Lean manufacturing Blog Information on lean manufacturing, concept of lean and tools techniques and related topics

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Lean, Technology and Systems
2008-06-28 01:39:03
I came across the quote below recently. I thought this is very true for an organization tying to implement lean manufacturing. Bill Gates Said “The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency.  The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency”  As we have already discussed in this blog, technology can be used to help your lean efforts. When it comes to technology lean always believes that only the tested and effective technology must be used. But the part that technology plays will vary according to the systems you have in place. If you have an operational model which is not structured, technology will not be able to help you in getting it sorted, in fact sometimes it will make life even difficult for you. On the other hand if the operational model is stable and organized, technology will make it much more effective and efficient.  If someone to k ...

The lean machine
2008-06-23 09:53:01
Lean manufacturing has a definite set of inputs and it is intended to give certain set of outputs. It consumes energy in various forms and requires maintenance in operation. It requires setup and time to time health checks. Objective of lean is to generate the desired output by optimizing the resources used. Sounds like a machine. In fact it is. It is a very productive machine.Lean systems can be modeled as machines. This will give us clarity in thought process and will make it easy to understand systems. A lean system gets inputs in the form of raw materials, electricity, human resource and management. It creates the products or the services by utilizing them. The system is aligned so that it can give output of one piece using one piece of RM as the input. In other word there is no requirement to enter inputs in bulk to get the output. And this large machine is consisting of number of interdependent small machines.The lean machine is intelligent enough to understand the variations oc ...

Is Toyota really following the lean manufacturing as we understand it?
2008-06-17 00:21:15
I got an interesting news item delivered to my inbox on lean manufacturing recently. There were some interesting insights to Toyota and its philosophy and its operations. Among them there was some information which surprised me.In this article it said “During full-production periods, when the plant is running 24-7, employees work incredible amounts of overtime — and during slow times, they all know they will still get their paychecks” I am very happy the way Toyota treats its employees and specially the security they have when it comes to their jobs. But I am little surprised to see the variation in production. This article sounds like Toyota is going through very high level of variations. But in the lean concept level production or Heijunka is a key initiative. So this makes me as a reader to think and question the way Toyota actually operate.On the other hand it was very interesting to note the comment on employee activities in slow times. In this article it says “Hoseus said ...

Lean design
2008-06-07 08:34:32
We have discussed about the value of being lean in design. Being lean in the design stage can add far more value than it can add in the manufacturing stage of the product or a service. Good design must satisfy all the requirements of the consumer as well as the requirements of manufacturing and distribution. In other words a lean design should eliminate the manufacturing and operational wastes.I found an interesting water filter design. It has two outlets one supplying hot water and the other supplying cold water. This might be a good manufacturing design as opposed to the models where they have three outlets with one for normal water since this will reduce somewhat of manufacturing costs. But how will it do in day to day operation.Most of the people mix hot and cold water both to get the correct temperature they want. So they use energy in heating up water and also they use energy in cooling water and they mix both and waste energy by doing so. In long run this means higher electricit ...

Lean manufacturing and cost
2008-05-31 07:01:05
Reducing cost is a key focus for many organizations. But in lean manufacturing cost reduction is not just about saving some dollars, it is much more. In fact most of the costs traditionally identified as critical are questioned with lean practices.Saving costs is replaced by eliminating waste in lean manufacturing. So it is not about correcting the end result but about removing the sources for that. On the other hand lean has a broader definition about cost. Lead time to the customer, poor quality of product and non empowered employees all can be a cost in the eyes of lean. In the effort of saving few dollars any organization should not incur more long lasting costs in other areas. For an example in the process of cutting down the cost of transportation it is important not to overlook the costs that can be created by delayed deliveries to the customers and possible loss of orders due to that. Cutting down jobs is another example. Organizations will save some money doing so. But they wi ...

