Lean Operation System

Introduction of Lean Operation System

Lean is described as a system that uses less resources to design and produce products economically and with better quality. The principles and concepts of lean manufacturing (also know as the Toyota Production System), such as the total elimination of waste and continuous improvement (kaizen), are becoming increasingly adopted by businesses in an effort to better compete in today’s global market, [1] and [2]. Its goal is to incorporate less human effort, less inventory, less time to develop products, and less space to become highly responsive to customer demand while producing top quality products in the most efficient and economical manner possible.  The main benefits of lean operations systems are:

• Reduced cost through reduced inventory levels
• Higher quality
• Reduced lead time
• Increased productivity
• Reduced amounts of waste

Lean Fundamentals

Lean Manufacturing Means Producing And Procuring:  

- Just What Is Needed (In Just The Required Amount)

- When It Is Needed

- Delivered Where Needed

Accomplished Through Relentless Focus On:

- Waste Elimination

- Flow

- Pull

- Zero Defects (Six Sigma)

Value is what the customer pays for. 

Value is created by any activity that changes the form, fit or function of the product or service

Lean Provides Both A Business Strategy And An Implementation Tool Set

Gives Your Business The Ability To Do Things For Customers That Competitors Cannot

Lean’s Tool Set Helps Us “See” Waste And Provides The Methods To Eliminate It

Value is what the customer pays for. 

Value is created by any activity that changes the form, fit or function of the product or service

Lean Provides Both A Business Strategy And An Implementation Tool Set 

Gives Your Business The Ability To Do Things For Customers That Competitors Cannot

Lean’s Tool Set Helps Us “See” Waste And Provides The Methods To Eliminate It

Lean Principles

There are Six Principles of Lean:

• Specify value in the eyes of the customer
• Identify the value stream, eliminate waste, and variation
• Make value flow at the pull of the customer
• Involve teams and empower employees
• Rigorously use data for decision making
• Use a structured approach to continuously improve in pursuit  of perfection

Lean has a very extensive collection of tools and concepts, however not all of the tools and concepts should be applied on production process. The following is a collection of several essential lean tools.

Lean Tools Overview

Define & Measure Tools

Value Stream Mapping

Flow Charts

Cross Functional Maps

Handoff Maps

SIPOC

Time Value

Spaghetti Maps

Diagnostic & Analysis Tools

Value Stream Analysis

5 Why’s

FMEA

Lean Self-Assessment

Standard Work

Story Boards

Improvement Tools

Kaizen events

SMED

TPM

Visual Management

5 S’s

Poka Yoke

Pull Systems

Demand Segmentation

OEE

Cell Design

Control Tools

Control Plans

Performance Metrics (Key Performance Indicator)

Lesson 1 : Define & Measure Tools

Value Stream Mapping

Value Stream Mapping [3]

A value stream is all the actions and activities (value added and non-value added) required by the current state of the process to meet the customer demand. Value stream mapping is a pencil and paper tool that helps you see and understand the flow of information and material as a product makes its way through the value stream, carefully drawing a visual representation of every process in the material and information flow.

Flow Chart

Inventories should never be used as the solution  to fix machine malfunctions. One method that JIT systems uses to minimize inventory is to have suppliers deliver goods directly to the production floor. Overall, carrying low inventories offers many benefits such as less carrying cost, less space needed, and less rework to complete in case of a product recall. Lean systems can also be referred to as "just-in-time" (JIT) systems. The object of a lean system is to create a system that is demand driven, and provides supply based on demand at any given point. Lean systems tend to concentrate on waste reduction and have continuous improvement. There are four building blocks that contribute to the building of a lean system. They are:

• Product design
• Process design
• Personnel/organizational elements
• Manufacturing planning and control

Each process is crucial and contributes to an effective lean system. Product design consists of standard parts (workers have fewer parts to deal with), modular design (an extension of standard parts, they are separate parts clustered together and treated as one unit), highly capable production systems with quality built in (JIT requires highly capable production systems), and concurrent engineering (keeping engineering practices shouldn't change to avoid disruptions). Process Design consists of small lot sizes (optimal one unit), setup time reductions, manufacturing cells (specialized and efficient production centers, quality improvement, production flexibility, a balanced system (distributing workload evenly among the workstations), little inventory storage, and fail safe methods (incorporate ways to reduce or eliminate the potential for errors during the process). Lean systems have an extremely effective production method. Personnel/organizational elements include workers as assets (A JIT philosophy), Cross-trained workers (perform several parts of the process and operate several machines), cost accounting, and leadership/project management( a two-way communication process between managers and workers). The last building block is manufacturing planning and control. It includes level loading, (achieving stable, level daily mix schedules) pull systems (work moves on in response to demand from the next stage in the process), visual systems (A Kanban card used as authorization to move or work on parts), limited work-in-process, close vendor relationships, reduced transaction processing (logistical, balancing, quality, or change transactions), preventive maintenance and housekeeping(keeping the workplace clean and free of unneeded material.

A typical manufacturing plant has hundred, even thousands of equipment components that can create problems in a myriad of ways. Plant managers and production managers oftentimes don’t understand the reasons behind these chronic problems and thus miss one of the biggest strategic opportunities available to make improvements in capacity, throughput and profits. Chronic problems are far too common in most manufacturing plants, down-time, rejects, waste, production delays are rampant in most plants. Effective capacity is lost (Increasing capital investment), costs are increased (at a loss of competitiveness) and profits are reduced (at a loss of business viability).

Organizations look for ways to improve their production and management processes in order to remain competitive in the market. This calls for ways to reduce production cost, enhance productivity and improve product quality. Therefore, organizations must utilize all the available resources efficiently and effectively in order to cater their customers with high quality products at a low price.

To respond to this major issue in manufacturing systems, Japanese companies have implemented and developed the concept of total productive maintenance (TPM). It creates a cooperative relationship between all organizational activities towards continuous improvement. Similarly, manufacturing efficiency is controlled by the extent of its ability to follow procedures and implement them [3-4].

References :

1. J. Santos, R.A. Wysk and J.M. Torres, Improving Production with Lean Thinking. Wiley, Hoboken, New Jersey (2006).
2. T. Ohno, The Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production. Productivity Press, New York (1988).
3. http://www.conceptdraw.com/How-To-Guide/picture/Value-stream-map-sample.png
4. Prabhuswamy, M.S., Nagesh, P., Ravikumar, K.P., 2013. Statistical Analysis and Reliability Estimation of Total Productive Maintenance. The IUP Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 12 Issue 1, P7-20, 14p.
5. Gubata, J. (2008). Just-in-time Manufacturing. Research starters Business, 15p.
6. Harsej, F and Yusof, S M, Continuous Improvement through an Integrated Maintenance Model,  Contemporary Engineering Sciences, Vol. 4, No. 8, 2011, pp.353-362.
7. Chan, F.T.S, Lau, H.C.W, Ip, R.W.L, Chan, H.K and Kong, S, Implementation of total productive maintenance: A case study, International Journal Production Economics, 95, 2005, pp.71-94.