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Maintenance has assumed an increasing importance in the reorganization of the industrial sector. However, there are several companies where a maintenance strategic plan needs to be implemented. This work was developed in an industrial context, in a company of Clutches and Hydraulic Controls. The focus was the implementation of a strategic plan for maintenance. The methodology chosen was Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and the cells chosen for implementation were CNC Lathes and CNC Machining Centers. The TPM uses some maintenance activities, whose come from preventive maintenance (PM), and focuses on eliminating efficiency losses. The main problems of the cell equipment were analyzed and eliminated. Through the analysis of maintenance manuals and internal know-how, autonomous maintenance (AM) procedures and preventive maintenance plans have been created to be executed following a given timeframe. At the end of the study, the results were clearly positive due to the corrective and preventive maintenance. There was a decrease in breakdowns due to failure by 23% for CNC lathes and by 38% for CNC machining centers, which resulted in an evident increase in machine availability and OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) improved by 5%.

Manual operations in manufacturing companies are still a common practice. This often results in high costs, high cycle times and therefore in lower productivity, particularly for companies operating in western countries. This is why many manufacturing companies relocated their production facilities in low age countries. This study was developed at a leading Portuguese material construction manufacturing company. The objective was to improve the packaging and labeling processes, that were identified as main bottlenecks in the factory. Lean was used to streamline these processes before being automated. This allowed for annual savings of 12432 €, with human operators being reallocated to other departments where they are more useful. Furthermore, cycle times were reduced by 42,9%, non-value-added activities were minimized, and operations with potentially high ergonomic risks were eliminated. In addition, a reduction of 84,3% in lithographed packaging was achieved, with a cost reduction of around 36 000 €/year, which is expected to continue in the forthcoming years.

This project was carried out at a company in the electric mobility sector, which manufactures chargers for electric vehicles, specifically in the wiring section. The main objective of the developed work was to improve the production processes in order to enhance responsiveness to the growing demand. After analyzing the processes in the section, the objectives were outlined to enable the improvement of some practices in the production department, such as the ones related to the organization of the raw material supermarket, as well as the calculation of the wiring consumption by chargers, and the implementation of a production control system. After the improvement actions were implemented, it was possible to observe a 14,9% reduction in the changeover process of the cable cutting process; weekly wiring consumptions were estimated, and procedures were defined to generate orders of raw material and supply to the workstation, which led to the elimination of stock shortages. In addition, worker autonomy increased and production downtime was reduced.