What
is Lean?
Lean Manufacturing is a term that was coined by an MIT research
fellow when examining what the Toyota Production really meant.
'It is reducing waste, effort, time, rework etc, so it's Lean'.
Focusing in on Quality, Cost and Delivery and what really represents
value in the eyes of the customer and eliminating anything that
the customer is not willing to pay for.
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What
is the most critical first step to get started?
The critical initial step to start a “Lean Operations” transformation
is for organization leadership to recognize that lean is journey. It is a key
element of the organization’s long term strategic plan. There is no 90-day
solution that will transform the productivity of the organization. It requires
the absolute, unrelenting commitment of senior management to the journey.
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What are the Seven Wastes?
Called Muda in Japanese the seven wastes are Overproduction, Waiting,
Transporting, Inventory (unnecessary), Motion, Defects, Inappropriate
Processing.
1. Overproduction is to produce more than demanded or to produce
it before it is needed. It is visible as storage of material. It
is the result of producing to speculative (push) demand.
2. Waiting for a machine to process should be eliminated. The principle
is to maximize the utilization/efficiency of the worker instead
of maximizing the utilization of the machines.
3. Transportation does not add any value to the product. Instead
of improving the transportation, it should be minimized or eliminated.
4. Inventory or Work In Process (WIP) is material between operations
as a result of large lot production or processes with long cycle
times. This creates excess inventory that requires extra handling,
space, interest charges, people, and paperwork.
5. Motion of the workers, machines, and transport (e.g. due to
the inappropriate location of tools and parts) is waste. Instead
of automating wasted motion, the operation itself should be improved.
6. Defects. Making defective products is pure waste. Focus on Preventing
the occurrence of defects instead of finding and repairing defects.
7. Processing waste should be minimized. All unnecessary processing
(non value added) steps should be eliminated. Combine steps where
possible.
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What is Kaizen?
Kaizen is the Japanese word for Continuous Improvement and has
been described as the key to Japan's Competitive Success. Its means
gradual, unending improvement, doing 'little things' better; setting-and
achieving-ever higher standards. Improve it even if it ain't broke,
because if we don't, we can't compete with those who do. (Masaaki
Imai, Kaizen, McGraw-Hill 1986)
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What is Total Productive Maintenance?
TPM is a technique for addressing lack of equipment dependability
and effectiveness. If a plant cannot achieve machine reliability
then it cannot become a 'Lean' factory as it must keep
'Just-in-case' inventory and excess work in progress.
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What
is OEE?
Overall Equipment Effectiveness is the measurement used
to determine how effective your machine is and is expressed
as a percentage.
It is made up of three factors; Available time, Performance,
Quality and the three factors are expressed as decimal
fractions, multiplied
against each other and then by 100. This gives a percentage
score which when trended over a period of weeks gives
a benchmark or
baseline which can be improved upon. The top faults
shown by the data gathered by the operators are tackled and
autonomous
maintenance
is introduced.
Although this may seem a little complicated at first,
when the operators become used to it they find it a
great tool
to measure
the consistent improvements that will come from the
continuous focus on the top faults.
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What is Kanban?
As legend has it Kanban comes from the description card
that was in with the parts sent to the line, and the
workers would send
the card back with the order to replenish so that they
would get the right parts. This has now come to mean
any signal for 'Pull'
which can be a box with the number and description on
it at a POUR or even a painted box on the floor as in
IPK
or in progress kanban.
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What are the best ways to communicate in a Lean Factory?
1. Simplify every process to minimize your need for
information management. For example, the simple act
of moving activities
from departments to a continuous flow layout – in which an item
goes automatically from one step to the next – eliminates
all of the information needed to tell each department
and step what to do next. And compressing your value
streams
by relocating
sequential process steps from across the world to
across the aisle eliminates the need for a world
of information.
2. Make every step in your process capable and available.
Breakdowns, turnbacks, and materials shortages generate
the need for managers
to manage more information. Instead of automating
this task, try to eliminate the need for it. Think
of your
IT system
as a different
type of ‘just- in-case’ inventory.”)
3. Schedule each value stream from only one point.
Taking this simple step will make information management
easier
throughout
your operation.
4. Use reflexive production control upstream from
the scheduling point. Lean Thinkers call this approach “reflexive” because
it is like your reflexes. When the downstream process
uses material, an automatic order is placed to replenish
the same
amount from
the next upstream process. Like your reflexes when
you put your finger on a hot stove, no thinking by
a central brain
is required.
5. Send information in small batches. Amazingly,
many MRPs are still run on the weekend to produce
a weekly
schedule.
And many
sales and order management systems still work with
weekly or even 10-day batches while many organizations
seem
to be moving
toward
overnight runs to produce a daily schedule. What
managers really need to know is what to do in the
next 15 minutes
based on
what happened in the last 15 minutes. Piling up information
in a large
inventory is as bad – maybe worse – than
piling up large inventories of products.
6. Make your information management transparent and
intuitive. Perhaps the saddest thing to see is good
managers working
furiously to override IT systems with opaque algorithms,
making the situation
even worse through their frantic efforts. Simple information
management methods like kanban cards and web-based
electronic kanban, plus
simple heijunka algorithms, seem too simple to many
managers. Yet they are intuitive. And anomalies quickly
become
obvious. Why spend
enormous sums to keep yourself in the dark?
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