Lean Manufacturing

What is Lean?
“Lean is the elimination of anything not absolutely required to deliver a quality product
or service, on time, to our customers”

LEAN is fundamentally different business logic. It is based on eliminating unnecessary

actions and links the value activities in a continuous sequence.
As it is famous Japanese saying that

“Only a small fraction of total time and effort in an organization

adds value for end customer”

Lean is customer focused:

Make what the customer wants, when the customer wants it, at a price the customer is
willing to pay

Fundamental objective:
To create the most value while consuming the fewest resources.

How is the objective accomplished?

Lean production is aimed at the elimination of waste in every area of production
including customer relations, product design, supplier networks and factory management.
Its goal is to incorporate less human effort, less inventory, less time to develop products,
and less space to become highly responsive to customer demand while producing top
quality products in the most efficient and economical manner possible.
History of Lean Manufacturing

Evolution of TPS:
The Toyota Production System (TPS) is an integrated system, developed by Toyota; it
comprises unique management philosophy and practices. The TPS organizes
manufacturing and logistics for the automobile manufacturer, including interaction with
suppliers and customers. The system is a major predecessor of the more generic "Lean
manufacturing.

Originally called "Just In Time Production," it builds on the approach created by the
founder of Toyota, Sakichi Toyoda, his son Kiichiro Toyoda, and the engineer Taiichi
Ohno. The founders of Toyota drew heavily on the work of W. Edwards Deming and the
writings of Henry Ford. When these men came to the United States to observe the
assembly line and mass production that had made Ford rich, they were unimpressed.
While shopping in a supermarket they observed the simple idea of an automatic drink re-
supplier; when the customer wants a drink, he takes one, and another replaces it. The
principles underlying the TPS are embodied in The Toyota Way.

Toyoda visits Ford’s Rouge plant in 1950 and returns to Japan to discuss his study with
his production engineer, Taiichi Ohno.
Mass production techniques are determined to be inappropriate for Japan because:
The market in Japan demanded a large variety of different vehicles in relatively small
quantities.
Unlike the practice in America, treating the workforce as a variable cost was not possible
in Japan. Management’s right to lay off employees was severely restricted.
The Japanese economy was starved for capital after the war, so purchasing the latest,
expensive equipment was not an option.
From customer specific products that have got no repeatability, it transformed to mass
production, courtesy, interchangeable parts introduced by Whitney. Fredrick Taylor,
brought in the science of activity mapping in the process involved and this paved the way
for LEAN manufacturing. He studied the motion involved in the process too. However,
his attitude towards the labor did not go well.

Henry Ford and his right hand Mr. sorenson, brought in these concepts and Lean was
born. They went on to produce mass production of cars using these techniques. They
added the employee motivation scheme in terms of incentives for productivity.
Taichi Ohno and Shingo studied these processes but threw light on minimum inventory,
small batches, higher variety, (Single Minute Exchange of Die) SMED and this system
known as Toyota Production System evolved and is still continuing to evolve. This
process is continual even today.

Why LEAN?
 Severe Competitions in all walks of business
 Firms face reduction in margins to keep the market share
 Every little saving will improve the economy
 Time for every available resource to perform the best
 Operation Cost reduction is critical to our survival

Steps to Create a Lean Enterprise:

1. Study and understand lean principles, their pros and cons
2. Pick up best practices from other practitioners

3. Hire employees or consultants with a lean manufacturing track record

4. Map and review your current manufacturing operations to identify excesses and
inefficiencies
 5. Start small, with a single step or process and hold a "Kaizen" “or continuous
improvement “event so employees can find and test lean techniques.

6. Involve all factory floor employees, as well as procurement, management and

administrative staff. Expect resistance and the need for their training.
7. Empower your employees to minimize employee resistance.
8. Continue to hold Kaizen events regularly. Require employees to always look for
ways to improve their own and other job functions.

9. IT systems should mirror the real-time communication and flows a lean

manufacturing environment requires -- batch-and-queue systems aren't typically a
fit.

10. Once up and running, look to extend the initiative beyond your factory floor to
other parts of the business and to your suppliers' and customers' operations.

