assembly lines may have defects, kitting method is applied to see how we can solve those issues

1. A REPORT
ON
OPTIMIZATION OF SPACE IN ASSEMBLY LINE
By
SOUMITH VODDEPALLI 2012A4PS911H
AT
MAHLE BEHR INDIA PVT.LTD.
A Practice School II Station of
BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE, PILANI
March, 2016

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank following people for their support on this project
(i) Mr. Amol Patil
(ii) Dr. S.K.Pradhan
(iii) Mrs. Smitha Bhatnagar
(iv) Mr. Sachin Dehanikar
I would like to thank my mentor Mr. Amol Patil firstly for his advices,
critics and supports during the project. His patiently guidance putting forward valuable ideas
allowed me to accomplish this project.
I would also like to thank Mr. Sachin Dehanikar for his invaluable
support during my project.

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ABSTRACT
Mahle Behr plant in Pune is one of the 170 production locations all over
the world. It produces HVAC Modules, EGR Coolers, Engine Cooling Modules and Visco Fan
Drive Systems. There are nearly 10 HVAC assembly lines in this plant. They are making
HVAC units for more than 11 models and variants more than 20.
In this project, analysis of assembly lines has been done. The main aim of
this project is to improve the efficiency of the assembly line. Specific objective is to study the
various factors that evaluate assembly line and to improve them. For this a literature study has
been done regarding the assembly line factors and studied the relationships between them.
Later few assembly lines have been chosen to study. Data has been collected regarding the
assembly lines and the various factors of assembly line were implemented to find out the
efficiency. Then again a literature study has been done to find out how to improve the
efficiency and came out with a concept of kitting in lean manufacturing.
This concept of kitting is implemented and a design for assembly line is
made. Data is collected for MPV assembly line. Designs are made for kitting trolleys. The
design for trolley is manufactured and was subjected to various tests before changing the
present assembly line. After the testing the trolleys are manufactured and are brought to
assembly line for experimentation to see if we can use it for long term. In this report we
discussed the problems of present assembly line and how kitting method brought down the
issues and how this method can be successfully implemented.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Page no.
INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................................6
About MAHLE ......................................................................................................................................6
Background............................................................................................................................................7
Scope......................................................................................................................................................7
Objectives ..............................................................................................................................................7
Action.....................................................................................................................................................8
THEORY ......................................................................................................................................................9
Assembly Lines......................................................................................................................................9
Types of assembly lines......................................................................................................................9
Common Terminology...........................................................................................................................9
Work station ......................................................................................................................................9
Operation.........................................................................................................................................10
Operating Engineer..........................................................................................................................10
Material Handling ............................................................................................................................10
Material flow....................................................................................................................................10
Operation time.................................................................................................................................10
Cycle time.........................................................................................................................................10
Takt time ..........................................................................................................................................11
Idle time ...........................................................................................................................................11
Distance travelled by the part..........................................................................................................11
Ergonomics.......................................................................................................................................11
Space occupied by the assembly line...............................................................................................11
Lean Production...................................................................................................................................11
Value added – nonvalue added operation.......................................................................................13
Efficiency of an assembly line ..........................................................................................................13
Kitting...............................................................................................................................................13
METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................................................14
Introduction..........................................................................................................................................14
Current State Analysis .........................................................................................................................14
Factors that affect assembly line..........................................................................................................15
Literature Study....................................................................................................................................15
Future Mapping....................................................................................................................................15
Evaluation & Action Planning .............................................................................................................15
CURRENT ASSEMBLY LINE........................................................................................................................16

