Lean thinking in

the warehouse
McGraw Hills publication

Article presentation
By : Adnan Askari

Agenda..
Introduction

to lean thinking/ systems

Eliminating waste
Eight Varieties of waste
Focus on flow
The Five Ss
Pull Replaces Push
Transparency or Visibility
Perfection
Lean thinking

Introduction to lean thinking/

systems

Lean Thinkingis a radical new way to think about how to

organize human activities to deliver more benefits to society
and value to individuals while eliminating waste

The term Lean Thinkingwas coined by James P. Womack and

Daniel T. Jones.

The process is organized by focusing on:

Value,
Value streams,
Flow,
Pull,
Perfection.

Introduction to lean thinking/

Systems
The

concept of lean has roots in mass

production, originally in the automotive
industry, and most famously, at Toyota.
The original lean techniques were
limited to mass production.
In contrast, warehousing is not mass
production -- it is a service industry.

Industries adopting lean

thinking/ Systems
The

airline industry.

Banking
Hotel

is another service industry.

chains

Eliminating waste
The

Japanese word muda is worth

remembering because it has an uglier
sound than waste.
Muda is any activity that absorbs
resources without creating any
additional value.
The telephone operator did not create
value, nor did the bank teller, or the
checkout clerk at a supermarket.

Eliminating waste cont..

Warehouse would be more profitable if we
eliminated the errors accept as normal days.
Waste also is found in poor utilization of
space.
What if truckers and warehouse operators
emphasized the turnaround time.
Since warehousing is nothing more than the
management of space and time,reducing
waste starts with identifying the poor use of
both.

Eight Varieties of waste

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Consultant Taiichi Ohno identified eight varieties

of waste commonly found in manufacturing.
1. Overproduction
2. Waiting is a waste of time
3. Unnecessary movement of cargo.
4. Over checking.
Poor inventory control
Movement for tools
Errors result.
Unused employee creativity

Focus on Flow
When Ford developed the moving assembly
line, the labor required to assemble a car was
reduced by 90%.
Continuous flow involves more than materials.
It includes the flow of information and paper
as well.
Reduction of order cycle time also is involved.
Improvement of the flow of materials and
information is one way to accomplish this

The Five Ss
Lean

thinking starts with the creation of

a lean workplace which, for us, is the
warehouse.
1. Sortation
2. Straightening
3. Shining
4. Standardization
5. Sustaining

Pull Replaces Push

Improved

logistics capabilities have

enabled manufacturers to replace the
push system with pull.
The pull system relies on a very high
degree of reliability in parts storage and
delivery.

Transparency or
Visibility
The

best lean manufacturers use status

boards to provide clear sense of
progress.
In the logistics industries, the process
usually is referred to as visibility.
Warehouse operators can use similar
technology to trace the status of every
order end-to-end.

Perfection
Lean

manufacturing professionals define

perfection as the complete elimination
of waste.
In warehousing, perfection is identified
with the perfect order.
In extreme cases, the imperfect order
can cause a disaster involving
assemblyline shutdown, or a health risk.

Lean thinking
A

can-do attitude is the starting point.

Lean thinking will require a conversion from
top-down leadership to bottom-up initiatives.
In a lean operation, every worker is an
inspector.
Managers must become coaches rather than
tyrants.
The leader in lean warehousing must be a
change agent.

Thank you !