Comparative Analysis of the Implementation of the SMED Method on Selected Production Stands

Nowadays, companies are looking for newer and newer methods in order to increase their efficiency and effectiveness. Many of them decide to implement Lean Manufacturing philosophy because the benefits of the introduction of this philosophy apply not only to the industrial but also to the financial and commercial areas. These changes can increase the efficiency of production realized with small investments, improve product quality, reduce inventory as well as material consumption. This philosophy can shorten the delivery time and product quality what leads to the increased customer satisfaction and enhances the competitiveness of enterprises. One of the tools of Lean Manufacturing is the Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) method. The implementation of this method reduces machines changeover time, which is a waste. This method makes it possible to implement a continuous flow of the product without long waiting times and, most importantly, without any performance loss. The results of the implementation of the SMED method on several different production work stands are presented in this work. The selected stands differ in type (conventional, semi-automatic, automatic) and their role in a production process (bottlenecks, support process). The work, by means of indicative evaluation, assesses the ability to increase the efficiency of machines for the analysed production work stands. The work indicates the effects a company may expect having decided to implement the SMED method for the production areas that are a part of either the main or support processes.