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Assembly Line .....................................................................................................................................16
Data of present assembly line..........................................................................................................16
Production............................................................................................................................................17
Movement of child parts in plant-Overview ........................................................................................18
Movement of parts in plant – Detailed view........................................................................................18
PROPOSED METHOD................................................................................................................................20
Kitting Design......................................................................................................................................20
2D model..........................................................................................................................................21
3D model..........................................................................................................................................21
Proto type trolleys ...........................................................................................................................22
Proposed movement of parts................................................................................................................22
Layout Planning...................................................................................................................................23
Present Layout of assembly line ......................................................................................................23
Proposed assembly line layout ........................................................................................................24
Kitting trolleys .....................................................................................................................................24
These trolleys are placed in the assembly line and will be there only at the time of assembly. ..........24
Modified assembly line........................................................................................................................25
COMPARISION..........................................................................................................................................26
Distance travelled by the part...............................................................................................................26
Present method ...............................................................................................................................26
Modified method.............................................................................................................................26
Material handling.................................................................................................................................27
Comparison of material handling and Distance travelled by parts in a week......................................27
Space Comparison................................................................................................................................28
Comparision of Production..................................................................................................................28
Ergonomics ..........................................................................................................................................29
Non value added activities ...................................................................................................................32
DISCUSSION..............................................................................................................................................33
Advantages with New Kitting Method ................................................................................................33
Limitations of Kitting Method .............................................................................................................33
Precautions To Be Taken In Kitting Process .......................................................................................34
Problems With Incomplete Kits...........................................................................................................34
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................................35
REFERENCES.............................................................................................................................................36

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INTRODUCTION
About MAHLE
MAHLE GmbH is an automotive parts manufacturer based in Stuttgart,
Germany. It is one of the largest automotive suppliers worldwide. As a manufacturer of
components and systems for the combustion engine and its periphery, the company is one of
the three largest systems suppliers worldwide for engine systems, filtration, electrics,
mechatronics, and thermal management. In 2015, Mahle sales amounted to nearly €11.5 billion.
As of 2016, its 76,000 employees work in 170+ production plants and fifteen research and
development centers in Germany, Great Britain, USA, Brazil, Japan, China, and India.
MAHLE Behr India Limited, a leading name in the world of
automotive air conditioning and engine cooling systems is a technology leader for
comprehensive Automotive Thermal Management meeting stringent Euro emission norms.
MAHLE Behr India, a Joint Venture between MAHLE Behr GmbH & Co.KG, Germany and
ANAND, India is an established systems partner. In India there are plants in Pune, Gurgaon,
Ahmedabad, Chennai, Pithampur and Parwanoo.
MAHLE Behr India are the lead designers for Air Conditioning
Systems and Engine Cooling Systems for several cars designed in India and support various
international platforms produced in India such as the Logan and Duster from Renault, Aveo of
GM, Force MAN, Polo (VW), Nissan Micra, TATA Indica Vista amongst others. Its customers
are Ashok Leyland, Bharat Benz, Escorts, Force MAN, Force Motor, Mahindra Navistar, Tata
Cummins, Tata Motors and Volvo Eicher. In Passenger Cars Fiat India, General Motors,
Honda, ICML, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Renault Nissan, Volkswagen etc. are its
customers.
In Pune Mahle Plant HVAC’s, Condensers, Visco Fans, EGR Coolers
are manufactured. The HVAC assembly lines present in Pune plant are S101, MAN, Y1,
VECV, MPV, Verito, Scorpio, Volkswagen, TML and Vista. Almost 1000 HVAC’s are
manufactured daily in this plant.

