Lean Manufacturing Definition
Lean manufacturing is basically the concept of eliminating waste in its many forms in the manufacturing process. Its concept and implementation dates back many years to its early developmental years in 1800s, to today's more widely known implementation known as the "Just in Time" methodology. Manufacturers practicing lean manufacturing and their customers reap multiple benefits including faster responses to customers, more efficient material handling processes and improved quality.
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History
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In the 1800s, Eli Whitney was an early example of developing more efficient manufacturing by mass producing products muskets for the U.S. Army at low costs. In the subsequent decades, manufacturers studied the processes including various work methods that affect production to streamline their production. Henry Ford and other automotive manufacturers further perfected the manufacturing strategy. On studying the Ford system in the 1950s, the Toyota Motor company then developed the Toyota Production System (TPS) or Just in Time methodology.
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Benefits
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The concept of lean manufacturing is based on the theory that production efficiency and profitability will significantly increase if you eliminate any waste associated with material or time. Benefits include more efficient material handling, reduction of inventory, improved quality, faster responses to the customer and improved working conditions. For instance, studying and reducing the number of steps it takes to accomplish a given task can result in more efficient material handling and faster customer response. Another example would be improving the ergonomics of a manual process that can reduce employee injuries and absenteeism.
Core Techniques
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Through the years, lean manufacturing has established a set of basic techniques that help manufacturers identify and reduce waste. These techniques include team development, rapid set up, cell manufacturing, pull scheduling and six sigma. Team development looks at the effectiveness of work groups while rapid set up addresses the efficiency of quickly setting up work cells. Pull scheduling schedules production based on customer demand. Cell manufacturing is the concept that multi-skilled teams manufacturing complete products is more efficient and six sigma addresses the elimination of defects.
System Approach
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All these disciplines do not work independently of each other but rather best work when they work as a manufacturing flow. In lean manufacturing, the theory is that these techniques work together to form a manufacturing strategy. One process or technique leads to and supports the next process. As an example, faster set ups lead to being able to produce smaller batches which results in lower inventory. The interactions ultimate lead to lower costs, faster responses and improved quality.
Human Resources
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Lean manufacturing is more than the study of improving the technological processes in manufacturing. It also factors in more efficiently using human resources within the manufacturing space. Improving the conditions of a worker's task, for example, can eliminate injuries and thus eliminate down time. Improving manual labor ergonomics or reducing the number of steps necessary for a worker to accomplish a particular task is another example of eliminating wasted time and making the process more lean.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit "Seagate Wuxi China Factory Tour" is Copyrighted by Flickr user: Robert Scoble (Robert Scoble) under the Creative Commons Attribution license.
