LEAN PRODUCTION &

QUALITY MANAGEMENT

U N I T 4 : O P E R AT I O N S A N D P R O J E C T
MANAGEMENT
RECAP
SYLLABUS CONTENT
LEAN PRODUCTION
LEAN PRODUCTION
WHY SHOULD WE CUT WASTE?
EXAMPLES OF WASTE BUSINESS
EFFECTIVE LEAN PRODUCTION REQUIRES
HOW CAN WE REDUCE WASTE?
Simultaneous Engineering

Simultaneous engineering is part of the time-based management approach. It is a project management

approach that helps firms develop and launch new products more quickly.

All of the areas involved in a project are planned together. Everything is considered simultaneously
(together, in parallel) rather than separately (in series).

Product teams are set up to include people in all areas that are relevant to the new product – design,
development, production, marketing etc.

Suppliers are involved in the new product development so that potential delays in resourcing of raw
materials, components and services can be anticipated and avoided

A teamwork approach is used, with all areas involved in the project working on the project at the same time.
 Cell Production
A form of flow production which is split into different self contained groups
that are responsible for the whole unit. Each team is called a cell.
CELL PRODUCTION CAN LEAD TO…
FLEXIBLE SPECIALISMS
Moving from old fashioned ways to changing
demands and requirement. Essential to have:

• Flexible employment

• Flexible and adaptable machinery

• Flexible and multi-skilled workers

Impact on Lean
production on
various elements
of a business
 WHEN DISCUSSING LEAN REMEMBER TO
COVER THESE POINTS
• Efficient use of resource to minimum waste
• Improve quality
• Impact on cost (increase/ decrease with method of implementing
Lean)
• Ability to reduce unit cost of production
• Helps to meet operational objectives
• Relate to whole organization and not one dep
• Linked to employee motivation
KAIZEN

Kaizen, JIT method of achieving Lean

production…..
Kaizen (or ‘continuous improvement’) is an
approach of constantly introducing small
incremental changes in a business in order to
improve quality and/or efficiency.
KAIZEN- IN PRACTICE
CONDITIONS WHEN KAIZEN WOULD/
WOULDN’T WORK
KEY FEATURES OF KAIZEN:

• Improvements are based on many, small changes rather than the radical
changes that might arise from Research and Development
• As the ideas come from the workers themselves, they are less likely to be
radically different, and therefore easier to implement
• Small improvements are less likely to require major capital investment
than major process changes
• All employees should continually be seeking ways to improve their own
performance
• It helps encourage workers to take ownership for their work, and can help
reinforce team working, thereby improving worker motivation
KEY REQUIREMENTS FOR KAIZEN TO OPERATE:

• Involving staff and giving importance to their views and ideas

• Team Working – Each kaizen group should meet regularly- discuss
problems they have identified- recommendation to suggest
managers with own ideas, experiments
• Empowerment- Delegating the power to kaizen group to take
decisions- motivate workers- employees will come up with
innovative ideas- job enrichment
• All employees should be involved.
ARE LEAN PRODUCTION AND JIT APPROPRIATE IN ALL
BUSINESS SITUATIONS?

Certain conditions are necessary for successfully adapting a business towards

lean production:

1. Finance- flexible machinery is expensive. Does the business have the

bandwidth for it? Also, retaining multi-skilled workers can be expensive.
2. Management of change-
• By accepting lean- entire business organization must be ready for changes
• It should be a part of the culture- worker involvement should be high

Lean is only possible with the commitment and optimal blend of co-operative,
flexible staff and machinery.
LEAN IS NOT SUITABLE WHEN:
• When businesses have difficulty in forecasting demand- they won’t understand
how to work on zero stock
• Sudden change in machinery to flexible machinery may take time for
production process to adjust.
• Business use Lean as a technique of redundancies. Job losses are foreseen

These are some rare situations which may hamper the application of lean in their
businesses. However, it give scope to majority of businesses to adopt lean
production in their business to improve efficiency without compromising on
quality
QUALITY
Quality is not always about the “BEST POSSIBLE”

But,

Quality is about meeting the customers’ and expectations and its therefore
‘fit for purpose’
Should serve the purpose Should meet the ‘expectations’ or
‘requirements’

Quality Product (Fit

for purpose) Quality Standards (at
least minimum)

- Meeting customer’s
QUALITY - Free from defects
needs and wants - Quality standards
- A quality product
can be drawn
does not have to be
through market
expensive. If a low-
research of what
cost bulb last for
consumers needs,
several years in
what consumers
normal use, it has
prefer, what
met the needs of the
consumers expect
consumers
etc.
DO YOU HAVE A QUALITY PRODUCT? HOW DO
YOU BENEFIT FROM IT?

• Gain customer loyalty

• Increase in sales
• Creation of trust towards brand
• Less advertising is required
• Price can be charged higher
TOP TIP

THE LEVEL OF QUALITY SELECTED BY ANY BUSINESS MUST BE

BASED ON:-
- RESOURCES AVAILABLE
- NEEDS OF THE TARGET MARKET
- QUALITY STANDARDS OF THE COMPETITOR

VIEW QUALITY AS A RELATIVE TERM

HOW CAN YOU ACHIEVE QUALITY?

Two straight approaches:

Quality control
Quality assurance
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN QUALITY CONTROL AND
QUALITY ASSURANCE?
Quality Control is based on the inspection or checking usually of the completed
product.
Ex. An iPod player being tested at the end of the production line for battery
checking.

Whereas, quality assurance is meeting the standards at each stage of production

to ensure customer satisfaction. Three stages to QA:
• Prevention
• Inspection- Aim at ‘zero-defect’
• Correcting and Improvement
+VE – QUALITY ASSURANCE
• Everyone (All department) realize the true value of quality as all of them need
to meet the needs of quality checks.
• Increases motivation as self-checking is promoted
• A defect can be tracked back to the stage of the production where it might have
occurred.
(e.g. a defect in the working of a car toy- identify the defect- get to that stage of
production and rectify the error)
• Checking each stage of production can reduce the need for reworking on faulty
products at final stage
INSPECTION FOR QUALITY
• Traditionally quality was checked at the final product.
• Some checking takes place at different stages of production
• Quality inspection is expensive- requires qualified engineers
• Quality control charts – check if criteria’s are met if not, action needs to taken
SYLLABUS CONTENT