Combination of Lean value-oriented conception and facility layout design for even more significant efficiency improvement and cost reduction

Global market competition and fluctuating customers' demands require manufacturing enterprises to focus on cost reduction and efficiency improvement to increase competitiveness and sustainability. The purpose of the research was the elaboration of the methodology and procedure of a new combined efficiency improvement method which basically applies Lean methods and also uses the facility layout design (FLD) method simultaneously, integrating the different advantages of these methods, which is even more efficient that applying each of the methods individually. The main significant added-value of the study is the elaboration of a new combined method, which results in even more significant improvement of efficiency and several KPIs, furthermore, cost reduction, which is confirmed by a real case study for the improvement of a manufacturing plant. In the case study, the application of 13 Lean methods and the FLD method (which aims at the minimisation of material workflow, travel distance of materials, material handling cost and space used for assembly) led to the improvement of 10 quantitative and 5 qualitative indicators: productivity; cycle-time; number of workstations and operators; WIP (work-in-process) inventories; space used for assembly; material workflow; travel distance of materials; material handling cost; labour cost; component supply; products' quality; transparency; standardisation; workplace ergonomics.