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Background
In the manufacturing of the HVAC’s the most important are the
blowers, heaters and evaporators. They are very important for the cycle to get completed.
Starting of the assembly would be assembly of various parts into housing and later insertion of
evaporators, heaters and blowers and after that testing is done on HVAC’s and later control
panel is attached according to model.
There will be workstation ranging from 2 to 9 for each model of
HVAC’s. The variants in HVAC’s are mostly separate AC units, Heater Unit, Vent Model and
a complete HVAC unit. The most important parts used for almost all HVAC units are
Housings, Blowers, Evaporators, Heaters, Sealing’s, Ducts, Gears, Levers, Resistors, Screws,
Clips, nuts, cams, filters, flaps, Brackets, Grommets and Control panels etc... The Operating
engineers will be doing the assembly. The number of operating engineers working on each
assembly line will depend on the production and no. of work stations.
New assembly lines will be added and old assembly lines will be
removed according to life of the vehicle and new launches in the market. There are many
suppliers supplying the parts to Mahle Behr in Chakan ranging from both local to the out of the
country.
Scope
In assembly lines there are a lot of defects, loses. The Scope of this
project is to increase the efficiency of the assembly lines, reduce the wastage and increase
flexibility and reduce space consumption of inventory. The scope is to take necessary actions
to improve efficiency by considering various lean methods and applying them on the assembly
lines. Performing various studies on the assembly lines like collection of data of parts, their
quantity, daily production, suppliers of the parts etc… after the data collection an exquisite
study on lean production should be done to see which methods can be applied to improve
efficiency.
Objectives
Through analysis of operations at assembly line, the objectives are
 Improve flexibility of the assembly line.
 Reduce space occupied by the assembly line.
 Reduce the inventory of the assembly line.
 Reduce the space occupied by the inventory of the line.
 Improve the ergonomics.

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 Improve material handling.
 Decrease non value added activities.
 Reduce Distance travelled by the part.
Action
There are 2 different products manufactured in the assembly line we will
be studying. They are MPV Heater & MPV Demister.
Productions levels of each product may vary according to demand, and
all the parts in assembly line may not be used and occupy space. In this study we will be
concentrating on the things which can reduce the usage of space of assembly line and increase
the flexibility of assembly line. We will do it by considering various factors of assembly line.
Calculate how well the present process is doing and try to improve the efficiency of assembly
line by implementing methods of lean manufacturing. By doing this we can not only improve
efficiency but also improve quality, ergonomics, flexibility and decrease production time,
defects etc.

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THEORY
Assembly Lines
A product, according to Askin et al is any item that is designed
manufactured and delivered with the intention of making a profit for the producer by
enhancing the quality of life of the customer. Most products are made up of various parts,
where a part can be described as a single unit of a product that are brought together with others
to form the finished product. This process happens in assembly lines. Assembly lines are an
important part of manufacturing process. An assembly line is a manufacturing process in which
parts are added as the semi finished assembly moves from workstation to workstation where
the parts are added in sequence until the final assembly is produced. Assembly lines are used in
most of the industries depending upon the type of use.
Types of assembly lines
There are two primary methods of assembly in the industry, which are
bench assembly, and line assembly.
In bench assembly, the work piece stays stationary on a bench; all
required parts and equipment for assembly are brought to the bench and assemblers move
around the bench to perform the assembly. Line assembly is an assembly method where work
pieces move through a sequence of stations for assembly one piece at a time. An assembly line
is the production system in which assembly stations are organized in a serial layout and line
assembly method is applied.
In Line assembly, types are mixed assembly line, single assembly line
and batch assembly lines.
In Single assembly lines only one product is manufactured, in batch
different products are produced in batches depending on inventory and in mixed different types
of products are produced at the same time on assembly line. Here we will concentrate on batch
production assembly line. In Assembly line inventory quantity plays a major role, and the
inventory should not create any waste or non value things like more space occupation.
Common Terminology
Work station
A work station is a segment of the assembly line where a certain
amount of the total assembly work is performed. Each station on an assembly line is set up
with all the materials, machines, tools, fixtures, instructions and operators needed for the

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operation assigned. A work piece does not return to the station it has already visited at an
assembly line.
Operation
The assembly process of a product consists of a sequenced set of
actions that are applied to the work piece as it moves on the line. Each of these indivisible
actions is called an operation.
Operating Engineer
Who performs an operation on an assembly line is an Operating
Engineer. Operators perform their tasks either manually by using hand tools, or semi manually
by using automatic tools or task specific machines.
Minimum number of assemblers= Total assembly time of the product/ Takt time
Material Handling
Material Handling refers to the ‘moving of materials from the store
room to the work station and from one work station to the next during the process of
manufacture’. Material handling involves short distance movement within the confines of a
building or between a building and a transportation vehicle. Material handling plays an
important role in manufacturing and logistics, as a lot of time, resources can be saved if
material handling is done properly.
Material flow
Continuous movement of raw materials, parts and components from
their source locations, i.e., suppliers, warehouses, subassembly stations etc, to their assembly
locations until they are used in the production system is called material flow. Material flow is a
very important aspect of production since any problem that occurs during this process can
affect the whole production system, which may even cause the whole system to stop until the
required item is received.
Operation time
Operation time is the time required to start and finish an operation at a
station. It’s measured usually by stop watch or digital image processing techniques.
Cycle time
Cycle time is the total time from the moment you start the process of
assembly to completion of product.

