Analysis and Installation of a New Line for Assembling Heat Exchangers

The study concerns the implementation of Lean Manufacturing in a company that manufactures heat exchangers in order to improve the performance of an assembly line. After analyzing the value stream in the current situation, changes were made to the layout and the operations, aiming to eliminate activities that do not add value for the customer, reduce lead times and increase the speed and flexibility to changes in demand in terms of volumes and product mix. Changes to the system were introduced in a model to simulate both the present situation (“as-is”) and the future situation of the value stream (analysis "to-be") and to identify the configuration of a new assembly line that allows for the improvement of material handling and reduction of lead time. A new layout was developed, and a supermarket was introduced to feed materials to assembling operations.