Application of Lean Manufacturing Concepts to Reduce Manufacturing Lead Times within the Meatball Production Process

Abstract

© IEOM Society International. The case study company, a meatball manufacturer, is having problem meeting customer demand. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to help reduce the case study company's manufacturing lead times through the application of Lean Manufacturing concepts. Value Stream Mapping was used to identify the key problems to be found across the production process. It was found that the current process used to lower the temperature of the meatballs causes a bottleneck as it takes 16 hours, which represents 92% of the entire production time. To release this bottleneck, a one-half fraction of a 24 experimental design was used to determine those parameters that significantly affect the temperature of the meatballs in the meatball cooling processes. As a result, the study established a new process; that before placing the meatballs in the refrigerator, the company should change from cooling them down using blowing air at room temperature, to dropping cold water on them for 10 minutes. Introducing this change reduced the time taken to lower the temperature of the meatballs from 16 hours to 4.5 hours, a reduction of 71%. This new process will allow the company to increase the number of meatballs products manufactured, plus will allow the company to meet customer demands while delivering the same high quality product. © IEOM Society International.