Improvement of productivity of a cycle parts manufacturing unit

Abstract

The improvement of produc~ivity is ~. concer:n which involve several disciplines, in"eluding management, design engineering, ergonomi.cs, safety engineering, etc .. Most of the cycle parts manufacturing units in Bangladesh cannot compete with the imported bicycles components. The -primary reason being their higher costs of production arising due to -lack of proper utilization of man, machine and raw materials, excessive consumptions of spare parts and fast moying tools and failure to meet the market demand. In this regard the present work was conducted in a local production unit claimed to be the largest bi-cycle components manufacturer in the country. The objectives of the study were (i) to study and analyse of the existing production system,(ii) to suggest ways and means to overcome the weakness and- bottlenecks to increase efficiency and productivity, (iii) to examine the scope for import su bstitution of some spare parts, (iv) to optimize of machine utilization and maximizing profit through optimum product-mix_ of selected spare parts and (v) to investigate inj~ry occurance profiles and their preventions. It was revealed; as usually found in similar studies elsewhere in various production systems that no scientific methodology was applied to improve the overall productivity of the unit. From its inception, as found from the study, standards of production were not set properly. In conducting this 'study an analysis of the production system was done with an objective to identify the factors due to which productivity suffers. In this regard idle/unproductive man and machine has been ascertained _and ways have been suggested to remove the bottlenecks in the production system.