Lean manufacturing tool technique and how to use them

Planview Blog Your path to business agility. Work Management for Teams. Sound too good to be true? What are Lean Manufacturing Concepts? Online Kanban boards are a popular way to implement Lean manufacturing concepts. Why are Lean Manufacturing Concepts Important? Organizations draw upon a wide range of Lean manufacturing concepts to help them achieve goals like: Eliminating or reducing waste Improving quality Reducing lead time Minimizing unnecessary expenses One of the greatest advantages of Lean is its flexibility.

The Customer is First The goal of Lean manufacturing is to reduce waste without sacrificing the quality of your product or service. A successful Lean organization understands what customers: Are willing to pay for Value in a product or service Expect from a product or service Staying in touch with consumer expectations is important for two reasons. Waste Elimination Waste takes on a slightly different meaning under the Lean approach. Examples of waste include : Unnecessary wait times between production steps Producing a supply that exceeds customer demand Excessive levels of work-in-progress inventory Poor logistics Inefficient work and idling time Defects and poor quality Difficulty for workers to move between tasks Underutilized workers Lean manufacturing concepts also recognize two other types of waste: Waste caused by fluctuations, such as changes in customer demand or variations with cycle times between workers mura Waste caused by overburdened workers muri For Lean practitioners, effective waste elimination requires optimizing the entire value stream — i.

Process and System Optimization Process optimization is a part of continuous improvement, also known as kaizen. Optimization opportunities can present itself in several different ways, such as: Finding ways to prevent bottlenecks Empowering employees through training and team building initiatives Staying in touch with customer demand and using that demand to inform your operational performance The importance of optimization is one of the reasons why Lean manufacturing concepts are so flexible.

Here are four of the most common methods that organizations use to systematically improve their processes, systems, and even their products and services: Plan-Do-Check-Act PDCA cycle: Based on the scientific method, the PDCA cycle is a technique for change management comprised of proposing, adopting, measuring, and acting on a change to a process. A3 problem-solving template: This method condenses all project information onto a single sheet of A3-sized paper. A useful tool for teams, A3 templates include sections for noting the current conditions and root-cause analysis of a problem, and more.

Map your value streams Value stream mapping is a Lean manufacturing technique that helps with process optimization. Implement a Kanban pull system Traditionally, organizations assigned work based on the push manufacturing system. The Kanban pull system is a response to problems caused by the push method. A Kanban pull system uses WIP limits to further the impact of Lean manufacturing concepts within a team or organization.

Lean manufacturing concepts promote continuous improvement, which is difficult to achieve without a steady analysis of Lean metrics and reports.

Measure and improve By now, you already know that Lean manufacturing concepts promote continuous improvement. Part III was written in the form of a story to depict actual use of the techniques from the inception of a project to implementation in the factory; it helps the reader see how and when these principles are applied as part of a lean manufacturing program.

Part IV presents case studies of six different companies that have taken on the challenge of changing their businesses and describes how the companies have deployed lean manufacturing within their facilities.

Each case study was designed to reveal a different aspect of implementing lean manufacturing within an operation. The entire book attempts to provide insight as to the choice and use of appropriate tools for assessment, analysis, design, and deployment of a successful lean manufacturing program. Although it does not cover every lean manufacturing aspect, issue, or situation, it does offer a road map that can guide a company toward the development of a lean manufacturing environment.

Over the years, I have read about, witnessed, and heard of a great many implementations that have neither achieved their intended goals nor sustained results. My experience has led me to conclude that there are several reasons for the demise of these lean manufacturing programs: 1 no clarified expectation or vision as to what the new lean environment was to look like; 2 lack of a clear direction as to where to go and what to do next; 3 limited knowledge base for how to conduct the implementation; 4 significant focus on the mechanics of the new process but little attention paid to organization redesign issues connected with the change.

These are key, critical issues that must be addressed for an implementation to be successful. The fact that many companies have neglected to do so has led me to write this book. Order for this book: Request for free sample pages click on "Order Now" button. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. This technique groups similar products together so as to process them in the same sequence and on the same equipment. This reduces the time that would be lost in the changeover between the different products and offers the production line with smaller, containable units of products.

Cellular manufacturing also ensures that space is effectively utilized at all instances of production. Apart from these, cellular manufacturing also contributes to reducing the lead time and improving productivity of the production line. With a lot of clarity, this technique, within Lean Manufacturing, also enhances flexibility and transparency between different product lines and enhances teamwork and communication between various departments.

Staying true to its name, Continuous Improvement is a methodology within Lean Manufacturing that advocates the following of formal practices or an informal set of rules and guidelines. More than a methodology, the attitude of constantly wanting to improve is what is influenced through this tool.

Continuous Improvement, often known as Rapid Improvement, helps streamline all the workflows that are deployed within the production environment. This promotes efficient workflows, and efficient workflows help in saving time, cost, and resources. Thus, this fulfills the main concept behind Lean Manufacturing. Each task is undertaken with a view to continuously improve with time and each resource working towards improvement of services, products, or processes are properly trained and fine-tuned for use.

Continuous Improvement follows the proceeding quality cycle, called the Deming Cycle, or PDCA cycle, which comprises of 4 phases that the product or process needs to go through. This term gained importance during the 19th century when the automatic, self-powered loom was put into action by Sakichi Toyoda, founder of the Toyota groups of companies.

This automatic loom would stop if it detected a break in the thread during the process of looming. The operator handling the loom would then intervene and fix the thread before resuming the function.

An iterative methodology for implementing improvements:. Applies a scientific approach to making improvements:.

Design error detection and prevention into production processes with the goal of achieving zero defects. It is difficult and expensive to find all defects through inspection, and correcting defects typically gets significantly more expensive at each stage of production.

A problem solving methodology that focuses on resolving the underlying problem instead of applying quick fixes that only treat immediate symptoms of the problem. A common approach is to ask why five times — each time moving a step closer to discovering the true underlying problem. Reduce setup changeover time to less than 10 minutes. Techniques include:. Enables manufacturing in smaller lots, reduces inventory, and improves customer responsiveness.

Six categories of productivity loss that are almost universally experienced in manufacturing:. Provides a framework for attacking the most common causes of waste in manufacturing. Documented procedures for manufacturing that capture best practices including the time to complete each task. Eliminates waste by consistently applying best practices. Forms a baseline for future improvement activities.

The pace of production e.