Optimization of Assembly Material Feeding : at Electrolux Professional AB

Electrolux Professional AB is a multinational industrial appliance manufacturer and among many other things one of the leading global providers of laundry solutions in Ljungby, Sweden. Electrolux, being a global company with millions of customers, are always striving for the most efficient way of work in order to reach the best results. The ambition of this thesis was therefore to produce a specified suggestion of how to make a change in Electrolux Professional’s production to improve the resource, cost, and workflow efficiency directly and/or indirectly. This is done on the basis of answering two questions: 1. Is the current system improvable? 2. What kind of resources are needed to improve the efficiency in the assembly system? This thesis evaluates what kind of change of routines for picking and assembly workers (with the help of both theoretical framework and suitable solution for specifically Electrolux Professional) are needed to achieve a more efficient flow. Through the collected data, observations and unstructured interviews with the staff at Electrolux Professional, together with theoretical knowledge, important factors that need to be taken into account when implementing a more efficient work flow could be developed and thus answer the study’s question: Assuming that it is possible, with which resources/methods can the internal production system be changed to contribute to the company’s goal of making the production 50% more efficient? Several improvement suggestions were studied, including a rearrangement in the warehouse, and internal system change and even self-driving trucks. The solution that was proved to be most time and resource efficient to test and most optimal to change on short notice was a restructure in the assembly material feeding process. This could be achieved by changing the routine of the workers. By simulating a change in the daily work routines, it was proven that Electrolux Professional can use 4 fulltime workers instead of 5,5. In a long term this is quite an improvement, regarding time, money and production flow for the company