Takt time. Fawaz case study investigate the ‘‘before’’ and ‘‘after’’
scenarios, through simulation which helps to illustrate the potential
benefits such as reduced production lead-time and lower work-in-process
inventory. Fawaz concluded that simulation model can be used to evaluate
basic performance measures before lean implementation. The systematic
continuous improvement starts with the bottleneck area. The prediction of
levels throughout the production process is usually impossible with only a
future state map, because with a static model one cannot observe how
inventory levels will vary for different scenarios, so simulation tool is
necessary for predicting the inventory level during demand uncertainty
2.8 Takt time
Takt time refers to the frequency of a part or component must be
produced to meet customers’ demand. Takt time depends on monthly
production demand, if the demand increases the Takt time decreases, if the
demand decreases the Takt time increases which mean the output interval
increases or decreases. Rahani suggested that the importance of measuring
Takt time due to the costs and inefficiency factors in producing ahead of

26. 17
demand, which includes Storage and retrieval of finished goods, Premature
purchasing of raw materials, Premature spending on wages, the cost of
missed opportunities to produce other goods, Capital costs for excess
capacity.
2.9 Bottleneck process
Bottleneck process/constrain in the line is identified by determining the
maximum cycle time in the line. The line/ plant capacity is decided by this
bottleneck cycle time. Line Capacity is the product of Bottleneck Cycle
time(C/T) and Total Available time, If Bottleneck C/T Takt time, and then
Customer demand is not met. With the past projected production delivery
or from the expected future demand, the takt time is identified for the
manufacturing system. With the known Takt time the bottleneck process
are identified from the Value stream mapping (VSM), the gap between the
capacity and demand is calculated and based on this gap the lean
implementation plan is executed.
2.10 Jidoka
The Toyota Production System is frequently modeled as a house with
two pillars. One pillar represents just-in-time (JIT), and the other pillar the
concept of jidoka. The house will not stand without both pillars.
Yet many of us focus on the mechanisms of implementation--one piece
flow, pull production, takt time, standard work, kanban--without linking those
mechanisms back to the pillars that hold up the entire system. JIT is fairly well
understood, but I believe jidoka is key to making the entire system stick. A lot
of failed implementations can be traced back to not building this second pillar.
What does jidoka mean? A common answer to this question is
"autonomation" or "automation with a human touch." This is usually

27. 18
illustrated by example of a machine that will detect a problem and stop
production automatically rather than continue to run and produce bad output.
The principle's origin goes back to 1902 when Sakichi Toyoda invented
a simple but ingenious mechanism that detected a broken thread and shut off
an automatic loom. That invention allowed one operator to oversee the
operation of up to a dozen looms while maintaining perfect quality. But the
system goes much further.
The jidoka pillar is often labeled "stop and respond to every
abnormality." This is obviously much more than having a machine shut down.
Toyota refers to every process, whether human or automatic, being enabled or
empowered to autonomously detect abnormal conditions and stop. The team
member pulling an andon cord on the assembly line is jidoka as much as an
automatic machine.
At my company, we define jidoka as a four-step process that engages when
abnormalities occur.
1. Detect the abnormality.
2. Stop.
3. Fix or correct the immediate condition.
4. Investigate the root cause and install a countermeasure.
2.11 Benefits of Jidoka
 It helps detect the problem as soon as possible.
 It increases the quality of the product by proper enhancement and
standardization.
 It integrates machine power with human intelligence to produce error-
free goods.

28. 19
 It helps in proper utilization of labor since the process is automated,
workers can spend their time performing more value-added services.
 There is less scope for errors in production, which substantially
increases the rate of productivity and lowers costs.
 Improved customer satisfaction is an important advantage as well.
 Good products are manufactured in lesser time.
2.12 Examples of Jidoka
Consider a printing press machine. If a sheet is missing in the machine,
a sheet detector raises the print cylinder. This is due to Jidoka. In the
manufacturing industry, a sensor is used to check if the components are in
alignment. Even if a small part is out of alignment, the machine is stopped.
Some high quality machines use the recall procedure. Sometimes, despite the
best counter-measures, some products in the production line may slip through
the machine cycle, undetected. The recall procedure checks every single
product once again, before the final output ejection.
Light curtains are used in automatic feed machines. They have a
presence sensor that stops the machine if a component is broken or is
defective.
2.13 Methodology
The following methodology was used:
 Defining the Objective
 Understanding the need of Automation.
 Collecting data based on Pinion gears, Quality, Jidoka and Lean
Manufacturing Techniques
 Preparing of 3D design for improvement.
 Comparing new design with old setup.