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Takt time
Takt time is the average time between the start of production of one unit
and the start of production of the next unit, when these production starts are set to match the
rate of customer demand.
Idle time
Idle time defines the period in which no operations are held at a station
after all operations are completed and the work piece stays idle until being moved to the next
station.
Distance travelled by the part
The parts used in the assembly line will be coming from the supplier,
from the supplier these parts go to stores and in stores there may be levels, the parts should
move from all these stores to finally reach the assembly line. So the distance travelled by the
part will be from the distance covered by the part from the supplier till it reaches the assembly
line and becomes the final product.
Ergonomics
Ergonomics is the study of the man in relation to his work. The
application of human biological sciences along with engineering sciences to achieve optimum
mutual adjustment of men and his work, the benefits being measured in terms of human
efficiency and wellbeing.
Space occupied by the assembly line
There can many work stations for an assembly depending upon the final
product, it can start from one and can go as per requirement. Work station generally consists of
only parts or sub assembly and parts required for assembly and machines to work on the
assembly. The assembly lines are arranged in a specific pattern according to flow. The space
occupied by assembly line also is an important part in manufacturing.
Lean Production
Lean manufacturing or lean production, often simply "lean", is a
systematic method for the elimination of waste within a manufacturing system. Lean
philosophies help companies not only to control their production but also help them to combine
the improvements in operational and commercial aspects and manage them to find the way that
provides long-term business success and the employee capability to continuously propel that
company to further improvement. Lean thinking as a powerful antidote to “muda”, which in

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Japanese means any human activity that absorbs resources but creates no value, and concludes
that “lean thinking provides a way to do more and more with less and less – less human effort,
less equipment, less time, and less space – while coming closer and closer to providing
customers with exactly what they want.”
7 wastes that exist in a production system are,
1. Overproduction
2. Process
3. Transportation
4. Excess inventory
5. Motion
6. Waiting
7. Rework
1. Overproduction is regarded as the greatest waste since it creates other wastes such as
motion, conveyance and inventory. It increases need for extra storage space, additional
parts, additional materials and energy to operate machines, and creates extra materials
to handle and demand for extra material handling equipment. It also requires additional
work force to handle all these additional work.
2. Processing becomes a waste when more work is done than what the customer demands.
It is very difficult to detect process wastes since it requires detailed knowledge of the
assembly process.
3. Transportation is regarded as the movement of operators and stocks around the
production system without any purpose. Since moving does not add any value to the
end product, it is a waste that should be eliminated.
4. Inventory is a part of production systems, but when anything more than is required to
perform the job is stocked, it becomes a waste. Excess inventory causes extra carrying
cost and damage, and requires extra storage, containers, handling requirement and time.
5. Motion is not a work, it is thus nonvalue added. Therefore it causes time loss within the
production process. It is mainly caused by disorganized work sequence of layout and
should be minimized.
6. Waiting includes waiting for a machine to finish its process, a part or component to
arrive from an upstream activity, or an adhesive to dry. Waiting does not add value to
the final product, therefore it is non value added and should be minimized.
7. Rework is correcting a faulty operation, which means that additional time is spent for
the same operation twice and makes this operation a waste in the production system.