Good practices vs. lean systems
2008-05-14 17:13:24
Every organization has at least one or two good programs focused on solving their key issues. Human resource development programs, regular trainings for workers, machine routine checks and repairs, quality improvement programs are some of them. Interestingly in a lean manufacturing environment you will find almost all the movements listed above. Can we call all the manufacturers following similar practices as lean manufacturers? The answer is No. Lean systems are not about individual, isolated programs which solve problems in one area of your organization. Lean systems originate from lean thinking. Lean systems are about optimizing the organizational performance to meet the customer demands by eliminating wastes from the system. All the activities are coordinated to achieve this final objective. So the key difference between a traditional manufacturer and a lean manufacturer is the objective and coordination of activities carried out in establishing a solid system. Lean systems satisf ...

Lean and green manufacturing
2008-05-04 14:40:27
We have discussed the relationship between lean manufacturing and green initiatives earlier in this blog. For the past few weeks there were some news items popping up in my inbox about lean and green initiatives. It is very interesting to see people looking at lean for help in protecting environment apart from the productivity improvement and related advantages.By its very concept of eliminating waste lean provides the best platform for any manufacturer who is looking to be green in their manufacturing. No waste means less consumption of resources and less waste as output. So it is very handy not only in limiting the usage of natural resources but also in less pollution due to low waste outputs.In one of the posts on environmentalleader.com, they discus about the concept of “lean and green purchasing strategy”, its opportunities, challenges and benefits. There are some staggering figures in savings for those who participated in the exercise. But more than anything else I found it i ...

Role of IT in lean
2008-04-27 15:28:26
In this blog I have discussed about the relationships between lean manufacturing and information technology. Software industry and IT can get great lessons from lean. On the other hand lean manufacturers can use IT to help their efforts in the journey.  First of all it is important to understand that software alone will not make you lean or even efficient. In most of the cases IT plays an important support role. Good processes can be made more effective and efficient with software and application of IT not the other way around.  It is important to know where IT can help you in your lean efforts. Some examples are given below.  Information Technology can be used in communicating data fast and accurately. Sharing the same piece of truth is very important to run a lean system effectively.Collection and processing of data is another very important area where IT can help the lean manufacturer. Collecting data and analysis will help you in better decision making. S ...

Lean manufacturing and lean supply chain
2008-04-13 10:31:54
Lean manufacturing is a very popular concept. But words like lean enterprise and lean supply chain are capturing the industry by storm. What is the reason for this shift from manufacturing focus to a wider focus?  As a lean manufacturer you are good as the weakest of your suppliers in becoming truly lean. For an example if you have hundred items going in assembling one finished product, you are only good as the weakest supplier who is not supplying you on time as per the required quality standards. Most of the wastes are generated in the interfaces between supplier to manufacturer and manufacturer to the customer and so on.  Suppliers, manufacturers and customers and even other influential bodies like government agencies are links of a single supply chain. The total strength of the chain will be as good as its weakest links strength. Best performance can be achieved only if we optimize the strength of this chain.  While it is important to understand the ideal lean supply chain sc ...

Lean manufacturing and lean management
2008-03-30 10:23:26
My last weeks post on lean manufacturing and TPS caught attention of many. In a comment to that post I found something interesting. This is from a reader with the blog name MM. In his comment I found something very important on lean manufacturing and the management, even in Toyota.  In his comment mm says “……you probably be surprised at the number of areas within Toyota not practicing TPS. This is due to the influx of Senior Managers hired directly from other Manufacturers into Toyota without fully understanding TPS. The more effective Managers come up through the ranks. Just my opinion” With his self introduction I think this statement makes much more sense. Our reader introduces himself “Having worked as one of Toyota's internal TPS consultants for 18 years, I can tell you what you’re looking at” So I think he has a great knowledge about Toyota.  Management plays an important role in applying lean concepts in to practice. Even the most matured lean system like TPS s ...

