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| Why Lean Manufacturing?Lean Manufacturing is a process that can help you to substantially reduce inventories, Work-In-Process, required floor space, cycle times and lead times. It can also dramatically improve quality by connecting processes and people to allow errors to be caught faster. It is not magic, nor a foreign language. It is actually a set of basic tools which, when applied consistently and constantly, can help to transform inefficient processes into smoothly flowing production lines and create genuine interest in the people working on those lines. "It's only for high-volume, standardized processes." Not true. It can be applied to any situation in some form. Most molding companies typically have a mixed model production system and require changes to production on a daily, if not shift-by-shift, basis. Lean Manufacturing principles can be applied to these operations just as well as car or appliance manufacturers. If you are serious about streamlining your operation and want to improve productivity, it will take time and effort but the potential rewards are enormous. It requires a number of steps and a set of tools to help identify and eliminate waste. Step 1: Commitment The first step requires a commitment at the decision making level of your organization. The process of becoming a Lean organization requires support from top management in order for it to work. Isolated improvement projects will soon revert to old habits if an overall vision and direction is not constantly supported and driven from the top. With a direction and vision in place, there are a number of key elements for successful implementation of lean practices. Step 2: Gather Knowledge on Lean Manufacturing There are many courses available that teach the basic principles of Lean and there are many books available describing companies that have implemented it to varying degrees. There are training programs offered by MEP's (Manufacturing Extension Partnerships) around the US such as 'Lean 101' that shows how the transformation from a batch production environment to single-piece flow can dramatically improve throughput and quality. This type of training can be used to raise awareness and provide an introduction to the concepts of lean for your employees. See Overview. Step 3: Teach Your Employees How to See The next step is to teach your employees how to see waste in the flow of product as it passes through your operation. This can be achieved by teaching them how to create Value Stream Maps for products. This is a simple but powerful technique for identifying bottlenecks, excess inventory and discontinuous flow. Value Stream maps should be created for each product family that you produce so that a picture of the overall flow through your facility can be mapped. See Value Stream. Step 3: Focused Improvement Activities - Kaizen Events Once Value Stream Mapping has been completed, a number of areas for improvement are typically identified that will have maximum impact on the area being analyzed. Kaizen events are literally 'blitzes' that take a problem area apart and put it back together in an improved format. The technique brings together a group of people involved in the process (and also from other areas of an operation), defines some clear objectives (usually in terms of lead-time, cycle time, floorspace, inventory, etc.) and puts a very specific timeframe on when the improvements must be complete, usually 4 or 5 days. The event is rounded out by a presentation and celebration with the rest of the company to review how the team has achieved its objective. See Kaizen. Step 4: Expand Your Scope Once you have created some momentum in your system, continue mapping, identifying areas for improvement and conducting improvement exercises. Lean Manufacturing ToolsThere are a number of powerful techniques and tools that are employed by those using lean manufacturing techniques. These are a few of the main ones:
Need to Find Out More?I have developed training modules that combine classroom teaching with shopfloor exercises that can help you with 'Teaching Your Employees to See'. These include:
A typical training session on the basic elements of Lean Manufacturing and Value Stream Mapping lasts for two days. Improvement exercises are determined by the complexity of the project involved. Call or email me at email@paulnugent.com
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