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Value added – nonvalue added operation
A part of an operation that adds and does not add value to the product is
therefore called value-added and non value added operation respectively.
For example in the phone assembly operation steps like its assembly,
packing, transportation, checking, counting, cleaning etc… in this assembly, packing add value
to product where as transportation, checking, counting, cleaning doesn't add any value to the
product.
Efficiency of an assembly line
Efficiency is calculated as good production in the warehouse divided by the rated output of the
line to give standard hours.
Planned Hours = Time allowed for changeovers, maintenance, meetings etc
Operating Hours = Paid Time – Planned Time.
Kitting
The practice of delivering components and subassemblies to the shop
floor in predetermined quantities that are placed together in specific containers is generally
known as kitting. Rather than delivering the required parts to an assembly station in component
containers and in relatively large quantities, parts can be first pulled together in kit containers
before they are delivered to the shop floor. Kitting activities are observed being used to solve
the issues of:
· Lack of space
· Quality
· Flexibility
· Materials Handling
A kit may be generally viewed as a container which holds a specific
assortment of parts that are used in one or more assembly operations in the plant. In kits, all
items are presented in a logical order so they can be removed from the container as quickly as
possible without damage. Kitting in a lean production system is possible as long as kits are
secured so that they are 100% correct in the first place and there is no machine downtime

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caused by invalid kits. Additionally, waste should be continuously eliminated from kitting
operations and workers should be trained well to get involved with the processes.
METHODOLOGY
For the objectives to be fulfilled a certain method is to be followed.
First of all it is very important to know how the assembly process happens from beginning to
end and various other parameters like time of assembly process, daily production, and no. of
parts used their quantity in one complete product, inventory for the assembly line etc… Later a
detailed analysis is done on the data to see the drawbacks of present assembly line and
literature study is done to find solutions to issues. A solution is selected and applied to present
assembly line. Later a comparison is done with present assembly line and modified assembly
line.
Introduction
Learning about the assembly process is the most important step in this
project, so gaining sufficient knowledge about the process is very important. So a lot of field
study on assembly line is done like what parts are used in the assembly line, in which quantity
they are being used, kind of bins used for storing parts, quantity in bins, daily production etc…
Current State Analysis
After the collection of data, Data analysis is done to find the problems in
the assembly line, few factors have been taken to evaluate the assembly line.
Introduction
Current state
analysis
Future
Mapping
Evaluation &
action planningImplementation
Literature
Study

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Factors that affect assembly line
There are factors that evaluate the efficiency of assembly line, they are
1. Distance travelled by the part
2. Material Handling
3. Ergonomics
4. Value added non value added activities
5. Space occupied by the assembly line
Literature Study
Literature from internet has been studied; literature about assembly lines,
line balancing, lean manufacturing, six sigma method etc… has been reviewed. Six sigma
techniques are studied briefly to check which methods can be applied to present assembly line.
Apart from literature study few interviews are conducted and
observations are made from assembly line.
Future Mapping
Based on the Literature study done, kitting concept a Lean
manufacturing method is selected to apply. This kitting method is selected to solve problems
like inventory, ergonomics, flexibility etc…
Evaluation & Action Planning
After an improvement method is selected, it has to be implemented.
Implementation requires a lot of care as resources need not be wasted. So data collected about
the parts are used to make kits required for the assembly line. Kitting trolleys are designed and
these kitting trolleys are manufactured and prototypes are to be tested and later if successful
will be made permanent.

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CURRENT ASSEMBLY LINE
Assembly Line
Assembly line we are working is MPV assembly line, it has two work
stations, and two different types of products are made in batches. Two products use same parts
expect for few parts.
Data of present assembly line
W/S
NO.
W/S NAME S.No Part Name Part No.
MPV
HEATER
MPV
DEMISTER
Bin dimensions
(cms)
Bin size
Bin
Quantity
W/S30
HEATER SUB
ASSEMBLY
1 Heater M7443002 1 1 60*40*30 1 14
2 Sealing S L2850 1 1 60*40*22 2 400
3 Sealing A M9555001 1 1 60*40*22 2 500
4 Inlet Pipe CX315001 1 0 60*40*22 2 100
5 Inlet Pipe L7735001 0 0 60*40*22 2 100
6 Outlet Pipe CX316001 1 0 60*40*22 2 100
7 Outlet Pipe L7736001 0 0 60*40*22 2 100
8 O' Rings 748412 2 2 24*22*15 MS Box 100
9 Omega Clips A0739 2 2 25*14*14 MS Box 3000