Lean manufacturing, TPS and Inspection
2008-03-24 16:16:19
Lean manufacturing is about continuous improvement. Lean believes even the most lean manufacturer can have 30% of waste in their system. So the famous Toyota Production System or the TPS can also have plenty of room for improvement.  I was watching a video on Toyota’s workflow yesterday (You can watch it by clicking here). It was very interesting to see actually how Toyota is practicing lean. They have a good combination of automation with manual intervention in manufacturing. But they have little too much of inspection for my liking. Some of the main processes are followed by part by part inspection processes. Higher inspection means they are not comfortable with the quality of work. Root cause for higher inspection might be the limitations with technology available or simply the cost effectiveness. If not this is a waste which adds no value to the end product. This is an important lesson for any lean manufacturer. If you question the processes, you will find new wastes, hence ...

Lean manufacturing and automation
2008-03-16 12:58:59
Lean manufacturing and automation goes hand in hand for most of the manufacturers. Although lean dose not mean automation, automation can be a useful tool in lean processes. Automation will bring higher quality, repeatability, and consistency to the particular process. It is important to look for the possibilities of automation in a lean environment. So the question is what can we automate? What will help automation?Process which,Are repeated over and over againIn every cycle there is no decision making is requiredAre with same inputs and outputsCan be automated. But the possibility of automation depends upon the technical feasibility, cost effectiveness and other interests of the organization. It is very important to understand, if the process doesn’t require any human intervention like subjective decision making (Ex: Color and shades for a car) in theory that process can be automated. So how can we make processes which can be automated? One of the most important concepts of lean m ...

Lean, analysis and decision making
2008-03-01 07:03:25
In lean manufacturing careful analysis and decision making plays a major role. Before any decision, it needs to be analyzed and carefully evaluated. How complicated this process is? How many tools any lean organization requires to do this analysis?  If you are a traditional manufacturer you might have a set of tools to analyze your system. And you might be making decisions based on the results. So you might know the difficulties involved. How many times you have collected data using complex methodologies and analyzed them and made no decision. How many times other departments give you another view or a report contradictory to the report you are using hence creating conflicts. So how difficult lean analysis should be and how complex and costly it should be?  In lean methodology there is a fundamental difference to the traditional methodology of data collection, analysis and making decisions. The method is formalized in lean environment. So every body will share the same way of data ...

Lean manufacturing - Toyota and over production
2008-02-14 10:26:58
Throughout this blog I have talked about lean manufacturing and its concept and application and even success stories and failures. All the time I have taken Toyota as the example and as the benchmark. In fact being the initiators of lean, Toyota knows their system well than anyone else.But recently I was reading a post on lean blog (http://www.leanblog.org). It compares Toyota to the GM on sales and the stock levels they maintain. The obvious conclusion is Toyota having lesser inventory since both of them have almost similar sales according to this post. But the reality is not that. Actually Toyota had more inventory than the GM. Interesting isn’t it. Does it mean that Toyota is not following their own system? At a glance it looks like.Although back in our minds have a picture of no work in progress and inventory attached to lean manufacturing, the reality is lean never talks about minimizing inventory. It always talks about inventory as a waste and a reflector of the wastes. But if ...
Lean Manufacturing  Manufacturing  Production  Toyota 

Lean manufacturing and changing mindset
2008-02-02 17:22:55
When I was talking to one of my colleagues at work, he came out with an interesting argument about lean manufacturing and its key concepts on changing the mind set of people. I thought of sharing his ideas with you.Lean often talks about change in thinking, how to inbuilt quality to the system and how to manufacture good product with lesser cost and with higher quality. It talks about how to react fast to the changing customer demands. Interestingly Toyota system can be studied by anyone. It is even open for its competitors. With all these Toyota seems to be very confident about their system.When it comes to markets if you are given the choice to buy a Ford or a Toyota with the same price tag and other options what would you go for? Most of the people will go for a Toyota. But why people go for a Toyota. Well there may be other reasons but one of the main reasons is their image in the automobile manufacturing field. Lean manufacturing or the Toyota production system has created a uniqu ...
Lean Manufacturing  Manufacturing  Mindset 

