SMED AS AN INDISPENSABLE PART OF LEAN MANUFACTURING IN THE SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

Lean allows to simplify and speed up the process while reducing or eliminating waste. This makes Lean concept very useful in solving a problem which is presented here. This paper presents the technique of the Lean concept, opposite to the tradicional approach allows the early market entry of products. The research was conducted in the real company environment, to reduce or eliminate the small stop time loss using the single minute exchange of dies (SMED). The SMED technique which has been only widely used to improve changeover loss has been proven to be an effective approach to also tackle the small stops. This type of the loss wich has been regarded as one of the most difficult losses to be reduced among all the six big the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) losses. The application of SMED technique in a labeling industry (Trim Ltd Company) completely eliminated the small stop time loss. The OEE is measured before and after the improvements.