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W/S
NO.
W/S
NAME
S.No Part Name Part No.
MPV
HEATER
MPV
DEMISTER
Bin
dimensions
Bin size
Bin
Quantity
A40
FINAL
ASSEMBLY
AND LEAK
TESTING
STATION
14 Heater Assl.y M7443002 1 1
15 Blower X7307001 1 1 (70*50*120) Trolley 24
16 Delivery Duct CX320001 1 0 120*80*75 Gibo 13
17 Delivery Duct ET403001 0 1 60*36*50 box 13
18 Hsg CX311002 1 1 60*36*50 box 6
19 Grommet ES132001 0 1 60*40*20 2 100
20 Heater Core Cover CX317001 0 1 60*40*21 2 20
22 Heater retainer cap ET406001 1 0 60*40*21 2 22
21 Fire Wall Sealing CX319001 1 0 40*30*20 3 100
23 Cover R2154001 1 1 60*40*21 2 1000
24 Square Side Sealing CX323001 1 0 60*40*16 2 400
25 Square Side Sealing FR922001 0 1 60*40*16 2 400
26 Heater Pipe Clamp CX318001 1 1 40*30*23 3 100
27 Mounting Bracket ET414001 0 1 40*30*20 3 50
28 Bracket ET413001 0 1 40*30*20 3 50
29 Sheet Nut Z7418001 4 4 10*10*10 MS Box 2000
30 Studs CX324001 2 2 10*10*10 MS Box 50
31 Round Sealing V7700001 1 0 10*10*10 MS Box 50
32 Clip 753537 8 8 10*10*10 MS Box 500
33 Screw K7048 15 3 10*10*10 MS Box 500
Production
Heijunka production system is followed in the plant. Heijunka is a
Japanese word that means “leveling.” When implemented correctly, Heijunka elegantly and
without haste helps organizations meet demand while reducing wastes in production and
interpersonal processes.
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
MPV Heater 0 0 60 0 60 0
MPV Demister 45 45 0 45 0 45

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Movement of child parts in plant-Overview
Movement of parts in plant – Detailed view

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The distance covered by all parts in a week in plant at present will be nearly 1 km and the
material is handled almost 80 times.

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PROPOSED METHOD
After literature study, we agreed upon to implement kitting method. In
kitting method we have kits replacing the bins in the assembly line. So we have to prepare kits
for this assembly line depending upon the size of the parts and quantity required for that days’
production.
Finished goods trolley for MPV Heater is 12 and 9 for Demister. So to
achieve a production of 48 for Heater and 45 for demister, kitting trolley is designed for 24
parts and 2 trolleys are decided to be manufactured.
Kitting Design
There are a total of 19 different parts in which most are common and
few are unique for both, so for this 17 separate bins are required. For 19 parts which are small,
a trolley is designed and for other 2 big parts a trolley is designed. So totally two trolleys are
designed. Dimensions are taken of how much spaces will the 24 of each part will occupy.
PART
Req.
quantity
for job
Dimension Of
Single Part
Dimension
needed for 24
parts
1 Inlet Pipe 24 200*100*20 500*300*200
2 Outlet Pipe 24 220*100*8 500*300*200
3 Sealing A 24 500*25*10 500*80*50
4 Sealing S 24 380*10*10 500*60*50
5 Square Side Sealing 24 400*20*10 500*60*50
6 Heater Core Cover 24 250*170*110 800*370*200
7 Mounting bracket 24 250*170*110 200*115*100
8 Bracket 50 100*70*35 200*115*100
9 Grommet
24
100*50*30
350*100*100
10 Fire Wall Sealing 90*55*15
11 Heater retainer 24 60*40*25 160*130*100
12 Protective Cap 24 140*130*100
13 Cover 24 140*130*100
14 Heater Pipe Clamp 24 90*30*20 100*100*100
15 Sheet Nut 50 100*75*60
16 Studs 50
100*75*60
17 Nuts 50
18 Round sealing 50 115*85*60
19 Bolts 50 115*85*60
A design is made based on these dimensions using AUTOCAD & INVENTOR.
A 2D model is made in AUTOCAD, and a 3D model is made in
INVENTOR.

