A model to improve the cheese production process through Lean Manufacturing tools. Case study: Lácteos Montúfar

More and more companies worldwide have implemented the Lean Manufacturing Methodology to improve Quality by focusing on standardized processes and continuous improvement through the elimination of waste. The Dairy Industry has been one of the most important activities in Ecuador and requires adapting this Methodology in its processes. The objective of this study is to improve the cheese production process, focusing on waste elimination and continuous improvement. For this, the VSM (Value Stream Map) has been carried out to know the flow of materials of the company, as well as the times that add and do not add value, the actual measurement of the times of how long the process takes has been carried out and with this Information was obtained from the indicators takt time, cycle time, real time; The evaluation of the OEE percentage and finally the balance diagram were also made. After having the baseline, the application of tools such as 5S, Kaizen, TPM and the redistribution of facilities was proposed. The results obtained indicated that there are bottlenecks in the Draining and Grinding and Molding subprocesses and the OEE percentage would be oscillating at 76%, however, when the improvements were proposed, it would rise to 82% and there would no longer be bottlenecks. , thus evidencing that the Implementation of Lean Manufacturing Tools is of great importance since it improves the organization even in the work environment.