Monday 17 August 2015

Lean Management


LEAN MANAGEMENT

ABSTRACT

Lean has been defined in many different ways. Following is one of the standard definition.

                “A systematic approach to identifying and eliminating waste(non-value-added activities) through continuous improvement by flowing the product at the pull of the customer in pursuit of perfection.”By The MEP Lean Network.

Lean manufacturing was developed by the Japanese automotive industry, with a lead from Toyota and utilising the Toyota Production System (TPS), following the challenge to re-build the Japanese economy after World War II.

The concept of lean thinking was introduced to the Western world in 1991 by the book “The Machine That Changed the World” written by Womack, Jones, and Roos.

Lean is a philosophy that seeks to eliminate waste in all aspects of a firm’s production activities: human relations, vendor relations, technology, and the management of materials and inventory.

Every Organization Must Address

• Purpose – Provide value to customers in order   to prosper.

• Process – Through smoothly flowing value streams for design, make, and use.

• People – By engaging every employee touching value streams (including support streams) to sustain And improve the flow.

Lean manufacturing and lean Management  covers the following tools:

  5S,                               Value Stream Mapping                                    Standardized Work

  Load Leveling             Kaizen                                                             Kanban

  Visual Workplace     Quick Changeover                                        Andon

  Poka-yoke                  One-piece flow                                            Cellular Manufacturing

Kanban and MRP Combination: The combination of these two systems is becoming quite common. An MRP system is used for advanced planning, including long lead-time purchased materials, adding resources, and implementing product design changes. Once the MRP has the materials and resources “lined up,” however, Kanban is used as an execution system, bringing with the characteristics of rapid response to customer order and reduced inventory levels throughout the process.   

***

No comments:

Post a Comment