Tool for Productivity Improvement In Manufacturing Industry

BRAINSTORMING: AN EFFECTIVE TOOL FOR
PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVEMENT IN MANUFACTURING
INDUSTRY
VIKASH GAHLYAN AND DR. S.K. SHARMA
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra,
INDIA
ABSTRACT
In the modern globalize market the only way to maintain competitive position in the
market is customer utmost satisfaction. Further customer demands product or services of
better quality and cheaper rates. Enhancement of productivity in the field of
manufacturing production is of very great importance to an organization’s ability to
compete and make profit over time. Brainstorming is one of the most well-known tools
for creative thinking. Many empirical studies have been conducted regarding the
effectiveness of this approach to group idea generation. In this article a case study is done
in a manufacturing industry (Sona Somic Lemforder Pvt. Ltd. Gurgaon) for productivity
improvement through brainstorming. The operations involved in socket machining are
socket forging, boring, grooving and tapping. The various ideas generated by
brainstorming are implemented in industry. The brainstorming is implemented to solve
the problems of low productivity and high cycle time keeping the fact of cost and quality
in mind.
1. INTRODUCTION
The long history of productivity improvement has deep roots in manufacturing industry.
To achieve world-class customer service, advanced productivity and quality management
techniques supported by management commitment and good organization will provide
objective means of improving productivity and quality, and hence the overall
organizational competitiveness. This directs the researchers and practitioners to look at
productivity and quality improvements issues from a perspective of needs, issues and
enablers. The modern manager's role has changed in the new economy and with it the
corresponding productivity and quality management functions and improvements.
Brainstorming can be an effective way to generate lots of ideas on a specific issue and
then determine which idea – or ideas – is the best solution.
Brainstorming is most effective with groups of 8-12 people and should be performed in a
relaxed environment. If participants feel free to relax and joke around, they'll stretch their
minds further and therefore produce more creative ideas. A brainstorming session
requires a facilitator, a brainstorming space and something on which to write ideas, such
as a white-board a flip chart or software tool. The facilitator's responsibilities include
guiding the session, encouraging participation and writing ideas down. Brainstorming
works best with a varied group of people. Participants should come from various
departments across the organization and have different backgrounds. Even in specialist

areas, outsiders can bring fresh ideas that can inspire the experts. There are numerous
approaches to brainstorming, but the traditional approach is generally the most effective
because it is the most energetic and openly collaborative, allowing participants to build
on each others' ideas. Creativity exercises, relaxation exercises or other fun activities
before the session can help participants relax their minds so that they will be more
creative during the brainstorming session.
In this paper, a real example of implementation of brainstorming has been done for better
productivity. This company is an example of a manufacturing industry facing many
problems with productivity and quality. In this project, the focus is on the machining of
sockets and in particular socket tapping. The aim of the paper is to present some
experiences in the implementation of brainstorming.
2. BACKGROUND FOR RESEARCH
Productivity is a measure of the efficiency of production. Productivity is a ratio of
production output to what is required to produce it (inputs). The measure of productivity
is defined as a total output per one unit of a total input. At the national level, productivity
growth raises living standards because more real income improves people's ability to
purchase goods and services, enjoy leisure, improve housing and education and
contribute to social and environmental programs. Productivity growth is important to the
firm because it means that the firm can meet its (perhaps growing) obligations to
customers, suppliers, workers, shareholders, and governments (taxes and regulation), and
still remain competitive or even improve its competitiveness in the market place. As W.
Edwards Deming (1986, 1) put it, “Folklore has it in America that quality and production
is incompatible: that you cannot have both. A plant manager will tell you that it is either
or. In his experience, if he pushes quality, he falls behind in production .If he pushes
production, his quality suffers.” Parasuraman (2002, 6) further stated, “Conflicts between
cost considerations and customer-service improvements are frequently resolved in favor
of the former, particularly in companies predisposed to boosting their bottom lines by
cutting costs.”
Productivity as a concept can be defined and can be operationalized, i.e. made
measurable with the aid of production data. Production data is measured data related to
the production process in the form of prices and quantities of inputs and outputs.
Productivity is usually expressed in one of three forms: partial factor productivity,
multifactor productivity, and total productivity.
The Yale study (Taylor, Berry and Block, 1958) that formed the foundation for a great
deal of the empirical work will be summarized and examined in the light of Osborn’s
suggestions and best-case applications for brainstorming. Osborn (1942, 1948, 1952a&b,
1953, 1957, 1963, 1967) felt that the creative productivity of groups was often hindered
due to the primarily evaluative orientations of most meetings. Brainstorming has been
defined as a group tool designed as a supplement to individual ideation and usually
followed by another session designed to evaluate and develop options. Broadening
participation in decision making often increases the acceptance of change and working in
groups may encourage the cooperative building of improved options and solutions
(Bennis and Biederman 1997). This project focuses on the socket tapping process
because it involves the high cost and high cycle time as compared to other socket

machining process. Another important issue for any productivity improvement program
is ‘people management’. Accordingly, Ross (1994) argues that job satisfaction is an
important factor to have productive workers, so that any improvement program in the
working environment. Brainstorming is a tool used by teams to bring out the ideas of
each individual and present them in an orderly fashion to the rest of the team. The key
ingredient is to provide an environment free of criticism for creative and unrestricted
exploration of options or solutions. Brainstorming verbally frequently does not work.
Visual brainstorming that is brainstorming with images, objects and actions frequently
work spectacularly well (Daniel, 1995). Visual brainstorming is about collaboratively
generating ideas without using the spoken or written word. You might use objects which
teams put together to solve problems. You might use arts and crafts materials such as
colored construction paper, tape, string, card, pens and the like. You might use people to
create improvisational role plays.
3. CASE STUDY
The company, Sona, manufactures various components for the automotive industry. One
of its branches, Sona Somic Lemforder Pvt. Ltd. Gurgaon, specialises in producing ball
joints which gives limited rotation and oscillatory motion. The company was initially set
up as Sona Somic Components Limited in the year 1995, a joint venture with Somic
Ishikawa of Japan. Sona Somic Lemforder (SSL) Components Ltd is a fast growing
Automotive Company. It is a joint venture now between:
1) Sona Koyo Steering Systems Ltd. INDIA
2) ZF – Lemforder. GERMANY
3) Somic Ishikawa Inc. JAPAN
SSL is a leading manufacturer of ball joints for steering systems and suspension
components in the company. Its products are used in passenger cars, jeeps and light
commercial vehicles. Ball joints employed in steering are basically of two types: 1. Inner
ball joint 2.Outer ball joints. The work in company is semi-automatic. The main reason of
project selection was to enhance the capacity by process improvement, to reduce the
cycle time in socket machining, and to reduce cost of socket machining. The operations
done in socket machining are as follows:
Socket forging is done for the shaping of metal as shown above.
Socket boring is done to enlarging the drilled hole. It also involves facing and
turning.
After doing facing, chamfering and turning grooves are made as shown in figure.
In last operation tapping is performed for internal thread cutting.
4. METHODOLOGY
The methodology used in this project is implementation of brainstorming technique in the
company. Under planning phase of PDCA CYCLE given by Deming (1950) the
brainstorming is done. The PDCA cycle means