Wastes of lean in manufacturing, office, software and services
2008-01-27 06:17:51
Lean manufacturing identifies wastes different to a conventional organization. Lean defines value of a product from the customer’s point of view. So any process, activity or addition is a waste if it does not add value to the final product or the service. When we start describing wastes form this angle we will start identifying many wastes which we thought initially are value additions.Most studies show us that every organization is wasting most of their resources. Some say the value addition is only about 5% of the total activities. Isn’t that amazing? Most of the times we waste up to 95% of our resources. If we look at this in a more customer oriented manner, we can deliver the same product or the service with very high quality only for a fraction of its cost within a very short lead time. But we can not eliminate all the wastes from the system. This is mainly due to technical and other practical limitations. For an example we might not be able to seamlessly integrate the supplie ...
Lean Manufacturing  Manufacturing  Office  Services  Software 

Lean manufacturing and human resource
2008-01-27 06:07:07
In the heart of lean manufacturing is the human resource. It is the most important of all the resources available for any lean organization. This is the only resource which can think and feel and importantly can make decisions consciously. No matter what is the industry you are in, people and respect for them forms a one primary pillar of lean. But unfortunately this is the most commonly wasted resource as well.Wasting the human resource is most damaging for any organization. People will have more to offer your organization than what they offer now. Most of the success stories of lean are successful not because its tools or software etc. They are successful because they have found out the ways of using their human resources effectively in their operations. When guided with lean thinking and leadership motivated people can do wonders for your organization.There are plenty of theories about motivation out there. All agree in one thing in common. People can not be made productive only wit ...
Human  Lean Manufacturing  Manufacturing  Resource 

Lean manufacturing and defects
2008-01-19 07:25:19
Lean manufacturing is about eliminating non value added activities from the system. Defects are one of the most important waste categories identified in lean. Every defective product or a poor quality service costs the organization more than we think. It costs the organization money, time and other resources and importantly the reputation of the organization.Actually it is interesting to study the steps involved in making and correcting a mistake. First the organization will make the defective product. This takes time and money. Then the organization identifies that there is a problem. This involves checking and related costs. Then we have to find the ways of correcting error. This again costs you in terms of money and time. Then we have to redo the product without errors. So we spend three times of resources in the process of making and correcting errors. But if the defective product reaches the customer the damage will be irreversible. Not only you are going to loose the customer who ...
Lean Manufacturing  Manufacturing 

Lean and excess motion
2008-01-12 18:09:10
Excess motion is a waste associated mainly with the manufacturing sector. Lean manufacturing identifies excess motion as non value adding. Therefore this is categorized as a major waste in lean context.Transporting goods and raw material is a waste and this is discussed earlier. But how many times a person has to move in their day to day operations. How much of time is actually spent in value adding in comparison with the movements which dose not adds value. If someone has to bend to pick up a part before it is being assembled, how many time he has to do this over and over again. This wastes time, breaks the flow of work and especially can create health problems. Using a simple conveyer system might solve the problem and hence the waste of higher movement.In general, excess movements are due to ergonomic problems. Lighting, height of the seat and the space the workstation all play a part in creating a productive work environment. Identifying wastes of these kinds needs trained eyes. Si ...
Excess  Motion 

Lean manufacturing, Inventory and Work In Progress (WIP)
2008-01-05 18:23:59
When we talk about lean manufacturing we talk about inventory and work in progress all the times. Lean and inventory are that close and therefore can not be separated. Lean manufacturing identifies inventory and WIP as the mirror of the imperfection system contain. Every imperfection creates a requirement for WIP in manufacturing. Apart from being a great reflector to the system imperfections, inventory becomes a waste by itself. Therefore work in progress and inventory in general is classified as a waste in lean waste classification.With higher inventory, capital will be tied up. In simple words you get little cash by selling goods after investing large amounts of money in manufacturing it. Cost will be high since there are related costs like interests. So either product will be sold with higher price tag or the organization will loose money from its bottom line. Higher inventory and work in progress hides the problems. Problems are hidden in higher work in progress and will be not po ...
Inventory  Lean Manufacturing  Manufacturing  Progress  Work 