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2D model
3D model
The design is approved and sent to manufacturer for making the trolley. Bins in Trolley are
made used sheet metal.

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Proto type trolleys
Trolley was subjected to various tests like whether parts are fitting well
or not, is it causing any difficulty while taking the parts, sturdiness of trolley, any damages due
to transportation etc. and was resent to manufacturer for few changes and brought back to plant.
Trolley was subjected to various tests like whether parts are fitting well
or not, is it causing any difficulty while taking the parts, sturdiness of trolley, any damages due
to transportation etc. and was resent to manufacturer for few changes and brought back to plant.
Proposed movement of parts

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Here the distance travelled will be 360 m
Layout Planning
Present Layout of assembly line
W/S 30 cant be removed as it is mered with other assembly line, only A 40 can be modified,
parts at A 40 are removed and trolleys come in place of them.

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Proposed assembly line layout
Kitting trolleys
These trolleys are placed in the assembly line and will be there only at the time of assembly.

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Modified assembly line
After the bins are removed from the work station and trolleys were introduced.

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COMPARISION
Distance travelled by the part
Present method
Modified method

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Material handling
There are 2 stations in the present assembly line, there are 2 different
parts made in the line, there are few replacements of bins made for different parts. Few
replacements are made by store employees and few are by operating engineers itself. There are
nearly 35 replacements made every week and a distance of nearly 350m is travelled by
operating engineer every week.
By the new method this distance will be reduced to zero. The parts
required for the batch will be infront of O.E and there is no need for replacement of parts any
time.
Comparison of material handling and Distance travelled by parts in a week

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Space Comparison
In present assembly line, total space occupied is 4.6 m2
, in the proposed
method the space occupied will be 2.2m2
.
So, the reduction in Space will be 2.4m2
.
Comparision of Production
0 0
60
0 0
60
0 0
60
0 0
60
0 0
60
0 0
60
0 0
60
0 0
60
0 0
60
0 0
60
45 45
0
45 45
0
45 45
0
45 45
0
45 45
0
45 45
0
45 45
0
45 45
0
45 45
0
45 45
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
DailyProduction
Present Production

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By usin the kittin method, with thehelp of trolleys we can achieve production with less
fluctuations.
Ergonomics
Present process needs operating engineer to walk for replacement of few
parts, bend, turn & stretch for taking parts, call store employees for refilling and even wait
sometimes for refilling. The new method doesn't need walking, bending, stretching for parts,
waiting for refilling, as the parts required are in front of them all the time.
DEMISTER, 24
HEATER, 18
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Proposed Production

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Non value added activities
In present process
 There is an usage of store space in plant.
 Work done by operating engineers and store employees replacing parts.
 Time wasted in replacements.
 Space occupied by inventory.
In modified process, there is no need to wait for parts, no time wasted for replacements and no
extra work done by store employees and operating engineers for replacements.

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DISCUSSION
Although the main aim of this project is to increase flexibility and
reduce inventory, which is done by introducing kitting concept, it created few anomilies in
assembly line. It may not be possible to solve all the problems in the assembly line, we cant
achieve the efficiency of hundred percent some or the other time human errors will creep in.
eventhough we made a good progress by implmenting kitting method. There are both
advantages and drawbacks with this kitting concept, but we can work on the drawbacks and see
faults never happen.
Advantages with New Kitting Method
• Doesn’t occupy space in plant store.
• Occupies less space on shop floor.
• Reduction of work done by O.E’s and store employees.
• The elimination of searching time.
• Ergonomically better
• Reduction of inventory
• Flexible
• Reduced material handling
• Kits are easier to learn for assembly workers
• It would be easy to notice if a component is missing.
Limitations of Kitting Method
It is crucial to mention the drawbacks of kitting concept to be able to give an unbiased
representation. The major drawbacks which were mentioned in the literature are as follows:
· Preparing the kits requires some time and effort which is a non value adding activity.
· Kitting is likely to increase in storage space requirement, especially when kits are prepared in
advance.
· When different kits contain common parts, an assignment of available parts to kits needs to
be done.
· Temporary shortage of parts will decrease the overall efficiency of kitting. Spare parts might
be needed at the assembly line in the case that a part in the kit is wrong or defected, otherwise
the production will be disrupted.
· Not all components are suitable for kitting.

