Lean Manufacturing

Definition

Lean Manufacturing is an operational strategy oriented toward achieving the shortest possible
cycle time by eliminating waste. It is derived from the Toyota Production System and its key thrust
is to increase the value-added work by eliminating waste and reducing incidental work. The
technique often decreases the time between a customer order and shipment, and it is designed to
radically improve profitability, customer satisfaction, throughput time, and employee morale.

The benefits generally are lower costs, higher quality, and shorter lead times. The term "lean
manufacturing" is coined to represent half the human effort in the company, half the
manufacturing space, half the investment in tools, and half the engineering hours to develop a
new product in half the time.

The characteristics of lean processes are:

Single-piece production
Repetitive order characteristics
 Just-In-Time materials/pull scheduling
 Short cycle times
 Quick changeover
 Continuous flow work cells
 Collocated machines, equipment,tools and people
 Compressed space
 Multi-skilled employees
 Flexible workforce
 Empowered employees
 High first-pass yields with major reductions in defects

Lean Manufacturing incorporates the use of Heijunka, level sequential flow, Takt time, the
heartbeat or pace of the production system, continuous flow manufacturing, cellular
manufacturing, and pull production scheduling techniques such as Kanban.
Reengineering the plant for Lean Production for an Electro-mechanical Manufacturer

A U.S. based division of a $1B Swiss conglomerate assembles a line of motor control drives and
systems for industrial, commercial, and residential applications. These drives are used in the
building automation, marine, power, transportation, and manufacturing industries.

In spite of its continued success in the markets it served, the company had challenges with
respect to operational efficiency. A tour of the assembly plant revealed an inefficient floor layout,
with a lot of staging, though the assembly processes were automated. We observed a lot of
nonvalue added time in material handling by operators as they “fetched” components from
surrounding areas to begin their assembly work. This resulted in lost time which had a direct
impact on costs, and the income statement. Excessive inventory resulted in cash tied up on the
balance sheet.

The company wished to radically change the way it assembled products, and to be the best in the
world. This company wanted to develop its resources and change its culture to a lean
production, and Six Sigma environment. The objectives of the assignment were:

 Reduce assembly costs by $1mm or more by year end

 Double plant capacity while reducing shifts, and,
 Quadruple plant capacity with 1 shift by end of year 3

We initially developed the base workcell for the assembly operation that would eliminate the non-
value tasks as much as possible. Once the base work cells were designed, we then developed
the logistical support using Supplier Supermarkets. When that was accomplished we developed
the physical flow for the plant using a new production model to prevent material handling
interference and cross-flow.

When the new plant design was completed, we began the short-term “quick-hitter” activity to
reduce throughput time and increase capacity. After 12 weeks of on-site presence we were able
to increase capacity in the first workcell by 50%, second cell 37%, and the third cell 50%. We
focused in improving both supplier and internal assembly quality. Lean Production training
courses were conducted in parallel with our efforts to educate both management and the
workforce on Lean Production concepts and implementation. Results are shown above.

The company is in the process of implementing the recommendations.

The Issues

Lean Manufacturing is in direct opposition with traditional manufacturing approaches

characterized by use of economic order quantities, high capacity utilization, and high inventory. In
changing from a traditional environment to one of lean production, cultural issues will emerge
quickly, as well as resistance to change. A managing change program is needed to accompany
the effort.

Piecemeal approaches generally do not work or achieve significant results. Quite often we will
hear top executives claiming to be using Lean Manufacturing strategies and when we visit the
site, we will discover a pilot cell off in a corner. Wide scale use produces wide scale results, and
very little true results will be achieved if Lean Manufacturing is treated as a "fad of the month."

However, just like anything else, Lean Manufacturing is no panacea, nor should it be embraced
as a religion. It is an operational strategy that, if implemented properly, will provide a new
dimension to competing: quickly introducing new customerized high quality products and
delivering them with unprecedented lead times, swift decisions, and manufacturing products with
high velocity.