Lean Concept Blog Celebrates its birthday
2007-12-31 15:43:48
I started lean concept blog on 1st of January 2006. Since then I have been writing about lean manufacturing and related topics and also about its concepts. So in few hours when the whole world is celebrating the New Year 2008, lean concept blog is also celebrating its second birthday and stepping into the third year of operation.It will not be possible without all of you. Thanks for being with lean concept blog. I hope all of you will be with my blog in the years to come.Wish you all the very best and a Happy New Year! Article is bought to you by, Lean manufacturing blog ...
Birthday  Blog  Concept 

Lean manufacturing and inappropriate tooling (or inappropriate processing)
2007-12-29 16:14:29
This is the fifth post on lean manufacturing and its categorization of wastes. Today we focus on inappropriate tooling or processing. It is a simple but very important waste to identify.In manufacturing context inappropriate tooling means using improper tools or processes for the job. Every job requires a set of tools and will have a defined process to follow. Most of the manufacturers use state of art technologies in their facilities. But the reality is in most of the cases only a fraction of the functionalities are used. Tons of money in purchasing and heavy maintenance is involved with these tools and technologies. Obviously this means cost. But the output is minimal. So why maintain such complicated machinery and tools. Lean manufacturing always encourage low cost and simple and low tech automation. They are very easy to maintain and costs very less. Best part is they are custom made for the requirement. When it comes to processes how many checking points a product have to pass thr ...
Lean Manufacturing  Manufacturing 

Transportation – A waste of non lean manufacturing
2007-12-22 08:20:20
This is the fourth post on wastes identified in lean manufacturing. In this post we discuss about transportation. Lean identifies transportation as one of the wastes in manufacturing context. But we can identify similar wastes in offices, service providers and software development. So let’s discuss one by one.In manufacturing context transportation refers to the movement of goods in the form of raw material, semi finished goods or in finish goods from one place to another without adding value to the product. If we look at the ideal lean manufacturing unit, the process of manufacturing is initiated by the customer. Then the manufacturer process the RM to the finished product and delivers it to the customer then and their. So in the ideal process there is no waste called transportation. But in the reality we can not completely avoid transportation. For an example most of the raw material suppliers are not within the manufacturing premises, nor is the customer. This makes transportation ...
Lean Manufacturing  Manufacturing  Transportation 

Lean and waiting
2007-12-16 05:52:30
Waiting is one of the important wastes identified in lean manufacturing. What is actually waiting in the context of lean? If the customer has to wait to receive what they want it is known as waiting in the context of lean. The customer can be internal or external. So lean manufacturing proposes not to make any of your customers wait when they have a requirement. But how to stop waiting?When it comes to manufacturing, lean works according to the pull concept. That is products are manufactured when there is a requirement for them. If this process is interrupted the flow of value will stop hence will create wastes. Creating a manufacturing environment which is smooth and will not have any stops and waiting is the challenge faced by many manufacturers. In lean manufacturing context waiting is the second largest contributor to the work in progress.Lean doesn’t propose to have a higher inventory levels to eliminate waiting time. But the system should be fine-tuned and quipped to supply pro ...

Over production – Waste of non lean manufacturing
2007-12-09 07:26:23
I published my last post on wastes in lean manufacturing. I listed the waste categories identified in lean. I am going to discuss the first waste of lean, overproduction in manufacturing, office, software development and service contexts.In simple terms over production is producing something before it is actually required. This is the other end of JIT manufacturing where products are manufactured when they are required in the quantities required. We identify this manufacturing model as mass manufacturing.So in lean manufacturing over production is the main source of inventory. When goods are manufactured without real demand for them the work in progress and inventory levels goes high. This ties up capital since the goods are in stock not making cash. If the manufacturer does not have the demand, they have to create it. This involves cost in the form of advertising costs, costs of discounts etc. on the other hand over production greatly reduces the flexibility of the system. If one proc ...
Lean Manufacturing  Manufacturing  Production 

