Indra’s Drishtikona (Viewpoint)

Manufacturing Sector - Back to basics - IV

Posted : June 29, 2004 at 10:09 pm [IST]

Lean manufacturing/ Lean thinking

Lean manufacturing refers to a manufacturing system with continuing elimination of all processes or activities that do not add any value to the product Lean manufacturing is a way to achieve excellence for the company. Lean manufacturing has some distinct features that one can observe. Some of them are as follows:

• Material flows only based on the signals from the users, when the parts are needed, never pushed otherwise. (Pull system)
• Small lots are preferred to minimize inventory build ups while maintaining the flow of materials.
• The system encourages continuous identification and elimination of process and product defects by workmen.
• Plant loading and scheduling are uniform to facilitate pull system
• Plant layout is revised to reduce lead time, material handling, and inventory required to meet the production desired by the user
• Set up time on the machine (the elapsed downtime between the last piece of one lot and the first good piece of the next lot) is reduced to minimum, may be to an automatic spontaneous switch over.
  • To decrease the lot size

  • To increase the number of setups
  • To utilize the flexibility of the production facility.
• Workforce is made flexible through training in multiple skills.
• Several unique concepts such as “Line -stops”, root cause analysis (ask “Why?” Five times), fool-proofing (Poka-Yoke), are practiced.

Basically it comes from Toyota Production System. It became a popular word after the success of the bestseller book - The Machine that changed the World. For a company, this needs to become their operational guideline. Needless to say, the top management first must buy into this methodology. It requires time and energy from a large number of really dedicated individuals in an organization.

For any further clarification, feel free to use the comments feature of my blog.

- Indra

Category: Manufacturing |