Time-Based Manufacturing System Design for Softwood Lumber Production

dc.contributor.authorLeonard, Henry Tayloren
dc.contributor.committeechairKline, D. Earlen
dc.contributor.committeememberSmith, Robert M.en
dc.contributor.committeememberBond, Brian H.en
dc.contributor.departmentWood Science and Forest Productsen
dc.date.accessioned2014-03-14T20:48:33Zen
dc.date.adate2005-12-27en
dc.date.available2014-03-14T20:48:33Zen
dc.date.issued2005-11-28en
dc.date.rdate2008-12-27en
dc.date.sdate2005-11-30en
dc.description.abstractManufacturing industries in the United States continue to experience increasing pressure from foreign competition. Through decreasing product lead time, U.S. manufacturers can achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Southern yellow pine manufacturing is an example of an industry that can benefit from product lead time reduction. This project involved a case study of a southern yellow pine lumber manufacturer. Value stream mapping was used to evaluate the current lead time for the lumber manufacturer as well as design future state systems. Current state evaluation discovered an average lead time of 35.3 days according to six months of inventory data. Four future state systems were developed according to current demand and had lead times ranging from 10.8 to 14.9 days. Lead time reduction was achieved through more closely synchronizing and planing operations with sawmill output. To illustrate the impact of lead time on financial performance, the amount of capital invested in inventory was evaluated for the current state value stream as well as the future state value streams. All of the future state capital inventory requirements were less than 50 percent of the current state capital inventory requirement. Implementation of future state value streams would allow the manufacturer to benefit from having more available capital. This research project also investigated the use of pull production at the softwood lumber manufacturing operation. Effective implementation of pull production would require improving headrig optimization programs, presorting material by grade before drying, little or no drying degrade, and reducing both drying and cooling time. Due to the technological requirements of pull production in lumber manufacturing, the system was not currently feasible for the lumber manufacturer. Future research efforts should be directed towards creating the technology necessary to economically implement pull production in the softwood sawmill industry.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Scienceen
dc.identifier.otheretd-11302005-102751en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-11302005-102751/en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/35860en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.relation.haspartETD.pdfen
dc.relation.hasparts05-777.pdfen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectcapital inventory requirementen
dc.subjectlead timeen
dc.subjectValue-stream mappingen
dc.subjectsoftwood lumber productionen
dc.titleTime-Based Manufacturing System Design for Softwood Lumber Productionen
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplineWood Science and Forest Productsen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Scienceen

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
ETD.pdf
Size:
604.33 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
s05-777.pdf
Size:
43.69 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format

Collections