29. 20
 Preparing of Report.
Understanding
the need of
inspection &
Quality
To improve quality of a product inspection is
a necessity in production of parts and
satisfaction of customers
Understanding
the need of
Automation
To learn the process of Jidoka and how it
helps in the manufacturing process
Data Collection
Collection of data to understand the present
scenario
Understanding
the causes of
part rejection
After the collection of data, understanding
the various causes of part rejection
Brainstorming Collection of various ideas for the new design
3D Catia Design
The use of Catia V5 design software to design
and simulate the new setup

30. 21
CHAPTER 3
CURRENT PROCESS ANALYSIS
3.1 Current Process Flow
The following steps involve the current process flow of the sub-assembly of
epicyclic carrier unit:
1. Raw Material buying (Carrier).
2. Raw Material cutting.
3. Inspection and Testing of Raw Material.
4. Outsourcing of planet and sun gear and sent to Sub-Assembly station.
5. Machining of Carrier.
6. Finishing of Carrier.
7. Transfer of Epicyclic Carrier from Machining station to Sub-Assembly
station.
8. Sub-Assembly of Epicyclic carrier unit.
9. Visual Inspection of Epicyclic Carrier unit.
10.Packing and Forwarding of Epicyclic Carrier unit.
11.Shipping to Madurai Tafe Plant.
3.2 Procedure for Sub-Assembly of Pinion gear Assembly
The following steps are used to assemble the pinion gear.
1. Preparing the inner surface of the gear with grease.
2. Placing the gear on the mold and place the needles.
3. After stacking the 24 needles, place a washer and invert the gear.
4. Place the other mold and place the other 24 set of needles.

31. 22
3.3 Present Scenario of Units Produced
The target to be achieved per day (8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.) = 210 units
Target to be achieved monthly ≅ 6273 units
Time taken to assemble the gear unit ~ 2 mins
Graph No.1 No of units produced over five months
From the above graph the following were observed:
 The target to be achieved is not steady.
 An average of 230 gears are not produced from the required target.
 Percentage of average loss = 15% monthly.
6273
6351
6119
6008
6199
6100
6200
6119
5905
6089
5600
5700
5800
5900
6000
6100
6200
6300
6400
OCTOBER NOVERMBER DECEMBER JANUARY FEBRUARY
NO. OF UNITS VS EACH MONTH
TARGET ACTUAL

32. 23
CHAPTER 4
PROBLEM ANALYSIS
4.1 Quality Issues Faced
The various issues faced in the epicyclic carrierunit are:
 Improper inspection of the epicyclic carrier unit.
 No method to measure the required torque of the carrier unit for right
power transmission.
 Improper surface finish leading to various mechanical losses.
 Insufficient or over lubrication leading to lubrication failure.
4.2 Quality Management Tools
The Quality check tools used to analyze the problem effectively are:
1. Fishbone or Cause and Effect Diagram.
4.2.1 Fishbone or Cause and Effect Diagram
The Fishbone (Ishikawa) Diagram also known as Cause and Effect
Diagram is used to identify any possible causes for an effect or problem. It can
be used to structure a brainstorming session. It immediately sorts ideas into
useful categories.
The following steps are followed to draw a Fishbone Diagram:
1. Agree on a problem statement (effect). Write it at the center right of the
flipchart or whiteboard. Draw a box around it and draw a horizontal
arrow running to it.

