Improvement Activities in Stamping Die Manufacturing: A Systematic Literature Review

Die making is regarded as the mother of all industries. In the manufacturing world, this industry is thought to have existed for a long time. There is a need to address the improvement activities in this area in order to assess their relevance, results, and impacts on its latest industrial development. However, there were insufficient studies that systematically reviewed the existing literature related to stamping die manufacturing's latest improvement activities. As a result, the current article conducted a systematic literature review on stamping die manufacturing improvement activities. The present study applies the integrated multiple research design, and the review was based on the publication standard, namely the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). This research is using two leading databases, namely Scopus and Science Direct, and five supporting databases, namely Emerald Insight, IEE Explore, Wiley Online, Taylor & Francis, and Google Scholar. Using thematic analysis, this review has six main themes: design, machining, finishing, trials, and overall improvements. These six major themes were subdivided into 20 sub-themes. The findings show that the researchers are covering most of the improvements in the main elements of die manufacturing processes. Based on this study, the contribution for practical purposes of stamping die manufacturing improvements was identified. The study contributes significant findings, such as detailed improvement activities that are specific to the targeted issues but have the potential to be adapted or imitated by other practitioners and future researchers.