Implementing various lean methodologies and creating a business development plan at an ABB Greenfield site

Abstract

As part of its strategic initiatives, ABB inaugurated a 100,000 sq-m campus for an Engineering, Sourcing, and Manufacturing Operations center in San Luis Potosi (SLP), Mexico in May 2008. The ramp-up of the SLP site encompassed two focus areas that are the topics for this thesis. The first area of focus was to create a business development guide that supports Mexican and North American division managers, plant managers, and their supporting personnel to successfully establish new business in SLP. Having such a guide available is expected to reduce start-up time of operations, increase decision-making speed, improve productivity in multi-divisional projects, and ultimately increase potential internal business opportunities. This thesis presents a case study on how this guide was designed, developed, and implemented. The second focus area was to implement several Lean principles, the most significant one being "5S." A case study on its planned application, procedure to measure implementation level and effectiveness on quality, productivity, and on-time delivery is discussed. A discussion on the stronger emphasis by management on implementation measurement versus effectiveness measurement and possible reasons for this gap of expectations is also presented. Finally, the production area for the Robot Refurbishment line was redesigned based on the target of reducing factory floor space for use in other ventures, meanwhile simultaneously increasing lead times in the manufacturing process.