EFFEKTIVISERING AV MATERIALFLÖDET : – HUR KAN ETT FÖRETAG FÖRBÄTTRA SINA EKONOMISKA PARAMETRAR?

Sammanfattning: The automotive industry has given over the last seven decades to the industrial world a sustained demand for vehicles. It is classed as one of the largest industries in the world and an industry that most use and develop new technologies with the goal to reduce their costs and increase their productivity.The Japanese philosophy that calls from the west-world for Lean Management is based on, among other things, the elimination of the "muda" which translates as waste through continuous efforts aimed at achieving a robust manufacturing. To achieve this, uses several methods and tools and among others is the Just-In-Time approach the most abundant. JIT means the right material will be in the right place at a specific time. This study will most be focused on a strategy that is considered the most extreme application of the concept, namely the Just-In-Sequence strategy in which the components are delivered in the right time and in the right sequence in a pull system manufacturing there the goal is to see if the lead times and resource need can be minimized.To test the appropriate theory takes the study place at Volvo Cars in Torslanda, Sweden. Volvo Cars manufactures some of the most popular cars in the world, with production in Europe, Asia, and from 2018 also in the United States. The company implements the Lean methods and especially JIT but also JIS in some parts of the assembly.This study was done on the engine department there the engines arrive from the supplier in a rack that runs further to the different buffers and from there to the production line for final assembly.The purpose was to investigate and report on how the company could through using of the JIS strategy affect the material flow as well as which economic benefits had this implementation resulted.The study took into account both sequencing at the supplier and sequencing in the plant after the arrival. Both methods resulted a more efficient flow of materials in which a reduction in the need of resources was noted. The sequencing at the supplier proved to be even more advantageous, as in most of the cases, production costs less at suppliers but also the reduction in capital was radically.IITo achieve a perfect sequence requires close cooperation with the suppliers and a quite big investment to create robust processes that eliminates the error probability.The main recommendation to Volvo Cars is to mostly focus on the big picture than on each plant individually. To achieve a more efficient flow and a better result for the entire organization is something that should be given priority even if a facility would then get a worse result. Finally, it is recommended to Volvo Cars to invest in a Just-In-Sequence strategy which bring benefits such as freeing up operative area in the factory, but most important of all, it reduces the lead times and the resource-costs.