Implementing Lean Manufacturing 

Lean Manufacturing - Definition 

·   Definition of Lean is multi-faceted:

·   Relates to best processes and practices, which optimize resources; yield the best products in the fastest manner and at the lowest cost.

·   It is an umbrella for TQM; continuous improvement, zero defects; doing things right the first time, and doing it right every time

·   It is not an instant transition nor is it an extension of traditional thinking or techniques

·   It is a revolutionary thought process that requires abandonment of some old paradigms

·   To think lean is to switch from internally focused thinking to externally focused thinking.

Lean Manufacturing is an operational strategy oriented toward achieving the shortest possible cycle time by eliminating waste. It is derived from the Toyota Production System and its key thrust is to increase the value-added work by eliminating waste and reducing incidental work. The technique often decreases the time between a customer order and shipment, and it is designed to radically improve profitability, customer satisfaction, throughput time, and employee morale.

Lean manufacturing or lean production, which is often known simply as "Lean", is a production practice that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination. Working from the perspective of the customer who consumes a product or service, "value" is defined as any action or process that a customer would be willing to pay for. Basically, lean is centered around creating more value with less work.

Lean manufacturing is a generic process management philosophy derived mostly from the Toyota Production System (TPS) (hence the term Toyotism is also prevalent) and identified as "Lean" only in the 1990s. It is renowned for its focus on reduction of the original Toyota seven wastes in order to improve overall customer value, but there are varying perspectives on how this is best achieved. The steady growth of Toyota, from a small company to the world's largest automaker, has focused attention on how it has achieved this.

Lean manufacturing is a variation on the theme of efficiency based on optimizing flow; it is a present-day instance of the recurring theme in human history toward increasing efficiency, decreasing waste, and using empirical methods to decide what matters, rather than uncritically accepting pre-existing ideas.

There is a second approach to Lean Manufacturing, which is promoted by Toyota, in which the focus is upon improving the "flow" or smoothness of work, thereby steadily eliminating mura ("unevenness") through the system and not upon 'waste reduction' per se. Techniques to improve flow include production leveling, "pull" production (by means of kanban) and the Heijunka box. This is a fundamentally different approach to most improvement methodologies which may partially account for its lack of popularity.

The difference between these two approaches is not the goal itself, but rather the prime approach to achieving it. The implementation of smooth flow exposes quality problems that already existed, and thus waste reduction naturally happens as a consequence. The advantage claimed for this approach is that it naturally takes a system-wide perspective, whereas a waste focus sometimes wrongly assumes this perspective.

Both Lean and TPS can be seen as a loosely connected set of potentially competing principles whose goal is cost reduction by the elimination of waste.[6] These principles include: Pull processing, Perfect first-time quality, Waste minimization, Continuous improvement, Flexibility, Building and maintaining a long term relationship with suppliers, Autonomation, Load leveling and Production flow and Visual control. The disconnected nature of some of these principles perhaps springs from the fact that the TPS has grown pragmatically since 1948 as it responded to the problems it saw within its own production facilities. Thus what one sees today is the result of a 'need' driven learning to improve where each step has built on previous ideas and not something based upon a theoretical framework.

Toyota's view is that the main method of Lean is not the tools, but the reduction of three types of waste: muda ("non-value-adding work"), muri ("overburden"), and mura ("unevenness"), to expose problems systematically and to use the tools where the ideal cannot be achieved. From this perspective, the tools are workarounds adapted to different situations, which explains any apparent incoherence of the principles above.

The benefits generally are lower costs, higher quality, and shorter lead times. The term "lean manufacturing" is coined to represent half the human effort in the company, half the manufacturing space, half the investment in tools, and half the engineering hours to develop a new product in half the time.

The characteristics of lean processes are:

• Single-piece production
• Repetitive order characteristics
• Just-In-Time materials/pull scheduling
• Short cycle times
• Quick changeover
• Continuous flow work cells
• Collocated machines, equipment,tools and people
• Compressed space
• Multi-skilled employees
• Flexible workforce
• Empowered employees
• High first-pass yields with major reductions in defects
• Equipment reliability
• Balanced or level production
• Stop-the-line to correct the problem and in-station process control
• Continuous improvement processes
• Statistical Process Control techniques for quality consistency
• Developing human systems to support the technical processes

Lean Manufacturing is in direct opposition with traditional manufacturing approaches characterized by use of economic order quantities, high capacity utilization, and high inventory. In changing from a traditional environment to one of lean production, cultural issues will emerge quickly, as well as resistance to change. A managing change program is needed to accompany the effort.

Piecemeal approaches generally do not work or achieve significant results. Quite often we will hear top executives claiming to be using Lean Manufacturing strategies and when we visit the site, we will discover a pilot cell off in a corner. Wide scale use produces wide scale results, and very little true results will be achieved if Lean Manufacturing is treated as a "fad of the month."

However, just like anything else, Lean Manufacturing is no panacea, nor should it be embraced as a religion. It is an operational strategy that, if implemented properly, will provide a new dimension to competing: quickly introducing new customerized high quality products and delivering them with unprecedented lead times, swift decisions, and manufacturing products with high velocity.

Lean Manufacturing techniques have been around for a long time and can greatly simplify a production process. Benefits are real and long proven. The phrase was coined in the 1980's taking examples from the successes used in the Toyota Production System. Although it has wider applications, it is best used in a repetitive or continuous production environment.

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Other Useful Training Resources:
"Understanding ISO 9001" provides a detailed explanation of each ISO 9001 clause (requirements).

ISO 9001 FAQ provides answers to commonly asked questions about the ISO 9000 family of quality management standards.