11. Recognize lean manufacturing implementations take time, are evolutionary, and
are never finished.

Steps Involved After adopting Lean Manufacturing:

 Specify value in the eyes of the customer
 Use just in time technique to eliminate virtually all inventory
 Build systems that help employees produce al perfect part every time
 Reduce space requirements by minimizing the distance a part travels
 Develop close relationship with suppliers, helping them to understand
their needs and their customer’s needs
 Educate suppliers to accept responsibility for helping meet customer needs
 Eliminate all but value added activities. Material handling, inspections and
rework jobs are among the likely targets because these do not add value to
the product. Identify the value stream and eliminate waste
 Develop the workforce by constantly improving job design, training,
employee participation and commitment, and team work
 Make jobs more challenging, use a pull system that is triggered by the
customer
 Continuously improve in the pursuit of perfection
Push vs. Pull Systems
Push System:-
Resources are provided to the consumer based on forecasts or schedules
Pull System:-
A method of controlling the flow of resources by replacing only what has
been consumed
5S’s of Lean Manufacturing:-
5S is a process set down by the Japanese to maintain house-keeping. This is the DNA for
any developmental program. Without implementing 5S, one cannot progress in any
developmental activity. 5S helps us to keep the environment clean, helps us to identify
waste, excess, non-moving that are unhealthy to an organization. 5S is not one day
activity or a flavor of the month. It is a continuous process and one should keep on doing
it day-in and day-out.
5S Principles:
Our human body is the right example of processing the elimination of waste. Imagine a
day without being making a visit to toilet. What will be our status? Similarly, any waste
that is generated has to be purged or removed. This is not the duty of any single person
but everyone.
However, how long one has to keep on purging the waste. Of course one gets tired of this
activity. If you do not want to get bored, then find out the root cause for the waste
generation and then attack it.

Objectives of 5S’s
It is human nature for every human being to project himself presentable or beautiful. So,
why not the place we work in? Don’t we keep our living rooms presentable? Then why
can’t we do the same to our workplace? In house, every family member does his part to
keep it clean and here also we follow the same principle. We do not need an interior
decorator to beautify the shop but simple things would do. Mind it “winners do not do
different things but do things differently”. Obviously, by keeping our house clean, we get
indirect benefits in terms of time saving etc.
 Keeping in view the above discussed example we can define the objective of 5 S’s as
 Improve housekeeping
 Make every individual responsible for housekeeping
 Beautify by simple means
 Productivity improvement by saving time, space etc

5S’s
• Seiri - Sorting
• Seiton - Systematic arrangement
• Seiso - Cleaning-Inspection while cleaning
• Seiketsu - Standardization
• Shitsuke - Self Discipline
Sort (Seiri)
The 5S workplace organization process usually starts out by sorting the useful from the
unnecessary. The only things that should remain in a work area are the parts, tools, &
instructions needed to do the job.
Straighten (Seiton):-
Everything has a place; everything is in its place. This is also a good time for your team
to create a Visual Scoreboard, Jidoka lights, floor paint, kanbans, and other visual
controls.
Sweep & Shine (Seiso):-
Do an initial spring cleaning.
Maybe painting, scouring, sweeping, washing, rinsing, scrubbing, and whatever else is
needed to make your work place shine.
Standardize (Seiketsu):-
In the Standardize phase of Lean 5 S, routine cleaning becomes a way of life.
Preventative maintenance is routinely performed, perhaps with planning and scheduling
and some responsibilities done by your central maintenance department, and as much
routine maintenance as possible performed by the people that know that work center
better than anyone else.
Sustain (Shitsuke):-
Shitsuke is when  five S becomes a routine way of life. Root causes are routinely
identified and dealt with. The Systems2win 5S forms and the Standard Work Audit are
very familiar to everyone - both supervisors and the workers that have come to appreciate
the benefits of Five S and Lean methods.

U.S managers often add two additional S’s that contributes to establish and maintain a
lean workplace.

Safety:-
Build good safety practices into the above five activities. Some companies have taken to
calling their program a 6S program - with the inclusion of Safety issues.
Support or Maintenance:-
Reduce viability, unplanned downtime and costs. Integrate daily shine tasks with
preventive maintenance.
 Before 5S

After 5S
Seven Wastes:-
In a broad sense, waste can be considered as any activity or resource in an organization
that does not add value to an external customer.

• “Any activity that absorbs resources but does not create value…”

• “Waste is so often in front of us that we always do not see it!”

