María Magdalena Reyes-Gallegos

Currently, the global manufacturing industry faces significant challenges due to increasingly competitive and constantly changing markets. Therefore, adapting to customer needs and improving efficiency and productivity are essential to compete internationally. Plant design and layout play a crucial role in production, material handling, time, and operational costs. The objective of this research was to implement the Systematic Layout Planning (SLP) methodology, supported by CAD and quality tools, to free up 280 m² for production processes in a horizontal blind manufacturing company. AutoCAD was used to model the facilities and visualize pre- and post-improvement scenarios, while ABC classification and root cause analysis supported problem identification in inventory areas. Results show a released expansion area of 340 m², corresponding to 21.5% above the initial space requirement, and a reduction in material travel distance from 317 m to 109 m, equivalent to 65.6%. These improvements enhanced workflow continuity and operational efficiency. The integration of SLP with CAD and quality tools provides a replicable framework for layout optimization in manufacturing environments, while future research should validate the approach under dynamic production conditions.

Currently, the disposal of waste tires is considered one of the priority environmental and public health problems worldwide. Every year, more than 1.4 billion unused tires are placed in landfills. Population growth, economic development, and a strong demand for vehicle production in the automotive industry increase this problem. In Mexico, nearly 36 million unused tires are deposited in landfills or clandestine deposits, the vast majority being burned or accumulated in the open air. The lack of regulations in the handling, disposal, and recycling of tires creates a worrying panorama for environmental care and the problems that this entails. The objective of this work is to propose a viable alternative for the final disposal and recycling of waste tires through the implementation of a company for the manufacture of products based on recycled rubber in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, reducing environmental pollution by these wastes and generating sources of employment through a sustainable company. For this purpose, a study was carried out in Tamaulipas, Mexico, through surveys to determine the number of tires that can be obtained and determine the feasibility of the business; subsequently, a prediction was made using simulation software to design and estimate the expected production in the manufacture of parking bumpers using two scenarios with two and four workers. Likewise, specialized software was used to optimize waste tire collection routes from the different tire stores to the company’s location. The results show that with an optimal design of the tire collection routes, up to 483 tons of waste tires can be recovered per year, representing 10% of the total unused tires in Tamaulipas. Because it is an environmental and social problem, installing a company manufacturing products based on recycled rubber is feasible and has a high probability of success for the region studied. According to the simulation, employing four workers increases productivity and decreases manufacturing costs. Through the simulation, three tire collection routes were determined considering the total number of tire stores in the city where the company is located.

Although quenching is one of the most widely used heat treatments in the metal-mechanical industry to improve the mechanical properties of steels, it is also responsible for the generation of residual stress, distortion, and fractures in the treated parts. The high-temperature gradients present during quenching and martensitic transformation are the main failure mechanisms. Cooling is the critical quenching stage where several variables that need to be controlled are involved in reducing these problems. The objective of this research was to evaluate the main variables in the quenching process in SAE 4340 steels, which promote distortion, residual stress accumulation, and fracture failures. A 2ᴷ factorial experiment was designed, samples with C-ring geometry susceptible to changes in quenching variables were used, and the variables studied were the agitation and temperature of the quenching medium. Experimental measurements, statistical tools and modeling were used to evaluate and predict the distortion generated in quenched samples. Such tools include Minitab 21^® software and its statistics utilities. Furthermore, a finite element method model was carried out using STFC Deform^®. The results suggest that there are optimal conditions in the quenching process to minimize distortion and residual stresses and to improve mechanical properties of quenched parts; therefore, the methods used in this work could be useful to detect and control the appearance of defects in an industrial environment.