33. 24
2. Brainstorm the major categories of causes of the problem. If this is
difficult use generic headings:
o Methods
o Machines (equipment)
o People (manpower)
o Materials
o Measurement
o Environment
3. Write the categories of causes as branches from the main arrow.
4. Brainstorm all the possible causes of the problem. Ask: “Why does this
happen?” As each idea is given, the facilitator writes it as a branch from
the appropriate category. Causes can be written in several places if they
relate to several categories.
5. Again ask “why does this happen?” about each cause. Write sub–causes
branching off the causes. Continue to ask “Why?” and generate deeper
levels of causes. Layers of branches indicate causal relationships.
6. When the group runs out of ideas, focus attention to places on the chart
where ideas are few.

34. 25
Fig No.2 Fishbone Diagram

35. 26
CHAPTER 5
PROPOSED DESIGN OF THE AUTOMATISED UNIT
5.1. Method Used for Automated Unit (JIDOKA & Just In Time (JIT)
The word Jidoka means Automation with Human Intelligence and the
term just in time is a heart of the lean manufacturing. It’s associated with lean
techniques. Just in time production gives right part at the right place at right
time. The combination of these two helps increase the quality of the product
and reducing loss and rejection to nearly 0-1%.
5.2 Design and Construction
Using Catia V5 a 3D design is made to understand the model better.
The Design involves the following parts:
1. Pinion Gear
2. Pinion Needle
3. Washer
4. Bed
5. Conveyor Belt
6. Gear Stacker
7. Needle Vibrator
8. Needle Stacker
9. Washer Inserter
10. Automated Needle Stacking Machine

36. 27
1. Pinion Gear
In this particular epicyclic gear setup there are three pinion gears.
Taking the module as 3.5mm, the number of teeth being 12 and the pressure
angle as 20° the following parameters were obtained for pinion gear
Number of teeth (N) = 12
Module (m) = 3.5mm
Pressure angle (α) = 20°
Pitch Circle Radius (Rp) =
𝑚×𝑁
2
= 21mm
Base Circle Radius (Rb) = 0.94 × 𝑅𝑝 = 19.74 mm
Addendum Circle Radius (Ra) = 𝑅𝑝 + 𝑚 = 24.5mm
Dedendum Circle Radius (Rd) = 𝑅𝑝 − 1.25 × 𝑚 = 16.625𝑚𝑚
Fig No.3. Pinion Gear

37. 28
2. Pinion Needle
The needles are placed inside the gear to act as bearings.
Fig No.4. Pinion Needle
3. Washer
The washer holds the two sets of needles in place.
Fig No.5. Washer
4. Bed
The entire automation assembly is placed on the bed. The material used
for the bed is Mild Steel (AISI 1020).

38. 29
ELEMENTS
MATERIAL PROPERTY
ELEMENT CONTENT
Carbon, C 0.17 - 0.230 %
Iron, Fe 99.08 - 99.53 %
Manganese, Mn 0.30 - 0.60 %
Phosphorous, P ≤ 0.040 %
Sulfur, S ≤ 0.050 %
PROPERTY METRIC
Density 7870 kg/m
3
Tensile Strength, Ultimate 394.72 MPa
Tensile Strength, Yield 294.74 MPa
Young’s Modulus 200 GPa
Poissons Ratio 0.29
Shear Modulus 80 GPa
Bulk Modulus 148 GPa
Thermal Expansion
11.7 µm/m-°C
@Temperature 0.000 - 100 °C

39. 30
Fig No.6. Bed
5. Conveyor Belt
The belt is used convey the pinion gear from one station to another
along the bed.The belt is made up of PVC and the gear holder is made up of
hardened rubber. The length of the belt is 1000 mm. The conveyor belt runs
with the help of a 2 Kw stepper motor.
Fig No.7 Conveyor Belt

40. 31
6. Gear Stacker
The gear stacker is used to supply the pinion gears onto the conveyor
belt. At a time 8 gears are stacked up in the stacking unit. The stacker has a
plate that coordinates along with a LED sensor that senses the position of the
conveyor belt where the gear has to be dropped. When the sensor gives
feedback to the controller, the plate slides into the slot and the gear falls onto
the conveyor belt. The plate then again slides back out at a fast rate such that it
does not let any other gears fall onto the conveyor. The gear stacker is made
up of mild steel and the controller casing is made up of Aluminum 6061.
Fig No.8 Gear Stacker

