Productivity enhancement through reduction of changeover time by implementing SMED technique - in furniture industry

Bangladesh has a vast economic position in the readymade furniture sector both in the local and global market. In spite of the greater contribution of the furniture industry to the national economy, furniture businesses are facing several problems including low productivity due to unnecessary changeover, excessive waste, and inappropriate production process. This research focuses mainly on changeover activities of the bending machine used in the metal tube section of furniture manufacture organisations to fabricate products of various specifications. This paper analyses the changeover method of different operations to address the applicability of single minute exchange of the die (SMED) technique. It also identifies various causes related to unnecessary changeover and its associated impact on production cycle time. The results show that tool and die changeover time reduces from 34.24 minutes to 11.91 minutes, i.e., by 22.33 minutes, and productivity improved by 65.28%. The achievements of SMED implementation are reduction in lead time, cycle time, work-in process inventory level, and improved flexibility. It is found that even a small company or a part of it can make significant improvements by adopting SMED.