CASE STUDIES Lean Manufacturing: Armor Components for Military Vehicles Problem Customer had been required to ramp up production of armor components for military vehicles very quickly. Improvements in the process and layout were desired to produce a high quality product with optimal cycle time and minimal waste. A major issue was the process bottleneck, the heated vessel in which the parts are cured, which is called an autoclave. Solution A number of layout and process improvements were implemented based on a 3-day Value Stream Analysis Process sm , which documented the current state, designed the future state, and developed a project plan to manage the improvements. Results Total throughput increased from 70 units per week to 262 units per week. (374% improvement) Man-hours per unit decre

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