41. 32
7. Needle Vibrator
The Needle Vibrator follows the Archimedes’ screw technique to scoop
up the needles. The Archimedes screw consists of a screw (a helical surface
surrounding a central cylindrical shaft) inside a hollow pipe. The screw is
turned usually by a windmill or by manual labor or by cattle. As the shaft
turns, the bottom end scoops up a volume of water. This water is then pushed
up the tube by the rotating helicoid until finally it pours out from the top of the
tube.
The contact surface between the screw and the pipe does not need to be
perfectly watertight, as long as the amount of water being scooped with each
turn is large compared to the amount of water leaking out of each section of
the screw per turn. If water from one section leaks into the next lower one, it
will be transferred upwards by the next segment of the screw.
The vessel is made up of stainless steel, the whole vessel vibrates and rotates
so that the excess needles scooped up along the guide way and a single line of
needles are lined up and sent to the needle inserter. The excess needles fall
down automatically.
Fig No.9 Needle Vibrator

42. 33
Stainless Steel 304 Properties
PROPERTY METRIC
Density 7850 kg/m
3
Tensile Strength, Ultimate 505 MPa
Tensile Strength, Yield 215 MPa
Young’s Modulus 190 GPa
Poissons Ratio 0.29
Shear Modulus 74 GPa
Bulk Modulus 134 GPa
Thermal Expansion
16 µm/m-°C
@Temperature 0.000 - 100 °C

43. 34
8. Needle Stacker
The needle stacker collects the 24 needles and is kept inside the hollow
cylinder. It is then pushed together into the pinion gear. There are two needle
stackers in the assembly, so that the needles are inserted from both the sides.
Fig No. 10 Various views of Needle Vibrator
Fig No. 11 Needle stacker

44. 35
9. Washer Inserter
This is present before the needle inserters, the washer inserter pushes
the washer up to half way inside the Pinion gear.
10. Automated Needle Stacking Machine
A culmination of the above mentioned components, the needle stacking
process in assembled as a whole machine.
The process is as below:
1. The pinion gear stacker can hold up to 8 gears at a time, it releases a gear at
regular intervals into the assembly line, i.e. on to the conveyor belt.
2. The gear slots into the rubber gear holder on the belt.
3. The LED sensor on the washer inserter detects the gear and stops the belt.
4. The gear aligned to the inserter, receives a washer right at the center of the
cavity.
5. The needle now travels right between the two needle stackers.
6. The needle stackers already ready with their 24 needles each, insert them
together into the pinion.
7. The needles are lined with grease, hence no grease is wasted.
8. After the assembly is completed, the LED sensor on the gear pusher detects
the gear and pushes it into the gear slot.
Fig No. 12 Washer Inserter

45. 36
Fig No. 13 Machine - Isometric View 1
Fig No. 14 Machine – Isometric View 2

46. 37
5.3 Improvements from New Design
The following improvements are achieved by this design:
1) Either one of the considerations can be used:
a) Reducing one labor hence saving the salary cost of one labor. (or)
b) Having two labors alternatively work on the sub-assembly station to
reduce stress on the labor. (or)
c) The use of one labor elsewhere in the factory, the station which
requires more help.
2) Reducing the time from 2 minutes to 20 seconds which accounts for nearly
75% improvement.
3) The use of Jidoka system generally reduces the time consumed and reduces
the human interaction.
Fig No. 15 Various Views of Automated Machine

47. 38
4) The reduction in time utilized and the part loss, increases the target to be
achieved monthly and also increases the number of units to be produced.
5) There is a steady target line and the fluctuations per month is reduced.
310
321
346
329
358
352 333
0
100
200
300
400
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
No. of Units vs Each Day
NO. OF UNITS NEW TARGET OLD TARGET
Graph No.2 Expected Graph after New Design

