Efficiency Increment on Assembly Line of Combine Harvester at CNHI, Pune

Productivity, a crucial metric serves as a benchmark for enhancing product quality and variation reduction kaizen is a method of continuous improvement used in businesses to improve product quality. The objective of research work is to reduce or eliminate variability in manufacturing processes that might lead to failures, inconsistencies and customer discontent. This paper showcases the work carried at CNHi (Case New Holland industrials) a multi-national manufacturing industry, plant located at Pune, Maharashtra. This paper presents detail study carried out on the assembly line of the combine harvester in the plant. After assembly the combine harvester goes for dynamic testing, during which an undesirable jerk was observed in the reel cylinder. Upon investigation, it was determined that the root cause of this jerk was the entanglement of the reel cylinder with the header frame. Consequently, the header frame suffered damage with each operation performed by the operator, leading to a decline in its overall structural integrity. During inspections in the warehouse, it was discovered that a significant 40% of the vehicles exhibited similar issues. The goal is to achieve consistent and reliable product quality that meets or exceeds customer expectations and establish quality control within the industry. The detailed study of the observed problem was carried out and the different solutions are proposed based on root cause analysis which minimizes defects and reduces the need of rework on quality. Minimizing variations in business processes is crucial for cost reduction, as it helps to avoid errors, rework and waste leading to significant savings that can be redirected towards improved pricing and enhanced competitiveness in the market.