The principles of lean manufacturing

Do you want to reduce the number of errors and defects with your manufacturing processes? Lean manufacturing is one of the best ways to eliminate waste, strengthen employee morale, and generate higher profits. Lean manufacturing was originally developed by Toyota as a way to reduce waste. It is now used in thousands of companies all over the world as it allows the companies to produce better products for a lower cost.

There are a few different tools you need to be aware of when you are dealing with lean manufacturing. For starters, lean manufacturing will only work if management is able to get on board. Everyone within the organization must accept it and believe in it if lean manufacturing is going to take over your organization and become a success. Hire a consulting firm to come in and train your employees on the various lean manufacturing principles. If you don't use experienced and trained instructors, you risk wasting your investment in lean manufacturing as you will be unable to apply the principles of lean manufacturing and you will not have the interpersonal skills necessary to influence the employees to change and accept lean manufacturing.

Lean manufacturing is more than reducing your wastes and reducing your expenses. You need to make a roadmap for your company and then go through every single detail. Just implementing lean manufacturing on its own will not benefit your company in any way if you aren't following the lean manufacturing principles.

Right now you could be wasting 70% or more of your available resources. When you implement lean manufacturing, you will reduce this percentage by almost 40% or more. Lean manufacturing is often referred to as cellular manufacturing. This is when you are dividing the different processes up in your manufacturing plant so each cell has a specific duty or responsibility. If there is a defect in this cell, it is easy to identify and it is easy to fix. Here are the benefits you can expect when you implement lean manufacturing:

• Improved material handling


• Inventory control


• Quality control


• Scheduling


• Employee satisfaction


• Customer satisfaction

There are several different lean manufacturing systems and tools you can use like the 5 S methodology, kanban, value stream mapping, cellular manufacturing, TPM, SMED, OEE, line balancing, and many more. Here is some additional information about some of the most popular lean manufacturing methods:

5 S Method
The 5 S method is a Japanese method that focuses on organization and reducing waste. The 5 S method is broken down as follows:

• Seiri - Tidiness


• Seiton - Orderliness


• Seiso - Cleanliness


• Seiketsu - Standardization


• Shitsuk - Discipline

Each S plays an integral role in cleaning up your business and allowing employees to have an organized and productive workplace. You will take a day or two with each employee and evaluate their workspace. If it seems like they have a lot of unnecessary things at their desk, now is the time to get rid of them. Organizing is a big part of the 5 S method. Once you have been able to make productive work areas you then need to focus on the way your employees are able to stay disciplined to the new system.

Value Stream Mapping
This is another popular tool used in lean manufacturing. With value stream mapping you will identify the muda or waste within your organization. The map will include the entire flow of your organization. This will allow you to see where bottlenecks are occurring and where you may be losing money (inventory and unproductive work areas.) Once you map out your business, you will have a better idea as to what needs to change and how you can change your business for the better.