*4.7. Identification of Problems*

Based on the previous stages, the reengineering team defined that the main problem was that the decorating area has two lines, where the same activities are carried out during the shoe manufacturing process. One of the two lines has a U type flow line (Line 2) and, the other line lacks of design (Line 1), including the latter being the one that has many conflicts during the process due to reduced spaces between one activity. The has a bad sequence in the flow of the material and inadequate order of operations and equipment. For this reason, it is one of the areas with the greatest conflicts within the company and in which the proposal detailed in the next section will focus.

### *4.8. Analysis of the Process and Proposal*

In this phase, the proposal was generated, considering the results of the previous phases. Of the ideas that were generated in the training phase of the team, it was selected to merge both lines of scenery due to their economic viability. The others were discarded because they would generate problems among the workers or because of the economic cost to the company, which, at that time, it could not assume.

In the proposal, a change is made in the distribution of machinery and equipment. The old plant layout is shown in Figure 6. The area and its activities: flaming, cleaning, painting, gloss, fitting, packing and stowage is presented. This area is divided in two line 1 and line 2, according to what was observed in the company. In these lines, there is no logical sequence in the workflow and in the route of the materials, which causes delays in production. The Desma 1 and Desma 2 machines are distributed in different areas with one at 25 meters and the other at 15 meters, respectively, which is due to their technical conditions that cannot be moved. In the third activity, painting on the soles of the shoe, line 1, also has flow problems. It is necessary to pass the shoes under a table to get to the next activity where paint is applied to the sole of the shoe. Later, another operator performs the application of polish gloss, where both lines share the machinery, which causes accumulation of shoes.

After analyzing the current process, an improvement to the production process is proposed in which a change is made in the distribution of machinery and equipment. The proposed plant layout is shown in Figure 7, where the work area and a new U-type material flow path can be seen, which occupies the same dimensions, allowing for greater mobility and eliminating unnecessary work such as passing the shoes under a table to get to the next activity. Additionally, a merger of both lines

of work is proposed, becoming a single line of work within the decorating area with a new distribution and with more space between activities. The flow will be as follows. At the beginning, two operators go to the injection department and take 100 pairs of shoes from the warehouse, which are transported in a box to the decorating area. The shoe is taken to the first activity in the area, flaming, in this activity. Unlike the previous process, you can have 100 instead of 50 pairs of shoes, allowing the shoe to be closer to the operation and the three operators to take it and process it faster, which sends it to the next activity: cleaning. In this activity, eleven people clean the shoe and, unlike the previous configuration, the shoe is stored in an orderly manner by preventing the worker from being surrounded by shoes.

**Figure 6.** Flow of the current process elaborated by the author based on what was observed in the company.

As shown in Figure 6, where we observe the poor design of the work area, a bad flow of material and a total disorder of the area. Once the shoe is cleaned, it is taken to the painting activity in which three operators participate in painting the sole, so that they can be processed in the application of the gloss by two operators. Instantly, two operators place a paper inside the shoe for interior protection, and the shoelace is placed in it, while obtaining the finished shoe. Subsequently, it is packaged and labeled, according to the characteristics of the shoe. Lastly, three operators stow the boxes, until obtaining five pairs of shoes and placing a safety clasp, to transport them to the "Finished Product Warehouse" area.

The proposal was validated with a Simulation in the Software Arena™ and is described in the next section. Once the proposal was validated through simulation, a meeting was held. There, the leader spoke of the need to redesign the decorating area. It is necessary to mention that the designation of the activities, necessary resources, and the time to achieve it were decided by the company and did not allow that the activities and results achieved were published. Therefore, only the proposal validation is detailed in the following section. Although, the proposal was implemented and brought good results, even superior to those generated through simulation.

**Figure 7.** Flow of the proposal process, merger of both lines, elaborated by the author.
