Level schedule implementation in unstable manufacturing environments

Abstract

American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. (AAM), headquartered in Detroit (MI) is one of the major Tier 1 suppliers in the automotive industry. The main challenge in AAM plant 2 is production rate unstability due to downtime, quality, changeover and absenteeism issues. The company is currently making a major effort to reduce this unstability. This thesis describes some of the systems which have been implemented in order to improve the inventory management policy in this factory. The document is structured around three main topics: research on the operations and materials management policy in Plant 2, design of new lean management systems ( level scheduling and visual management) and design of new Operations Research-based production planning tools to coordinate multiple mixed model production lines in an unstable manufacturing environment. Special emphasis is placed on the role of execution for true improvement and the challenges faced by the implementation team in this initiative.