Business Case
A manufacturer of hospital furniture producing cots, ICU beds, trolleys, and related accessories was facing severe delivery delays despite having a strong order book. Production planning was driven by daily firefighting and urgent customer priorities, resulting in unfinished material scattered across the shopfloor and frequent delays in dispatch.
The goal was to increase production capacity while transforming the factory into a structured and system-driven manufacturing operation capable of meeting growing customer demand.
Current State Observations
To identify improvement opportunities, our team conducted a diagnostic study and value stream mapping of the hospital cot manufacturing process.
- Only 56 out of 81 process activities were value-adding; the remaining involved movement, marking, and other non-value-added tasks.
- Material movement inside the factory covered nearly 200 feet due to functional machine grouping and unplanned layout expansion.
- Welding operations were a major bottleneck with a cycle time of 47 minutes per cot frame.
Solution Synopsis
- The manufacturing layout was redesigned from a batch layout to a single-piece flow configuration aligned with the sequence of operations.
- Kaizen improvements eliminated non-value-added activities such as excessive operator movement, marking, and material handling.
- Welding workstations were redesigned with fixtures and ergonomic tables to eliminate floor welding and reduce operator strain.
- Template-based fixtures were introduced to eliminate repetitive measuring and marking before cutting and drilling operations.
- 5S and visual management practices were implemented to standardize work practices and improve workplace organization.
- Lean planning and scheduling systems were introduced, including order tracking boards and improved material planning based on BOM and supplier lead times.
Outcomes
The lean transformation significantly improved production flow, productivity, and delivery performance.
Before
- Production output averaged 2 hospital cots per day, limiting the company’s ability to fulfill orders.
- Excessive movement and batch processing created delays and high work-in-progress inventory.
- Material movement inside the factory covered approximately 200 feet.
After
- Production output increased from 2 to 8 cots per day (300% improvement).
- Material movement reduced from 200 feet to 80 feet (60% reduction).
- Throughput time reduced from 200 minutes to 80 minutes, enabling faster delivery and lower inventory.
