Kartläggning av värdeflöden för prefabkonstruktion av kundanpassade betongprodukter : En fallstudie av APJ-Prefab AB

Sammanfattning: The background to the study is the increasing demand for customized products, which has led to more customer-driven companies being established to meet customers' needs. However, the requirements are the same for these companies as for non-customer driven companies, namely to reduce lead times, production costs and increase quality in order to thus become more competitive and profitable in the market. The purpose of the study was to investigate how value stream mapping (VSM), which is initially a tool adapted for linear production, can be applied within a customer order-driven company characterized by high variation and low volume (HVLV). The aim is also to identify problem areas and develop suggestions for improvement. In order to answer the purpose of the study, a literature study was carried out in parallel with a case study at a manufacturing company that produces customized concrete products. Relevant literature was collected in order to be able to carry out a mapping of the production process with the help of the VSM tool. Interviews and observations made up the empirical material. Together, the theory and the collected material have formed the basis for answering the study's purpose and questions. Through the current VSM map together with production design, it was found that the case company has a complex material flow consisting of long transport routes, many intersecting material flows, many intermediate warehouses and where waste could be identified. This then constituted the development of improvement proposals and how the case company can make operations more efficient. The main conclusion of this study is that VSM can be adapted to operations with other production characteristics. The aspects that have proven to be significant when implementing VSM at companies, within the aforementioned context, is that the focus should be on mapping the physical flow of material and information and not treating time variables. In addition to the use of process maps that show the location of the processes inside the factory premises, which results in the practitioner being able to see intersecting material paths in the production process. Finally, the study reported other aspects that proved significant, namely the mapping of the professional worker's role in the flow, which theory around VSM does not deal with.