48. 39
CHAPTER 6
COST EVALUATION
6.1 List of Materials and Equipment:
The following are the materials and equipment required for the Automatic
Unit:
1. Mild Steel (AISI 1020) for Bed
2. Mild Steel (AISI 1020) for gear stacker
3. Aluminum (6061) for controller casing
4. PVC for conveyor belt and Hardened rubber for gear holder
5. Mild Steel (AISI 1020) for Needle stacker and Washer Inserter
6. Stainless Steel (304) for needle vibrator vessel
7. 1 Kw stepper motor
8. LED sensors
9. Pneumatic pusher
6.2 Cost for Material and Machining:
S.no Component Dimensions & Cost per Kg Price (₹)
1.
Bed
(AISI 1020)
Length -1500mm, Width -
600mm, Breadth -600mm
Weight - 3500 kgs
(₹ 40/Kg)
₹
1,40,000
2.
Needle Vibrator
Vessel (SS 304)
Length - 350mm, Dia – 300mm,
Weight – 190 kgs
No of vessels - 2
(₹ 170/Kg)
₹ 64,600

49. 40
3.
Gear Stacker
(AISI 1020, Al
6061)
MS dimensions :
Length - 400mm, Breadth - 51mm
Weight – 40kgs
(₹ 40/ Kg)
Al dimensions :
Length - 400mm, Breadth –
230mm, Width – 100mm
Weight – 10kgs
(₹ 170/ Kg)
₹ 3,300
4.
Conveyor belt
(PVC, Hardened
rubber)
Length- 8.2 feet
(₹ 10,200/feet)
₹ 90,000
5.
Needle Stacker with
Pneumatic pusher
No of Stackers – 2
Two cylinders
(₹ 30,000/ stacker)
₹ 60,000
6.
Washer Inserter
with Pneumatic
pusher
No of cylinders - 1 ₹ 30,000
7. Stepper motor Power – 1 Kw ₹ 5,000
8. Controler _ ₹50,000
9, LED sensors No of sensors - 5 ₹ 10,000
Total (Approx.)
₹
4,52,900

50. 41
CHAPTER 7
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
7.1 Results and Discussion:
Using Catia V5 design software, a 3D Design was made for better
understanding and the following benefits are obtained:
 Reduced Time from 2 minutes to 20 seconds (Approx.).
 Increase in number of units by at least 75%
 Reduced number of parts rejected to nearly 0-1%.
 Better Quality products.
 Reduced stress on worker.
 Precise products such that they satisfy the requirements.

51. 42
CHAPTER 8
FUTURE SCOPE
8.2 Future Scope:
For future reference and improvements the following can be
implemented:
 Provision for continuous supply of gears from the storage.
 A robotic arm lifts the pinion assembly unit.
 Automatic control of the hydraulic / pneumatic system.
 This makes the system fully automatic with no need of a labor.
 However the initial cost will be increased more but over the long run it
saves salary being paid to one more labor.

52. 43
CHAPTER 9
CONCLUSION
The new design hence improves the production by 75% and
reduces stress on laborers, who can now focus on the sub assembly.
The design improves the quality of the products and reduces wastage of
materials. It also reduces the number of rejects by 1-2%.

53. 44
REFERENCES
1. “Implementation of Lean Manufacturing Techniques” by Mehul
Mayatra, N.D. Chauhan, Parthiv Trivedi
2. “Going Beyond Triviality: The Toyota Production System – Lean
Manufacturing beyond Muda and Kaizen” by Bruno G. Ruttimann&
Martin T. Stockli
3. “A Review on Lean Manufacturing Implementation Techniques” by R.
Sundar , A.N. Balaji& R.M. Satheesh Kumar
4. Tafe Products:
<https://www.tafe.com/gears_and_transmissions.php>
5. Mild Steel AISI 1020 composition and properties table:
<http://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6114>
6. Steps to create a fishbone diagram
<http://asq.org/learn-about-quality/cause-analysis-
tools/overview/fishbone.html>