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Precautions To Be Taken In Kitting Process
1. Do not start assembly unless the kit is complete. Assign one person as the gater to be in
charge of the complete kit and gater’s tasks are defined as follows:
Making sure that only the jobs that need to be produced according to the schedule will be
released.
Auditing the batch sizes and ensuring that only small lots that conform to the demand will be
released.
Making sure that only complete kits are released.
2. If the process / assembly or subassembly time exceeds 50% of total lead time, the levels of
assembly should be redefined.
3. All entities needed to complete the process are included in the kit.
Problems With Incomplete Kits
More WIP (Work In Progress): An incomplete kit causes an increase in WIP due to the job
waits for the arrival of additional components.
Longer lead time: The practice of using an incomplete kit causes more setups and the double
handling means more time per part is spent.
Poor quality and more rework: Incomplete kits tend to wait in inadequate storage facilities
for too long until the missing item arrives.
Decline in productivity: Experience shows that releasing an incomplete kit to the floor means
spending 40% more working hours than working with a complete kit.
More operating expenses: High WIP causes more operating expenses on account of more
holding costs, more scrap and more work put into the job.
Decline in workers motivation: Regardless of their education and training, and level of
complexity of the work they are doing, the people lose motivation and trust in the system when
they feel that they are forced to do apparently unnecessary work.
Increase in complexity of controls: Even a simple flow chart may become inordinately
complicated when incomplete kits are allowed in the system.
By following necessary precautions we can ensure we can apply kitting method efficiently.

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CONCLUSION
The present method of assembly line has many disadvantages like occupying a lot of space
for workstations and inventory, less flexibility, frequent refilling, more work etc. They can be
rectified by applying lean manufacturing methods, and method we applied here is kitting
method. Here we will be making kits from the parts required in the assembly with the help of
kitting trolleys. This is done by collecting the no. of parts, dimensions of parts, quantity of
parts required. By kitting method we can be able to reduce distance travelled by the parts,
improve material handling and improve ergonomics, reduce non value adding activities and
improve flexibility. The main reason for kitting was observed as space requirements, other
benefits such as quality and learning aspects. Kitting was observed to show numerous benefits
if applied properly. But even this method has limitations and when not implemented correctly
may prove costly. Drawbacks of kitting are mostly caused by wrongly prepared kits, kitting too
much or unnecessary parts. According to the analysis, kitting operations can go along with lean
philosophies as long as kits are secured so that they are 100% correct in the first. Additionally,
waste should be continuously eliminated from kitting operations and workers should be trained
well to get involved with the processes.

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REFERENCES
1. Assembly line design and optimization , Master of Science Thesis, Artun Törenli
2. An Evaluation of Kitting Systems in Lean Production BY M. Alper Corakci
3. Production and operation management by ANIL KUMAR, New age Publishers.
4. Medbo L., 2003, Assembly Work Execution and Materials Kit Functionality in Parallel
Flow Assembly Systems. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics.
5. Dennis, P., 2002. Lean Production Simplified. Taylor & Francis, Inc.
6. Bozer and McGinnis, 1992, Kitting versus line stocking: a conceptual framework and a
descriptive model. International Journal of Production Economics
7. Design and Analysis of Lean Production Systems. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
8. http://www.isixsigma.com/
9. http://leanmanufacturingtools.org/
10. www.leanproduction.com
11. www.wikepedia.com/assembly_line