Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen und Management

Using Lean Techniques and Simulation to Improve the Efficiency of Engineered Wood Production: A Case Study in a Small Factory

Abstract

Marzieh Ghiyasinasab, Lehoux N, Ménard S and Cloutier C

Purpose: Modular construction manufacturing (MCM) has been recognized as an efficient solution to improve standardization and increase efficiency in the construction industry. Production of engineered wood for construction projects may be considered as a type of MCM. The production system of design-specific engineered wood contains some repeatable production processes while each project contains its unique design and specifications. Glued laminated timber (glulam) is a type of engineered wood product which is applicable to construction as an environment-friendly product. Production of curved glulam generally has longer production time than the straight glulam beam. This paper considers improvements in the production of glulam by investigating the sources of waste in the production processes.
Design/Methodology/Approach: A simulation model is built for glulam production and validated with a case-study for a gridshell project in a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME). Sources of waste are identified, lean methods are suggested for improvement and lean solutions are tested in the simulation model.
Findings and Originality/Value: The results demonstrate improvements in cycle time and wait time. Since complete elimination of waste may be costly and difficult for an SME when beginning to implement lean techniques, the impact of applying only 50% elimination of non-value adding activities is compared with 100% elimination.