• “Most of our processing is a waste and it is an ongoing process to

remove waste from each layer as to reach perfection”

The seven wastes can be applied to a warehousing situation, an office (substituting

documents for products), transactional or support service activities, and many other work
functions that are not necessarily manufacturing or operational in nature.
1.Waiting
Can some tasks be done in parallel rather than in series?
2. Transportation
Can the process be configured to move product to the next operations (rather than
have people do the moving)?
3. Processing Itself
Can some tasks be combined or eliminated?
4. Motion
What aids, such as fixtures, new equipment, or special tools, could speed up the
process?
5. Poor “Quality”
Where can mistake-proofing be used to eliminate or reduce errors or rework?
6. Inventory
Is WIP (inventory) needed just-in-case or can we operate without it?
7. Overproduction
Can the operation produce to order rather than produce for inventory?

8. EIGHTH WASTE
Untapped Resources (Brainpower)
People are told to do tasks & not asked to think as a result many problems are
overlooked & organization missed many opportunities. This results in to lose of
motivation at work by the employees. Management spends time dealing with day-to-
day affairs in lieu of focusing on longer-term issues. This waste also needs to be
addressed.

Sources of Waste:-
Following are the key wastes in any organization.
 Layout (distance)
 Long setup time
 Incapable processes
 Poor maintenance
 Poor working methods
 Lack of training
 Lack of adherence
 Ineffective scheduling
 Poor supervisory skills
 Inconsistent performance measures
 Functional organization
 Excessive controls
 No back-up / cross training
 Unbalanced workload
 No decision rules
 No visual control
 Supplier quality
 Lack of workplace organization
 Comparison of Traditional vs. Lean:-
Traditional
• Complex
• Forecast Driven
• Excessive Inventory
• Speed Up Value-Added Work
• Large Batch Production
• Long Lead Time
• Quality Inspected-in
• Functional Departments
Lean
• Simple and Visual
• Demand Driven
• Inventory as Needed
• Reduce Non-Value-Added
• Small Lot Size
• Minimal Lead Time
• Quality Built-in
• Value Stream Managers

Important Lean Treminalogies:-

Changeover
This is the measure of time it takes when switching from one product to another in a
process. It will vary from setup in that there are typically less adjustments in a product
changeover.
Continuous Flow
This is the ultimate goal in producing a product. Continuous flow is where the product
moves from one value added process to another in as near one piece batches as possible.
Cycle Time
This is the time it takes for a product to move through a specific process.
Downstream
This is typically used to discuss which way a product or process is moving. Downstream
takes you closer to the consumer.
Inventory
Materials in the value stream that will eventually become finished goods.
Inventory Turns
I have seen this calculated in two different methods. The most common is annual sales
divided by average inventory value. A second method is to use annual cost of goods sold
divided by average inventory value.
Jidoka
The concepts of having a process stop when an abnormality or bad part is detected.
Kaizen
The focused improvement of a value stream (system Kaizen) or individual process (point
Kaizen).
Kanban
A signaling device used in pull systems. It can be visual cards, signs or simply empty
space.
Mistake Proofing
Setting up a process to make it near impossible to complete wrong.
Muda
The Japanese term for waste.
OEE (also known as overall equipment efficiency)
A measurement tool to determine how effectively equipment is being utilized. The basic
calculation is available time x performance rate x quality rate.
Pacemaker
The pacemaker is the process selected to pace the flow of production. It is typically the
single scheduling point in the value stream. The pacemaker is not a bottleneck, simply the
position in the flow that is most appropriate to schedule from.
Poka-Yoke
Setting up a process to make it near impossible to complete wrong. Also known as
mistake-proofing.
SMED
Single Minute Exchange of Dies, also referred to as quick changeover. The process of
reducing any setup and changeover processes to minimize loss of available machine time.
Standard Work
The process of setting up a standardized process to eliminate variability and create a
documented benchmark.
Supermarket
An inventory staging location established to supply a downstream consumer that cannot
be balanced with the upstream producer in a flow situation. These are typically set up
with a kanban system for replenishment.
Takt Time
This is available production time divided by consumer demand. This is the pace at which
work must be completed to get the customer what they want when they want it.
TPM
Total Productive Maintenance. An extensive set of processes or techniques to ensure
that machine uptime is maximized.
Waterspider
A common term for material handler or line supplier.