Over production – Waste of non lean manufacturing
2007-12-09 07:17:00
I published my last post on wastes in lean manufacturing. I listed the waste categories identified in lean. I am going to discuss the first waste of lean, overproduction in manufacturing, office, software development and service contexts.In simple terms over production is producing something before it is actually required. This is the other end of JIT manufacturing where products are manufactured when they are required in the quantities required. We identify this manufacturing model as mass manufacturing.So in lean manufacturing over production is the main source of inventory. When goods are manufactured without real demand for them the work in progress and inventory levels goes high. This ties up capital since the goods are in stock not making cash. If the manufacturer does not have the demand, they have to create it. This involves cost in the form of advertising costs, costs of discounts etc. on the other hand over production greatly reduces the flexibility of the system. If one proc ...
Lean Manufacturing  Manufacturing  Production 

Are you a lean manufacturer or a lean service provider?
2007-12-02 06:49:29
There are many manufacturers in many industries. There are many service providers in our vicinity. We can identify these two functionalities distinctively. But manufacturers of today are not only manufacturers. They are service providers. They provide services to their brand owners and some cases to the end consumer.Most of the manufacturers do manufacture for brand owners. These brand owners are generally third parties. In fact most of the brand owners are moving out from manufacturing and even services related to manufacturing such as order placement. Third parties perform all these functionalities. In this context manufacturers become service providers rather than pure manufacturers. Manufacturers will have to have good order fulfillment systems; they should have strong bases in areas like logistics even design capabilities in some cases. So if you are a lean manufacturer think again. Manufacturing is only a one competency your customers looking for. There are many other areas where ...
Provider  Service 

Lean concepts and software development – Example from Yahoo! Mail
2007-12-02 06:47:45
I have been using Yahoo! Mail for last four to five years. I first started using it when they offered 4 MB of storage. It grew to few hundreds MB and then to 1GB and now they provide unlimited storage. Not only the storage impressed me their user friendly interface and ability to read RSS easily and closer look to MS Outlook, possibility to synchronize are features I really enjoy. This is a great example to show how fast the internet and e-commerce is expanding. But this is not why I am making this note on my blog today.When yahoo mail launched its new Beta test you might have found it loaded very slowly and took long time before we can do anything. Later it was fixed and on their blog they share how. I think this is an application of lean thinking (whether they knew it or not) in software development.According the blog initially yahoo mail tried loading every feature when it is launched on the browser. So it had to take lot of time in loading. But later they have broken down the loadi ...
Development  Mail  Software  Software Development  Yahoo  Yahoo Mail 

A lean idea for software developers
2007-12-02 06:46:45
When I learned the principles of lean manufacturing and its application I realized the world is full of opportunities. There are plenty of opportunities if we are looking for improvement. I published a similar article earlier on application of lean concepts in software industry with an example from new yahoo mail. Today when I was working with my laptop I got this idea.My computer hard drive capacity is almost full. It only has 10% of free space. It gets slower day by day. So I wanted to find out the exact reason why my hard drive is running out of space. I did a check on capacity utilization and found out considerable amount of my hard drive is consumed by programs installed including the operating system. So why programs takes this much of space? Most of the programs are loaded with much functionality. When we install the programs most of these components are getting installed without our knowledge. Why is it getting installed without our knowledge? Actually most of the programs come ...
Developers  Software 

Wastes of lean in manufacturing, office, software and services
2007-12-02 06:36:00
Lean manufacturing identifies wastes different to a conventional organization. Lean defines value of a product from the customer’s point of view. So any process, activity or addition is a waste if it does not add value to the final product or the service. When we start describing wastes form this angle we will start identifying many wastes which we thought initially are value additions.Most studies show us that every organization is wasting most of their resources. Some say the value addition is only about 5% of the total activities. Isn’t that amazing? Most of the times we waste up to 95% of our resources. If we look at this in a more customer oriented manner, we can deliver the same product or the service with very high quality only for a fraction of its cost within a very short lead time. But we can not eliminate all the wastes from the system. This is mainly due to technical and other practical limitations. For an example we might not be able to seamlessly integrate the supplie ...
Lean Manufacturing  Manufacturing  Office  Services  Software